https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4616-808X
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Abstract
Large-scale transformation and modification of landscapes have occurred across most catchments in Aotearoa-New Zealand (A-NZ) in the past 200-years (mainly mid-1800s to mid- 1900s). This has been mainly through large-scale removal of indigenous forest and draining of wetlands to a landscape dominated by urban settlement and highly modified landscapes. The expansive shift to pastoral farming and urban settlement, under a colonial settlement vision has increasingly led to detrimental cumulative impacts on ecological health. Environmental decline has been tightly linked to significant adverse impacts on Māori (the Indigenous people of A-NZ) wellbeing. For Māori, this has been out of balance and step with an indigenous-based vision of A-NZ. To understand how a Māori worldview can help drive transformation in the health of our catchments and their communities, we argue that an Ao Māori (Māori worldview) framing for catchment management is necessary with reference to three catchment case studies (Kaipara, Waikato, and Waiapu). These case studies were chosen because they provide tangible examples of resurgence in the use and understanding of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) next to co-governance, co-management, and decision-making. In the Kaipara, the collaborative governance model ensured that all parties’ views were understood and factored into decision making and this has led to growing social equity and more sustainable relationships with the whenua. Similarly, in the Waikato, co-governance of the waterways has increased the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. Knowledge sharing and engagement has directly driven positive environmental outcomes. So too for the Waiapu, where increased hapū/iwi capability and capacity has increased social cohesion and implementation of targeted actions to mitigate climate change impacts. We explore how by adopting a holistic approach to environmental stewardship, and having intimate knowledge at place, Māori thinking has the potential to rejuvenate environmental management, emphasising the necessity of partnership-based approaches.
Citation: Awatere S, Harmsworth G, Harcourt N, Taura Y, Taylor L, Wilcox M, et al. (2023) Whakamana te tangata – ka whai oranga te taiao: Indigenous led approaches for catchment health in Aotearoa-New Zealand. PLOS Water 2(12): e0000170. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000170
Editor: Ritesh Kumar, Wetlands International South Asia, INDIA
Published: December 29, 2023
Copyright: © 2023 Awatere et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Introduction
Colonisation of Aotearoa-New Zealand (A-NZ) has led to large-scale transformation and modification of landscapes over the past 200-years (mainly mid-1800s- mid 1900s). This originated from the widespread removal of indigenous forests (now ~23% remaining) [1] and the draining of wetlands (~90% destroyed) [2], resulting in extensive damage to natural ecosystems. The landscape has become one dominated by expansive urban settlement, land fragmentation, built infrastructure (e.g., roading, dams, wastewater, industry), pastoral agriculture, cropping, and exotic forestry, with small remaining fragments of indigenous biodiversity. We use the term ‘catchment’ in this paper as synonymous with watershed or river basin and describe change in terms of health to catchments from a Māori (Indigenous people of mainland A-NZ) perspective. Most of this catchment landscape change in A-NZ has occurred under a colonial settlement vision [3] driven by the need for economic growth. The expansive shift to pastoral farming and urban settlement has seen large-scale deleterious change across catchments with detrimental cumulative impacts, such as exacerbated erosion, increased sediment and nutrient problems and increased spread of exotic (introduced) flora and fauna with considerable threats to indigenous biodiversity [4].
The decline in water quality and quantity, and its state of mauri (metaphysical life-force), is an ongoing and significant issue for Māori [5]. This is typically represented in many tribal areas by widespread degradation of customary resources, including extensive habitat area reduction, low flows in rivers and streams, reduction in flora and fauna populations, and poor condition of ecosystems and resources (e.g., food gathering sites, cultural keystone species, and ecological habitats). At the same time, the impact on Māori culture, identity, and well-being has been deleterious [6]. For Māori, the decline in water quality has been out of balance and step with an indigenous-based vision for A-NZ. Harcourt et al [3]. state: “If we are to achieve our vision to improve the health of te taiao (the environment) and of people, we need to change the way that people interact with their environment from a position of extractive resource use, to one of reciprocal exchange. Ao Māori (the Māori worldview) thinking offers us a pathway forward to achieving sustainable livelihoods that also enables the natural world to prosper”. Meaning that in contrast to the utilisation of resources to a tipping point under a capitalist paradigm, Ao Māori ways of working in balance with the natural world to uphold the health of both is the way to achieve sustainability.
In A-NZ, Māori rights and interests in natural resource management are being increasingly acknowledged by non-Māori people and specifically by the Crown (the New Zealand government) [7] and the validity of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) in decision-making processes [8, 9]. Furthermore, the Māori worldview acknowledges the interconnectedness and interrelationship of all living and non-living things [10] is changing the way the Crown characterises and recognises the legal personality of rivers in Aotearoa [11]. A ground-breaking piece of legislation in Aotearoa has been the passing of the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River) Act (2017) [12], recognising that the river has all the rights of a person ’Te Awa Tupua is a legal person and has all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person.’
This is due in part to the Ao Māori perspective that people have an obligation to foster reciprocal relationships with all aspects of the environment.
This paper discusses how an Ao Māori framing of the interconnections between the health and wellbeing of natural resources and humans have informed the way catchment management is approached in A-NZ.
We first start with an overview of Ao Māori ways of knowing about the health of catchments and ways that the kinship relationship between people and the natural world uphold the health of both. For Māori, integrating Ao Māori frameworks into mainstream planning processes is essential for achieving equitable health outcomes. This paper identifies Ao Māori frameworks that are underpinned by Māori assumptions, motivations and values and demonstrates how these shape positive action in the environment with reference to three catchment case studies: the Kaipara in the north of the North Island; the Waikato, central North Island; and the Waiapu catchment in the East Coast of the North Island. These case studies were selected because they exemplify the legacy of capitalist land use on the degradation of catchment health, being characterised by water quality issues and poor environmental health, and thus in dire need of new ways of catchment management that Ao Māori thinking can bring.
An Ao Māori framing of catchment health
Māori ways of thinking and knowing are underpinned by values that shape how humans interact with the environment. Ao Māori is fundamentally different from a Western worldview. The Māori way of making sense of the world and its interconnected systems is explained through whakapapa (kinship). Māori ways of knowing give primacy to natural treasures that share kinship with humans. This kinship bond between Māori and natural resources, means that they have a responsibility to care for these resources much like caring for family members. Māori considerations go beyond the wellbeing of human communities and broader ecosystems, extending to encapsulate spiritual and metaphysical elements. The creation stories account for the inherent connections between and within physical and spiritual domains [10, 13]. Therefore, according to a Māori worldview, understanding catchment health is achieved by evaluating a site utilizing a suite of holistic indicators over time both tangible and intangible.
For many Māori, ancestral links with river catchments form an integral part of maintaining cultural identity and wellbeing [13]. We see this connection in many Māori proverbs and tribal sayings, such as: ko au te wai, ko te wai ko au–I am the water, the water is me; in the case of the Whanganui catchment in A-NZ [11, 12], tribes refer to the catchment as Te Awa Tupua, an indivisible and living whole, comprising the Whanganui River from the mountains to the sea, incorporating all its physical and metaphysical elements [11, 12]. This interconnection and inter-dependency with the environment can be explained more fully through an Ao Māori framing of the connection between catchment health and human health.
Human wellbeing, spiritual vitality and the natural environment are inextricably linked [10, 14]. The need to find balance across the whole system is emphasised by the statement below:
“Traditionally Māori acknowledged a natural order to the universe, a dynamic system built around the living and the non-living. Any shift in a system, for example through human interactions and/or impacts, cause shifts in the mauri of immediately related components. As a result, the whole system eventually becomes affected and degraded. All activities and relationships are bound up and governed by principles and ethics and regulated by an elaborate system of tikanga, ritenga or rules” ([14], p276).
Colonial framing of stewarding the environment
The Crown has prioritised Western conservation ethics, values, and practices by virtue of legislative acts and prohibitions on traditional Māori practices. Indeed, the very term ‘conservation’ is derived from a Western world view. This is evidenced by the impact of the Marine Reserves Act 1971 on Māori practices [15]. The Marine Reserves Act permanently closed key tribal marine food harvesting areas, and this led to disruption to indigenous ways of managing the ecosystem through loss of locally specific knowledge [15]. The Wildlife Act 1953 [16] similarly led to significant disruption in Māori abilities to enact the customary harvest of cultural keystone species like the Kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae, Wood Pigeon). The Wildlife Act shut Māori out of conservation activity by mandating that conservation would only be undertaken by Crown agencies and according to Western ideologies [16], despite evidence that sustainable harvest practices by Māori had maintained population abundance of the bird in the time before colonisation peaked [17]. These are just two examples of many deliberate strategies by the Crown to ensure that Western ideologies prevailed in A-NZ.
Western environmental management and conservation approaches are at odds with Ao Māori thinking due to the differences in the underpinning framing of the relationship between people and the environment. While the Western notion is that humans actively exert control over the environment, an Ao Māori framing is that people manage their relationship with the environment [10, 14]. Colonial ways of caring for the environment have failed A-NZ, and environmental harm continues to exacerbate [18]. Including Indigenous people in management of the environment and integrating Māori ways of thinking with Western knowledge is likely to achieve far better outcomes for the environment. By virtue of adopting a holistic approach to environmental stewardship, and having intimate knowledge at place, Māori thinking has the potential to rejuvenate environmental management, emphasising the necessity of partnership-based approaches.
Failure of the Crown to safeguard health and the need to broaden the definition and approach to wellbeing
Western thinking about environmental wellbeing and human wellbeing is also fundamentally different to Ao Māori ways of knowing. Western ideologies generally approach environmental wellbeing as being separate from human wellbeing, while these things are inseparable in Ao Māori thinking. This is evidenced by the anthropocentric framing of the natural world by Western thinking as used in the ecosystem services concept. Ecosystem services refer to the numerous benefits and resources that humans derive from the natural environment and its ecosystems. These services are essential for supporting human well-being, sustaining life, and contributing to economic and social development, thinking that denotes an exploitative human-nature relationship [10].
In A-NZ, the term “wellbeing” has been a central theme in public policy and governance. The Government introduced the “Wellbeing Budget” in 2019 [19], which aimed to shift the focus from primarily economic indicators of wellbeing to a broader set of indicators, including social, environmental, and cultural dimensions. There are movements in the policy sector to be more responsive to framing wellbeing from an Ao Māori perspective [20]. Taking a holistic approach to wellbeing “…means including and appropriately codifying a wide range of knowledge, local aspirations, and values such as kaitiakitanga (guardianship, caretaker responsibilities, and actions) and wairuatanga (spirituality)” [3]. In addition to meeting the challenges of achieving desired outcomes for environmental health, there is also evidence that human wellbeing is declining in A-NZ. Data from the 2021 General Social Survey confirms that overall mental wellbeing in A-NZ has declined [21] and there is compelling evidence that as the health of the environment declines, so too does the general health of New Zealanders [18]. Thus, a critical need exists to take a partnership approach between the Crown and Māori to address wellbeing in A-NZ if transformation is to be achieved.
Contemporary framing of Ao Māori catchment health
Māori health frameworks for health and well-being are rooted in Māori culture, values, and ways of knowing. These frameworks recognise the perspectives of Māori and aim to address holistic health and wellbeing outcomes. Finding a balance between the physical, spiritual, mental, and family dimensions of individuals is critical to an Ao Māori conceptualisation of wellness [22–24]. In the late 20th century, many Māori believed the Western health focus was too narrow and singular (i.e., just concentrated on symptoms of a physical illness) to meet their needs and did not reflect their traditional knowledge systems and values, and their holistic understanding of health and well-being [22]. Seminal work by Durie [22–24] defines health and well-being holistically to encompass cultural identity, social relationships, human health, and the relationship of individuals with their environment.
Māori approaches for health and wellbeing are widely accepted and now form the basis for modern health programmes across A-NZ. While there are many variations to these approaches, most show an overarching set of values, principles, and practices to achieve the goal of enhancing human well-being in a holistic way [4, 22–26]. Several Ao Māori frameworks and models have been developed for concepts of health and four main models are presented below (Table 1). They are particularly useful in linking Māori well-being to the natural environment, as they demonstrate human dependency on environmental conditions [22–26].
There is a renaissance in the development of Ao Māori monitoring frameworks informed by health and wellbeing. These frameworks are being used by tribal environmental stewards to understand the state and health of their environments, and these are built on locally specific Ao Māori knowledge. These frameworks translate into tangible actions for rebalancing the environment. For example, throughout A-NZ there has been significant decline in shellfish abundance and health including kūtai (Perna canaliculus, Green-lipped mussel), because these organisms are highly vulnerable to the state of their marine ecosystem and the impacts of human activity (e.g., sedimentation, pollution and harvesting pressures) on marine ecosystem health, and specifically on kūtai populations are well understood [27]. For Māori, kūtai population health has long been understood to indicate the health state of their ecosystem, and thus provided a signal that human behaviour in relation to this resource needed to change [28]. The practice of imposing temporary bans (rāhui) on harvesting shellfish is one example of an intergenerational strategy to address the need to rebalance the ecosystem [29]. Recently, Ao Māori thinking about sustainable ways of working with ecosystems has led to measurable improvements in the health of both lake and marine environments. The use of taura kuku (spat lines woven from natural indigenous plant fibres) has led to a tenfold increase in kūtai numbers in Ōhiwa Harbour (Bay of Plenty) [30]. The deep understanding of living at place for more than ten generations enabled this breakthrough in environmental remediation.
Case studies
Three catchment case studies (Kaipara, Waikato, Waiapu) are presented below to describe how catchment planning was informed by an Ao Māori framing of the interconnections between the health and wellbeing of natural resources. We (the authors) are Māori researchers who have, strong tribal connections, and affiliations to tribes in each of these case study catchments. We live outside of our tribal lands and are employed as researchers in one of the Crown Research Institute in A-NZ. The case studies describe how our research from environmental monitoring, governance of natural resources and an Ao Māori informed planning has influenced mainstream catchment management approaches. The Waikato case study demonstrates how we promoted a much broader interpretation of catchment health within national planning approaches. The Kaipara case study provides an example of how our work developed a set of indicators and attributes consistent with an Ao Māori worldview to monitor progress towards an Ao Māori framing of catchment health. The Waiapu case study demonstrates how our research has led to an increase in tribal research capability and capacity that has led to catchment management plans for the Waiapu based on an Ao Māori framing of catchment health.
Waikato
The Waikato catchment (~14456km2) in the central North Island is one of the largest catchments in A-NZ and extends from Lake Taupō to the sea at Port Waikato (Putataka, ngutu awa o Waikato) (Fig 1). The main stem of the Waikato River is 336km long, with about 22478km of tributaries. The catchment consists of moderately steep through to undulating topography and the river passes through a landscape dominated by pasture, with smaller areas of indigenous forest and exotic plantation forest [31]. The catchment is divided into three main management zones the upper, the middle and the lower. It is densely populated with towns and settlements (e.g., Hamilton population ~166, 000) and increasing industry and roading infrastructure. Most of the land use is pastoral dairy farming, with cropping and horticulture largely restricted to fertile well-drained soils. The middle zone of the catchment and river supports several hydroelectric power schemes, while the lower part of the catchment is dominated by dairying, some sheep and beef farming, horticulture, and increasingly by land fragmentation and housing development [32].
The catchment is under considerable pressure with degradation of the river, drained and modified wetlands, waste-water treatment plants, landfills, and industrial pollution, with associated water quality issues, eroding hill country, degradation of soils, expansive urban areas and roading threatening highly productive agricultural land. Wetlands were once extensive, originally covering around 50% of the catchment, with a dramatic loss of 92% of the extent of freshwater wetlands since 1840 [2]. Land use change pressures have resulted in significant water quality issues and the major loss of biodiversity and taonga species.
The pan-tribal group Waikato-Tainui have been at the forefront in terms of Treaty settlement, and recognition of their rights, interests, and values in the catchment. The Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Act 2010 [33] and the Nga Wai o Maniapoto (Waipa River) Act 2012 [34] have provided the basis for co-governance of the catchment [8, 35]. For Waikato-Tainui, the river is an ancestor whose intrinsic value or mana represents the mana and wellbeing or mauri of the tribe. The river has its own spiritual energy and its own powerful identity. It is a single indivisible being [33]. Importantly, Ao Māori frameworks for caring for the river are increasingly informing the way policy and planning manage activities that impact the river. A vision and strategy (Te Ture Whaimana o Te Awa o Waikato) were developed in 2010 for the Waikato River [36]. This strategy identifies activities that support a healthy Waikato River and has legislative weight to inform regional planning processes for catchment management. At the same time, Waikato-Tainui has developed the Waikato-Tainui Environmental Plan [37]. This plan sets out tribal aspirations and priorities for their area of interest and is also essential for informing regional planning processes. In particular, the intergenerational view held by Māori, that planning needs to be long term (100-plus years) has transformed the co-governance approach. The reconnection of people to each other, keystone species and to the waterways has been paramount in achieving social, cultural and environmental objectives.
We have worked with many tribes on a range of projects in the catchment, many of these focussed on advice for improving the health of the catchment through: wetland restoration [38], the restoration of keystone species [39], and improvements in soil health [40]. Our work has informed national policy in freshwater management especially in wetlands restoration for improving catchment health [41]. We partnered with Ngāti Hauā Mahi Trust, a tribe within the Waikato catchment to conceptualise n Ao Māori framing of catchment health–a Wetland Mauri Framework [42]. The framework provides direction for wetland restoration in two subcatchment areas of the Mangaonua and the Mangaone streams. Our work promoted a much broader interpretation of catchment health that includes not only improving ecosystem health but also ensuring that cultural infrastructure and educational needs are met. The framework provides guidance to tribal groups on how to implement and prioritise activities in four main areas: the restoration of keystone species (for example kōūra/freshwater crayfish), improvements in water quality, improvements in infrastructure for communal gatherings, and the intergenerational transfer of knowledge. Bringing knowledge holders of Māori environmental ethics and practices together with youth in wānanga (workshops) is a critical mode of intergenerational transfer.
Kaipara
The Kaipara catchment is in the north-western part of A-NZ (Fig 2). The Kaipara is home to several tribes who regard the catchment as a prized taonga. It is the country’s largest estuarine ecosystem, the largest harbour in the southern hemisphere, and the second largest in the world [43], comprising over 6000km2 of catchment land area, 950km2 of harbour surface area, and 8110km of waterways [44] that flow into the Kaipara and out to the Tasman Sea. The harbour drains two-thirds of the Northland region catchments (a large region at the most northern part of A-NZ). Kaipara is home to some of the rarest ecosystems including dune systems, seagrass, freshwater and estuarine wetland systems, and is an important nursery for and provider of seafood [45].
The catchment is suffering increased sedimentation and runoff due to both historical land-use activities including deforestation and farmland conversion, and current-day practices including farming, forestry, and housing development [46]. Communities within the catchment are focused on reducing the delivery of fine-grained sediment loads to restore the health and wellbeing or mauri of the catchment. Restoration of the health and mauri of the Kaipara is an overarching vision of the Kaipara Moana Remediation Programme (KMR). Established in 2020, the KMR is a co-governance partnership between tribes and the Government that supports activities like afforestation, fencing, and weed management that help reduce sediment flow in the catchment [44]. Shared outcomes and objectives by the partners enable prioritisation of land management activities aligned to remediation of the land.
The work to improve the health and mauri of the Kaipara catchment reflects a long history of the community working together for over 25 years beginning with the tribal-led Integrated Kaipara Harbour Management Group (IKHMG). The IKHMG transitioned to the KMR, a more formal arrangement that acknowledges Māori as equal partners in the management of the Kaipara catchment. Māori have equal seats at the governance table alongside Government representatives. Importantly financial support for the KMR is provided primarily through central Government sources. This funding and overall commitment to Tiriti-based partnership recognises the kaitiaki (guardian) status of tribes within the Kaipara catchment, as well as a commitment by the Government to invest in the capacity of tribes to exercise that status [44].
Having a co-management approach requires a shared understanding of the validity of indicators from both worldviews, and the management objectives must be accessible and understood by both partners. Framing of catchment health from a Māori perspective as the relative state of mauri (being life force of the catchment) necessitates inclusion of Māori indicators and attributes. Assessment of indicators like the number and quality of keystone plant and animal species over time can readily be understood by both partners. The collaborative governance model ensured that all parties’ views were understood and factored into decision making and this has led to growing social equity and more sustainable relationships with the whenua.
We have had an association with the community of the Kaipara catchment since 2005 focusing on building the Ao Māori environmental monitoring capability of tribal members and providing technical support for the Integrated Kaipara Harbour Management Group (IKHMG). We produced a range of reports, tools, methods, and actions (e.g., [46, 47]), to promote catchment management informed by an Ao Māori framing specifically promoting the interconnections between the health and wellbeing of catchments and human wellbeing. We have led a capability building exercise to enhance the Ao Māori monitoring capabilities of tribal members with guardianship responsibilities for the catchment [48]. The exercise shared with tribal guardians a framework for conceptualising ecological health from an Ao Māori perspective and co-developed with tribal guardians a set of indicators and attributes consistent with an Ao Māori worldview. This work has informed the rollout of cultural monitoring programmes across the Kaipara catchment.
Waiapu
The Waiapu catchment (~1749 km2) is in the Gisborne east coast region of A-NZ (Fig 3). The region is one of the most erosion-prone regions in A-NZ and internationally with very high sediment loads in rivers and streams [49, 50]. The catchment is mainly hilly to mountainous with the main river, the Waiapu, running from the inland mountain range (Raukūmara) past Hikurangi the spiritual mountain to the sea where the Waiapu runs out into the Pacific Ocean. The catchment is exposed to a regular cycle of intense rainstorms that have become more frequent with climate change [51]. Major storm events and floods were recorded in 1916, 1918, and 1938, Cyclone Bola in 1988 [41, 50] and more recently Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023. Very fertile floodplains and terraces dominate the lower part of the catchment. The catchment once sustained a large Māori population and was a central cultural and spiritual hub for early Ngāti Porou tribal settlement, with rich food resources from the sea, rivers and streams, forests, and cultivated gardens on the fertile soils.
The catchment has changed markedly in the last 200 years with large scale deforestation (principally through felling and burning of native forest (prolific mid-late 1800s to early 1900s) and conversion to grassland by European settlers from around 1890 with the establishment of pastoral farming. In ~1840 at least 80% of the Waiapu catchment was still covered in mainly podocarp broadleaf forest, shrubland, and upland beech forest in the steep ranges [50]. The ecosystem was healthy and vibrant with a flourishing mauri. Deforestation initiated a phase of greatly increased erosion on fragile rock types with resulting high sediment deposition. Consequently, the present-day catchment exhibits an extensive and serious erosion problem [49, 50]. Frequent and extensive flooding occurs throughout the catchment but has always had a particularly devastating effect on the highly productive floodplains and low terraces in the lower parts of the catchment, from Ruatōrea to the Waiapu river mouth.
Treaty claims that have been negotiated across tribal areas in the Gisborne east coast region (e.g., Ngāti Porou Claims Settlement Act 2012 [52] and Nga Rohemoana o Nga Hapū o Ngāti Porou Act 2019 [53]) have led to greater recognition of tribal rights, interests, and values. This has led to increased roles in collaborative governance and decision-making with Government. Māori aspirations for catchment health have been articulated and are being implemented through management plans and other activities. For example, steps to address the loss of ecosystem health or mauri are being addressed by Waiapu Kōkā Huhua–Waiapu Restoration Programme, a collaborative programme between the Ministry for Primary Industries, Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou (TRONPnui) (the tribal authority representing the primary tribe in the Waiapu river catchment–Ngāti Porou), and the Gisborne District Council (GDC) [54]. The programme is a result of the Waiapu Accord, a post-settlement, co-governance partnership between Ngāti Porou and Crown entities. The vision for the 100-year programme is: "Healthy land, healthy rivers, healthy people–Ko te mana: Ko te Hauora o te whenua, Ko te Hauora o nga awa; Ko te Hauora o te iwi". The programme aims to treat erosion, stop greater physical damage to the catchment, and bring social, cultural, health, and economic gains to tribal members [54].
We have worked with various tribal members on a variety of projects in the catchment from the mid-1990s to 2023. The relationship with Ngāti Porou has been long and enduring. We commenced collaborative research around 1995–2002, where Ao Māori knowledge and science were recorded for the Waiapu catchment study [50]. More recent research with the community has explored climate change-informed land use adaptation opportunities [51] and kaupapa Māori decision-making frameworks [3, 55] to operationalise collaborative decision-making using Ao Māori knowledge and western science. Co-research and conducting research using kaupapa Māori methodologies has led to an increase in tribal research capability and capacity and many local projects have been developed where management plans and targeted actions to improve the health of the Waiapu have been developed. Our collaborators are part of the governance and planning groups for Waiapu Kōkā Huhua–Waiapu Restoration Programme. Our research collaborations have a direct impact on the framing of catchment plans along with the indicators and attributes to assess progress towards catchment health outcomes.
Additionally, our research has helped shape Māori expectations and aspirations for catchment health, shifting the narrative of mitigating risk led by government institutions to one that promotes enhancing the health of the Waiapu catchment [55, 56]. In this way, an Ao Māori lens on ecosystem health prioritises the mutually beneficial connections between humans and the Waiapu catchment rather than an extractive utilitarian approach. Further research we carried out, supports an Ao Māori worldview of maintaining environmental health to improve the health of people within the context of climate change. Co-research with the community improved outcomes beyond an academic approach, increasing social cohesion and enabling implementation of targeted actions to mitigate climate change impacts. Our research demonstrated that owners of tribal lands have acknowledged that improving the health of tribal lands through indigenous biodiversity restoration, especially investment in native tree planting is a necessary approach for climate change adaptation. While investment in native trees do not bring in as much revenue as compared to exotic plantation forestry such as Pinus Radiata (the Monterey pine) plantations, our research has identified the need to transition to native tree planting to meet Māori landowner aspirations for improved catchment health for longer-term intergenerational equity and to also mitigate the impacts from extreme weather events caused by climate change [51].
Discussion
The relationship between human health, catchment health and worldview are complex. Understanding and respecting diverse cultural perspectives and beliefs is essential for promoting sustainable practices, protecting the environment, and safeguarding human health for current and future generations. How individuals and communities perceive the world, including their beliefs, values, and cultural perspectives, can significantly influence their interactions with the environment and ultimately impact human health. There is typically a strong link between values and how we perceive ecosystem health [10, 24]. Applying an interpretation of health to the environment usually requires an in-depth understanding of people’s knowledge concepts, and values of health [57]. This is fundamental to understanding the importance of the environment to human and social wellbeing [58]. Understanding the range of pluralistic values across society and across landscapes has been discussed by many authors (e.g. [59–62]) which highlight differences in values ranging for example from indigenous [62], tangible to intangible [59], economic [60], and those that are more social, intrinsic and cultural [61].
This need to understand societal values is captured in many examples. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services [63, 64] discussed a conceptual framework across knowledges, and the Nature Future Framework [65] presented and discussed three main value-types (intrinsic, relational, and instrumental) within the context of multi-scale integrative nature-people scenarios and transdisciplinary research [65]. This provides a useful range of the diverse values associated with nature [63, 66] which applies equally to a catchment. Values often help set priorities and govern decision-making [63, 65], such as the protection of nature [63, 65], and are imperative when we enter discussions on catchment health.
In this paper, we have presented common elements from Ao Māori frameworks which provide a basis for understanding Māori priorities and give us a more conclusive and common picture of how Māori interpret health. This picture of Te Ao Māori gives the pivotal basis for understanding and developing Māori aspirations and priorities, which supports decision-making and the development of strategies and actions on the ground to achieve healthy ecosystems and catchments, and healthy people. Ao Māori frameworks are focussed on understanding whole systems and finding balance in the system (i.e., understanding how all the components interact and fit together to restore balance) to restore the wellbeing and vitality of a catchment in accordance with Ao Māori ethics. The frameworks we have explored in our case studies help provide an Ao Māori ontology of the connections between human health and wellbeing and ecosystem health. These frameworks inform and guide Māori decision-making, particularly the restoration/remediation of catchments in line with tribally led goals and aspirations. They indicate complex interactions of the changing state of the natural environment and its impacts on resources and people. In all cases, there is an intent to better connect and strengthen links between ecosystem health and human wellbeing. Ao Māori frameworks reinforce the strong linkages between human health and ecosystem health and this approach is present in each of the three catchment case studies discussed. The term ukaipō [44] was used in the Kaipara to mean the prime source of sustenance or mother, placing the environment above all else. In the Waikato, ‘koiora’ described an aspirational state of the health of the river and people, “Ngā awa itiiti e pā ana ki te wai o Waikato, ko ngā uaua o tō tātou awa. To tātou awa he manawa–all the little streams and the rain that flows into the Waikato River are like veins in the body. The river is our heart” [36]. For the Waiapu, the catchment and the river is “the mother of all–Waiapu Kōkā Huhua,” that provides sustenance and prosperity for the following generations [55]. Additionally, the connection between the Waiapu river and tribes can be expressed through the following saying “Ko te mana, ko te hauora o te whenua, ko te hauora o ngā awa, Ko te hauora o te iwi–the integrity of our health as tribal people is through the health of our catchments and ecosystems” 55.
In A-NZ there has been a notable increase in Ao Māori research, and a resurgence of the use and understanding of Māori knowledge alongside western science (e.g., [67–70]) to inform co-governance of catchments. For Māori, integrating Ao Māori frameworks into planning processes is essential for achieving equitable health outcomes. Some catchment planning processes recognise the rights of nature itself through legislation that awards legal personhood, acknowledging the kinship-based relationship between, for example, the Whanganui River and Whanganui tribes. The legislation enables governance of the river, informed equally by western and an Ao Māori framing. New policies have strengthened the role of Māori in catchment planning processes and there have been shifts within national and local government policy and legislation to better recognise and accommodate an Ao Māori framing in water management.
However, despite several examples of integrating an Ao Māori framing into freshwater management, a dedicated policy and implementation space still needs to be created that ensures Ao Māori engagement and outcomes in freshwater governance, planning and management [6]. Furthermore, understanding an Ao Māori framing is central to strategic planning and decision-making in relation to freshwater governance and management within A-NZ. Appropriate design and implementation of an Ao Māori-based approach to freshwater management are necessary if A-NZ wants to truly restore and uphold the health and wellbeing of water, along with the health and wellbeing of Māori. Māori are seeking to enact their aspirations for sustainable freshwater futures underpinned by a relational ontology and epistemology that connects humans to the environment through space and time.
Conclusion
Throughout the world we are observing a continual decline in indigenous biodiversity, ongoing loss of forests and wetlands, loss of cultural heritage, increasing degradation of natural resources and ecosystems, increasing risk from climate change, accelerated pollution across terrestrial, coastal, and ocean ecosystems, that are challenging all societies. We believe that Indigenous peoples have many conceptual and pragmatic approaches and solutions to make this transformative systematic shift happen, and that the catchment level is an ideal place to harness energies and resources.
Importantly, as outlined throughout this paper, health is commonly a perception of an ideal or aspirational state based on values, perspectives, and knowledge. We have demonstrated that Māori are taking decisive action in many areas, especially at the catchment level, and have a leading role to play not only in A-NZ but also globally through leading by example in the co-governance of waterways. If landscapes are to move towards a healthier state, it is important to understand the pluralistic values that can help support more holistic resource management decision-making. Increasingly non-Māori people and specifically the Crown in A-NZ are becoming more committed to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi which is enabling tribes to provide leadership in how resources like catchments are managed for collective and intergenerational benefits. Internationally however we hope the indigenous voice can still be heard and treated equally when it comes to acknowledging the significant role indigenous communities can play when leading change towards a better world and healthier planet.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the reviewers and editors for the most useful contributions. Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou.
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