title: Waikato Taniwharau: Prioritising competing needs in the management of the Waikato River

authors: Morgan, Te Kipa Kepa Brian

subjects: Mauri

abstract: The Waikato River system is New Zealand’s longest river and has significant spiritual relevance for the Waikato-Tainui people and other river iwi, who regard it as an indicator of their mauri or well-being, and central to their identity. The Waikato has also been the focus of on-going tensions between Māori cultural and spiritual values and beliefs, and national engineering objectives. The Waikato River was the primary source of food, transportation and communications link for the region and of pivotal military significance in the New Zealand land wars of the 19th Century. The river system is also a strategic asset for power generation and the flow has been extensively modified with the engineering of dams, lakes, tunnels and canals used to generate one sixth of New Zealand's total electrical generating capacity via the Waikato and Tongariro Power schemes. 
Large scale deforestation in combination with altered hydrologic characteristics have resulted in siltation of the once navigable river. The Waikato is impacted upon by numerous sources of pollution including; Arsenic from a Geothermal Power Station; nutrient enrichment from fertilizer and effluent spreading practices in dairy farming; more than 80 point source discharges to the main stem; and 1,600 discharges to its tributaries. 
The river system contains numerous fish types and has an international reputation for fishing. More than twenty communities extract and treat its waters for potable use including Auckland City. Historic practices resulted in significant adverse impacts on water quality and the mauri of the Waikato. The river is now administered by a regional council. These attributes make the Waikato River a complex management challenge: a contemporary relevance of the widely known metaphor; Waikato Taniwharau (Waikato with hundreds of guardians). 
Aotearoa New Zealand is currently resolving policy issues for the effective management of its fresh water resource. A national survey of opinion in 2005 distilled public priorities for fresh water management. The Freshwater for a Sustainable Future consultation identified many concerns and that the management of these resources is not being carried out in a sustainable manner. The Land and Water forum acknowledged many of these issues in the National Policy on Fresh Water (2010). The New Zealand government is currently preparing to sell down its 100% control of the hydro generation assets on the river, through a sale of shares in the State owned Enterprises that manage these assets. 
During the initial public consultation, responses from Māori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, indicated that there existed significant dissatisfaction with past management and a lack of confidence in future policy and water management decision making. The dissatisfaction manifested as broad opposition to and indifference towards participation in consultation. In subsequent years, some Māori groups have nevertheless chosen to engage in research processes seeking improvements on past practice. A Decision Making Framework (DMF) developed in 2004 has been adopted in several of these proposals due to its ability to balance the competing priorities of engineers representing the dominant western worldview and Māori, the Tangata Whenua (people of the land). 
The Mauri Model DMF is unique in its approach to the management of water resources as the framework offers a transparent and inclusive approach to considering the environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects of decisions being contemplated. The Mauri Model DMF is unique because it is capable of including multiple-worldviews and adopts mauri (intrinsic value or well-being) in the place of money based assessments of pseudo sustainability using Cost Benefit Analysis. 
The Mauri Model DMF does this using a two stage process that first identifies participants’ worldviews and inherent bias regarding water resource management, and then facilitates transparent assessment of selected sustainability performance indicators. The assessment can then be contemplated as the separate environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions of the decision, collectively as an overall result; or the priorities associated with different worldviews can be applied to determine the sensitivity of the result to different cultural contexts or worldviews. 
A sustainability assessment for the Waikato River is presented within the context of new co-management aspirations that require decision making to reflect the values of both the Government and the Waikato-Tainui peoples. How might the Mauri Model contribute in the complex context of co-management of the Waikato River? Three existing resource uses are assessed to illustrate the contribution that alternative frameworks can make to an enhanced understanding of the challenges that the new co-management regime will need to overcome.

text: Waikato Taniwharau: Prioritising competing needs in the management of the Waikato River The Waikato River system is New Zealand’s longest river and has significant spiritual relevance for the Waikato-Tainui people and other river iwi, who regard it as an indicator of their mauri or well-being, and central to their identity. The Waikato has also been the focus of on-going tensions between Māori cultural and spiritual values and beliefs, and national engineering objectives. The Waikato River was the primary source of food, transportation and communications link for the region and of pivotal military significance in the New Zealand land wars of the 19th Century. The river system is also a strategic asset for power generation and the flow has been extensively modified with the engineering of dams, lakes, tunnels and canals used to generate one sixth of New Zealand's total electrical generating capacity via the Waikato and Tongariro Power schemes. 
Large scale deforestation in combination with altered hydrologic characteristics have resulted in siltation of the once navigable river. The Waikato is impacted upon by numerous sources of pollution including; Arsenic from a Geothermal Power Station; nutrient enrichment from fertilizer and effluent spreading practices in dairy farming; more than 80 point source discharges to the main stem; and 1,600 discharges to its tributaries. 
The river system contains numerous fish types and has an international reputation for fishing. More than twenty communities extract and treat its waters for potable use including Auckland City. Historic practices resulted in significant adverse impacts on water quality and the mauri of the Waikato. The river is now administered by a regional council. These attributes make the Waikato River a complex management challenge: a contemporary relevance of the widely known metaphor; Waikato Taniwharau (Waikato with hundreds of guardians). 
Aotearoa New Zealand is currently resolving policy issues for the effective management of its fresh water resource. A national survey of opinion in 2005 distilled public priorities for fresh water management. The Freshwater for a Sustainable Future consultation identified many concerns and that the management of these resources is not being carried out in a sustainable manner. The Land and Water forum acknowledged many of these issues in the National Policy on Fresh Water (2010). The New Zealand government is currently preparing to sell down its 100% control of the hydro generation assets on the river, through a sale of shares in the State owned Enterprises that manage these assets. 
During the initial public consultation, responses from Māori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, indicated that there existed significant dissatisfaction with past management and a lack of confidence in future policy and water management decision making. The dissatisfaction manifested as broad opposition to and indifference towards participation in consultation. In subsequent years, some Māori groups have nevertheless chosen to engage in research processes seeking improvements on past practice. A Decision Making Framework (DMF) developed in 2004 has been adopted in several of these proposals due to its ability to balance the competing priorities of engineers representing the dominant western worldview and Māori, the Tangata Whenua (people of the land). 
The Mauri Model DMF is unique in its approach to the management of water resources as the framework offers a transparent and inclusive approach to considering the environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects of decisions being contemplated. The Mauri Model DMF is unique because it is capable of including multiple-worldviews and adopts mauri (intrinsic value or well-being) in the place of money based assessments of pseudo sustainability using Cost Benefit Analysis. 
The Mauri Model DMF does this using a two stage process that first identifies participants’ worldviews and inherent bias regarding water resource management, and then facilitates transparent assessment of selected sustainability performance indicators. The assessment can then be contemplated as the separate environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions of the decision, collectively as an overall result; or the priorities associated with different worldviews can be applied to determine the sensitivity of the result to different cultural contexts or worldviews. 
A sustainability assessment for the Waikato River is presented within the context of new co-management aspirations that require decision making to reflect the values of both the Government and the Waikato-Tainui peoples. How might the Mauri Model contribute in the complex context of co-management of the Waikato River? Three existing resource uses are assessed to illustrate the contribution that alternative frameworks can make to an enhanced understanding of the challenges that the new co-management regime will need to overcome.

year: 2013

title: A path to lotions and potions: Ngāti te Maunga ahi kā use of rongoā for hapū wellbeing

authors: Diamond, Kiri

subjects: rongoā

abstract: The research aimed to determine the challenges and improvements required during the implementation of the rongoā programme. The rongoā programme was based on a papakāinga near a marae, in a semi-rural location with difficult access. Participatory action research and autoethnography methods were used with the ahi kā (local residence) to develop a programme that would fulfil the hapū ora (extended family wellbeing) goals.  The goals of the programme were: for the ahi kā to use rongoā (modalities of health) confidently for their wellbeing; consistently use a Facebook page to learn and share information and to develop a database of the local rongoā rākau (medicinal plant). The ahi kā identified a further question to ask Facebook members to understand what motivated their participation and a survey was conducted. The ahi kā also wanted to understand the local doctor’s view on rongoā and its context on health provision in their area. An interview was conducted and the survey and interview added to the understanding of what the ahi kā could do to improve theirs and the hapū whānau (group extended family) wellbeing.
The findings of the research highlighted the complexities that arise from conducting research in a bicultural space where a common understanding of cultural knowledge is assumed to be homogenous. A shared history with colonisation and religious beliefs brought to the forefront the multiplicity Māori work through to determine a shared hapū identity. Based on an understanding of Māori principle values and tikanga (ways of enacting values), as understood by ahi kā, transformed a programme of learning how to make lotions and potions for the ahi kā, into influencing hapū members to change their attitudes and behaviours to their environment and their wellbeing.
This research highlighted the role that ahi kā hold as keepers of cultural knowledge that is rooted in the papakāinga through ancestral links that informs the identity of a hapū. Learning how to use rongoā provided ahi kā a platform to learn a new skill while helping the hapū heal through connecting with the identity and land of the hapū they belong to.

text: A path to lotions and potions: Ngāti te Maunga ahi kā use of rongoā for hapū wellbeing The research aimed to determine the challenges and improvements required during the implementation of the rongoā programme. The rongoā programme was based on a papakāinga near a marae, in a semi-rural location with difficult access. Participatory action research and autoethnography methods were used with the ahi kā (local residence) to develop a programme that would fulfil the hapū ora (extended family wellbeing) goals.  The goals of the programme were: for the ahi kā to use rongoā (modalities of health) confidently for their wellbeing; consistently use a Facebook page to learn and share information and to develop a database of the local rongoā rākau (medicinal plant). The ahi kā identified a further question to ask Facebook members to understand what motivated their participation and a survey was conducted. The ahi kā also wanted to understand the local doctor’s view on rongoā and its context on health provision in their area. An interview was conducted and the survey and interview added to the understanding of what the ahi kā could do to improve theirs and the hapū whānau (group extended family) wellbeing.
The findings of the research highlighted the complexities that arise from conducting research in a bicultural space where a common understanding of cultural knowledge is assumed to be homogenous. A shared history with colonisation and religious beliefs brought to the forefront the multiplicity Māori work through to determine a shared hapū identity. Based on an understanding of Māori principle values and tikanga (ways of enacting values), as understood by ahi kā, transformed a programme of learning how to make lotions and potions for the ahi kā, into influencing hapū members to change their attitudes and behaviours to their environment and their wellbeing.
This research highlighted the role that ahi kā hold as keepers of cultural knowledge that is rooted in the papakāinga through ancestral links that informs the identity of a hapū. Learning how to use rongoā provided ahi kā a platform to learn a new skill while helping the hapū heal through connecting with the identity and land of the hapū they belong to.

year: 2019

title: William Morris Newsham: a prospector and miner in the Te Aroha district

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: New Zealand-born William Morris Newsham fought against Maori without suffering any mishaps, but when aged 35 had the most perilous experience of his life. When assisting to survey a potential railway line in the King Country, he was captured by one prophet, Te Mahuki, and rescued by another, Te Kooti, after a harsh ordeal.
After mining at Coromandel and Thames, in 1889 he settled in the Te Aroha district, taking whatever work was available. For the remainder of his life he was a small-scale miner, tributer, prospector, and operator of battery and tailings plants. Most of the 1890s was spent on the Waiorongomai field, but in the early twentieth century he explored nearby, his most notable claims being the Pick and Dish, close to the summit of Te Aroha. All his mining was done in small mining parties, sometimes backed by local small businessmen. He never ceased to search for gold, but found little of value, and achieved only a modest return from all his hard work.

text: William Morris Newsham: a prospector and miner in the Te Aroha district New Zealand-born William Morris Newsham fought against Maori without suffering any mishaps, but when aged 35 had the most perilous experience of his life. When assisting to survey a potential railway line in the King Country, he was captured by one prophet, Te Mahuki, and rescued by another, Te Kooti, after a harsh ordeal.
After mining at Coromandel and Thames, in 1889 he settled in the Te Aroha district, taking whatever work was available. For the remainder of his life he was a small-scale miner, tributer, prospector, and operator of battery and tailings plants. Most of the 1890s was spent on the Waiorongomai field, but in the early twentieth century he explored nearby, his most notable claims being the Pick and Dish, close to the summit of Te Aroha. All his mining was done in small mining parties, sometimes backed by local small businessmen. He never ceased to search for gold, but found little of value, and achieved only a modest return from all his hard work.

year: 2016