Innovations
Weavers harvesting flax from the National Flax Collection at Lincoln. Image - Katarina Tawiri
Kaitiakitanga of urban settlements
The 3-year research programme Kaitiakitanga of Urban Settlements – Kaitiakitanga o ngā Ngahere Pohatu tackled local government issues such as low Māori participation in urban planning, poor understanding of Māori values, and Māori aspirations and their application in urban planning contexts. A significant outcome of the project has been Auckland Council’s implementation of our planning framework. Guided by this framework, the Council and iwi/hāpu planners worked together to integrate mātauranga Māori into the Auckland Unitary Plan for the city’s resource management.
This project also built critical expertise within Ngāi Tahu helping them to have significant involvement in urban planning, notably the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan (100 Day Blueprint).
This research is part of the Enhancing Policy Development portfolio, and was supported by MBIE contestable funding.
Te Kōkiri mō te Whāinga Hua o Ngā Whenua Māori
Landcare Research is involved in Te Kōkiri mō te Whāinga Hua o Ngā Whenua Māori, a new initiative to raise productivity of Māori land. Our involvement stems from our many years of work with iwi, hapū and Māori land trusts and incorporations. The initiative is the private sector’s response to the Māori Economic Development strategy ‘He Kai kei aku ringa’, produced by the Māori Economic Development taskforce. Our role is to highlight the value of science and technology to sustainable land use, including the Māori Land Visualisation Tool to identify potential new opportunities and a decision support system for enabling Māori landowners to make better-informed decisions regarding land use. This aligns strongly with the Vision Mātauranga policy, which seeks to unlock the science and innovation potential of Māori knowledge, resources and people for the benefit of New Zealand.
Māori Land Visualisation Tool
Landcare Research has upgraded the Māori Land Visualisation Tool (MLVT), an online tool designed to enable Māori landowners to better optimise their land use and identify potential new economic opportunities based on land capability. This year, progress to enhance the MLVT included a new layout, new user-friendly data overlays (e.g. climate and land cover) and a new enquiry form to better ascertain user needs. The upgraded version uses technology that is consistent with Landcare Research’s standard data platform, ensuring better performance and long-term stability of the tool. The new version has drawn favourable reviews by a number of organisations including Te Puni Kōkiri and Te Tumu Paeroa. The new tool will be launched in the 2013/14 financial year.
This research is part of the Characterising Land Resources portfolio, and was supported by Te Puni Kōkiri with some internal investment. Some of the databases accessed are Core funded.
Vegetation and water monitoring
We provided training for the Waikato Raupatu River Trust on vegetation monitoring at Te Takapū o Waikato (‘Maurea Island’), an island on the Waikato River that has recently been returned to Waikato Tainui. The training hui covered the importance of wetlands, how our research supports Waikato Tainui projects and priorities, and discussed the importance of building iwi capability as a key component of our wetlands programme.
Another of our senior scientists is working with Rangitāne iwi and Horizons Regional Council to integrate cultural monitoring of the Manawatu River into formal ‘state of environment’ reporting for the region in future. The iwi are seeking to extend their ecological monitoring expertise to meet their increased decisionmaking role under the National Policy Statement for Fresh Water Management and the Manawatu River Accord between stakeholders. Rangitāne completed the first iwi summary in the latest Horizons 2013 State of the Environment Report.
These projects are part of the Managing Biodiversity and Enhancing Policy Development portfolios, and were supported by MBIE contestable funding.