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The Treaty of Waitangi forms the underlying foundation of the Crown–Māori relationship with regard to freshwater resources in Āotearoa-New Zealand. While there is no “one” Māori world view, there are principles and values that establish and reinforce whānau, hapū, rūnanga and iwi identity, and their responsibilities and rights to manage and use natural resources, including lakes. Lake restoration approaches that are grounded in tikanga Māori and Māori values and perspectives, and are co-designed to be responsive to the needs and aspirations of Māori, will ensure that outcomes are useful and of benefit to the participating indigenous community. The resulting outcomes are more likely to strengthen and add value to existing community initiatives, thus increasing efficiencies when capacity and capability across different expertise is in demand. This requires a commitment (by agencies and funders) to move beyond conventional understandings of who is “qualified” to engage in lake research and restoration initiatives. While hapū, rūnanga and iwi undoubtedly benefit from having their members qualify by being active participants in lake research and restoration efforts, in this chapter we emphasise the need for a more holistic approach that recognises and empowers whānau to engage as co-governors, co-leaders, researchers, as knowledge holders and as teachers. A truly collaborative lake restoration programme will provide multiple roles for Māori, including the development and implementation of monitoring and evaluation approaches.

Māori customary rights to natural resources are a contentious issue between Māori and the New Zealand government and between Maori and non-Māori. The values and principles inherent in a treaty signed in 1840 between Māori and the British Crown have been undermined by the government’s refusal to allow Māori the right to go to the courts to determine proprietary rights to the foreshore, seabed and fresh water. Discriminatory Crown actions highlight the argument that when an injustice occurs then reparations should be made. The United Nations has chided the New Zealand government for its discriminatory behaviour and failure to provide guaranteed redress but it has had little effect.

There are increasing numbers of Māori in New Zealand and Aboriginal peoples in Canada involved in the energy sector. In this paper I explore a number of the factors which have been instrumental in Indigenous peoples becoming involved in energy projects. Utilising a ‘weak theory’ approach I provide narratives of three case studies from New Zealand and Canada (Tuaropaki Trust, Hupacasath First Nation, Peavine Métis Settlement). These cases involve renewable and non-renewable energy types – categories which are often used to judge the value of energy projects. I suggest that while these distinctions provide useful analyses, I ask what might happen if we extend the analysis further to consider how the apparent ‘negatives’ and ‘positives’ of each might be being balanced by other activities that the Indigenous companies are involved with.

A framework/model based on Māori knowledge, values and perspectives is presented that distinguishes ‘cultural values’ from ‘cultural services’ and extends the definition of cultural values across the whole ecosystem services framework. Māori aspirations and well-being are interdependent on ecosystems and ecosystem services. Ultimately Māori wish to use these ecosystem approaches and frameworks to increase participation and inclusion in decision-making, to achieve multidimensional aspirational goals and desired indigenous outcomes.

Ngāti Rangi, an indigenous tribe of Aotearoa New Zealand, live on the southern flanks of their ancestral mountain, Ruapehu, an active volcano. Ruapehu has erupted and caused lahars within living memory, and nearby Tongariro erupted as recently as 2012. Ngāti Rangi and other tribes affiliated to these mountains are intimately connected to and familiar with the moods, signs, and language of the mountains and have valuable knowledge to contribute to decision-making and warning systems during volcanic events. To date this knowledge or mātauranga Māori has been somewhat under-utilised, and Ngāti Rangi have not always been included in decision-making processes during volcanic events. But communication is improving, and Ngāti Rangi have begun a journey of building their own monitoring, information collection, and communication systems. Past and present monitoring, warning systems, communications and tribal civil defence resources are examined to determine how Ngāti Rangi and their tribal knowledge can be better recognised, communications with governmental volcanic hazard management agencies improved to ultimately work together to improve outcomes for the tribe and local community.

Indigenous peoples often have a unique and deep connection to the land. However, quantitative research exploring this issue is scarce. The current research investigates cultural variation in environmental regard in New Zealand, where more recent settler groups have questioned the strength of Indigenous environmental regard. Study 1 examined differences in environmental regard held by Indigenous and non-Indigenous ethnic groups in a nationally representative data set, the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (N = 9,269). Māori (the Indigenous group) expressed the highest levels of regard for the environment on average, although there was also considerable variance among Māori as a group. Study 2 adopted an emic perspective to investigate which dimensions of Māori identity are related to higher environmental value specifically among Māori (N = 193). Bayesian regression indicated that sociopolitical consciousness—the extent to which participants recognize the importance of and stand up for Māori political rights—was linked with higher environmental regard. Contrary to predictions, belief in Māori spiritual concepts was not linked with increased environmental regard. These findings suggest that Māori tend to value the natural environment more than non-Indigenous New Zealanders at least in part because high environmental regard is central to Māori political consciousness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

In response to widespread water quality and quantity issues, the New Zealand Government has recently embarked on a number of comprehensive freshwater management reforms, developing a raft of national discussion and policy documents such as "Freshwater Reform 2013 and Beyond" and a National Policy Statement for freshwater management (NPS-FM 2014). Recent resource management reforms and amendments (RMA 2014), based on previous overarching resource management legislation (RMA 1991), set out a new approach and pathway to manage freshwater nationwide. Internationally, there is an increasing trend to engage with indigenous communities for research and collaboration, including indigenous groups as active participants in resource management decision making. What is driving this change toward more engagement and collaboration with indigenous communities is different for each country, and we document the progress and innovation made in this area in New Zealand. The indigenous rights of Māori in New Zealand are stated in the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi and in many forms of New Zealand's legislation. Local and central governments are eager to include local indigenous Māori groups (iwi/hapū) in freshwater management planning processes through meaningful engagement and collaboration. Key to the success of collaborative planning processes for Māori are enduring relationships between local government and Māori, along with adequate resourcing for all partners contributing to the collaborative process. A large number of shared governance and management models for natural resource management have emerged in New Zealand over the past 20 years, and some recent examples are reviewed. We provide some discussion to improve understanding and use of the terms used in these management models such as cogovernance, comanagement, and coplanning, and describe some of the more important frameworks and tools being developed with Māori groups (e.g., iwi/hapū), to strengthen Māori capacity in freshwater management and to support good collaborative process and planning.

<em>Gale</em> Academic OneFile includes Decolonising Dignity for Inclusive Democracy by Christine J. Winter. Click to explore.