title: An examination of DHB climate change policy and implementation: Responsiveness to Māori health

authors: Powell, Elisha

abstract: The impacts of climate change have become increasingly evident throughout the world and in Aotearoa. Frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as flooding, coastal erosion, wildfires, and droughts are notably increasing. Climate-related disasters have devastating effects on human health, as is well documented in literature. These effects include cardiovascular disease, poorer mental health, food insecurity and water borne disease. 

Due to pre-existing health disparities, Māori are particularly vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change. Further, Māori have unique relationships with whenua wherein destruction of the natural environment will have a negative impact on the health of Māori people and communities. The health sector has an obligation to respond to Māori health in a way that honours Māori relationships with the environment and prioritises equitable health outcomes for Māori in climate change policy. 

Although Māori face potentially severe health impacts due to climate change, there is limited literature that considers health sector climate change policy and its responsiveness to Māori health. In an effort to address this gap in literature, this thesis aims to examine whether there is existing District Health Board (DHB) policy focused on implementing institutional responses to climate change. Further, this research seeks to understand the extent to which any identified DHB climate change policy responds to Māori health. 

At the time of study, DHBs were responsible for providing and funding health services throughout Aotearoa. During the late stages of this research, the health sector underwent reform, and two health authorities have replaced DHBs. The implications of this research have important ramifications within the newly established health authorities. A dedicated Māori health authority will provide the health sector with the chance to advance health equity by acting on holistic understandings of health for Māori. These actions would establish health policy that recognises Māori health as fundamentally linked to the environment and therefore uniquely impacted by climate change. 

To achieve the aims of this thesis, two research methods were implemented. Initially, an environmental scan of 17 DHB websites was completed to identify climate change and Māori health policies. This was followed by qualitative interviews with three DHB staff from diverse localities. Additionally, tāngata whenua interviews from the wider research project named Haumanu Hauora, were analysed to ensure Māori understandings of climate change were included in this research (Masters-Awatere et al., 2022). 

Research findings provide insights that point to highly fragmented climate change policies across the health sector. There is a glaring lack of direction in the health sector's response to climate change throughout existing policy. Māori health policies were in place across all DHBs, however, lacked recognition of the interconnection between Māori health and the natural environment, and therefore the impacts of climate change. 

Although policy was fragmented across regions, there is potential to enhance both climate change and Māori health policies by recognising the interconnected nature of Māori health and climate change. This will necessitate a significant change in the health systems policy response to climate change that prioritises mātauranga Māori and addresses the ongoing impacts of colonisation.

text: An examination of DHB climate change policy and implementation: Responsiveness to Māori health The impacts of climate change have become increasingly evident throughout the world and in Aotearoa. Frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as flooding, coastal erosion, wildfires, and droughts are notably increasing. Climate-related disasters have devastating effects on human health, as is well documented in literature. These effects include cardiovascular disease, poorer mental health, food insecurity and water borne disease. 

Due to pre-existing health disparities, Māori are particularly vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change. Further, Māori have unique relationships with whenua wherein destruction of the natural environment will have a negative impact on the health of Māori people and communities. The health sector has an obligation to respond to Māori health in a way that honours Māori relationships with the environment and prioritises equitable health outcomes for Māori in climate change policy. 

Although Māori face potentially severe health impacts due to climate change, there is limited literature that considers health sector climate change policy and its responsiveness to Māori health. In an effort to address this gap in literature, this thesis aims to examine whether there is existing District Health Board (DHB) policy focused on implementing institutional responses to climate change. Further, this research seeks to understand the extent to which any identified DHB climate change policy responds to Māori health. 

At the time of study, DHBs were responsible for providing and funding health services throughout Aotearoa. During the late stages of this research, the health sector underwent reform, and two health authorities have replaced DHBs. The implications of this research have important ramifications within the newly established health authorities. A dedicated Māori health authority will provide the health sector with the chance to advance health equity by acting on holistic understandings of health for Māori. These actions would establish health policy that recognises Māori health as fundamentally linked to the environment and therefore uniquely impacted by climate change. 

To achieve the aims of this thesis, two research methods were implemented. Initially, an environmental scan of 17 DHB websites was completed to identify climate change and Māori health policies. This was followed by qualitative interviews with three DHB staff from diverse localities. Additionally, tāngata whenua interviews from the wider research project named Haumanu Hauora, were analysed to ensure Māori understandings of climate change were included in this research (Masters-Awatere et al., 2022). 

Research findings provide insights that point to highly fragmented climate change policies across the health sector. There is a glaring lack of direction in the health sector's response to climate change throughout existing policy. Māori health policies were in place across all DHBs, however, lacked recognition of the interconnection between Māori health and the natural environment, and therefore the impacts of climate change. 

Although policy was fragmented across regions, there is potential to enhance both climate change and Māori health policies by recognising the interconnected nature of Māori health and climate change. This will necessitate a significant change in the health systems policy response to climate change that prioritises mātauranga Māori and addresses the ongoing impacts of colonisation.

year: 2025

title: Marine inequality, borderization, and the radical potential of kinship

authors: McCormack, Fiona

subjects: Aquaculture

abstract: This article utilizes scholarship on borders to interpret the persistence of inequality in Indigenous seascapes, irrespective of moves to redress colonial wrongs or the growing anthropocenic recognition of human-nature interconnectedness. I examine border politics in the context of Māori claims for marine title and rights and the post-settlement development of aquaculture. Drawing on Harsha Walia’s concept of “border imperialism” and Achille Mbembe’s thesis on “borderization,” the article highlights the endurance of colonial forms alongside their neoliberal transformation into the enclosures and entrapments arising in the context of accelerated marine industrialization. By holding in tension the interconnection between marine environments and kinship, on one hand, and scholarship on borders, on the other, the article suggests that Indigenous Māori kinship, expanding through multiple layers of difference, constitutes a site of resistance that has the potential to refute the logic of borderization.

text: Marine inequality, borderization, and the radical potential of kinship This article utilizes scholarship on borders to interpret the persistence of inequality in Indigenous seascapes, irrespective of moves to redress colonial wrongs or the growing anthropocenic recognition of human-nature interconnectedness. I examine border politics in the context of Māori claims for marine title and rights and the post-settlement development of aquaculture. Drawing on Harsha Walia’s concept of “border imperialism” and Achille Mbembe’s thesis on “borderization,” the article highlights the endurance of colonial forms alongside their neoliberal transformation into the enclosures and entrapments arising in the context of accelerated marine industrialization. By holding in tension the interconnection between marine environments and kinship, on one hand, and scholarship on borders, on the other, the article suggests that Indigenous Māori kinship, expanding through multiple layers of difference, constitutes a site of resistance that has the potential to refute the logic of borderization.

year: 2025

title: An investigation into the effects of tootling for instruction- following and on-task student behaviour in a New Zealand primary school

authors: Enright , Candace Jena

abstract: This study aimed to extend the literature on tootling interventions within a New Zealand. In a tootling procedure, students are taught how to report on their peers’ prosocial behaviours, which is combined with public posting and inter-dependent group contingency components. This focus of this study was to determine if tootling affected the keystone skill of instruction-following for three target students and their comparison peers in one primary classroom. Additionally, on-task behaviour, teacher praise statements and teacher stress were measured in an A-B-A-B-C-D reversal design with a fading and follow-up phase. Increases in instruction-following and on-task behaviour occurred for two of the three target students and their peers. Mixed results were reported concerning teacher praise statements and teacher stress. Both the teacher and the students viewed the intervention as socially acceptable, and treatment integrity remained high across all phases. Strengths, limitations, and implications for further practice are discussed.

text: An investigation into the effects of tootling for instruction- following and on-task student behaviour in a New Zealand primary school This study aimed to extend the literature on tootling interventions within a New Zealand. In a tootling procedure, students are taught how to report on their peers’ prosocial behaviours, which is combined with public posting and inter-dependent group contingency components. This focus of this study was to determine if tootling affected the keystone skill of instruction-following for three target students and their comparison peers in one primary classroom. Additionally, on-task behaviour, teacher praise statements and teacher stress were measured in an A-B-A-B-C-D reversal design with a fading and follow-up phase. Increases in instruction-following and on-task behaviour occurred for two of the three target students and their peers. Mixed results were reported concerning teacher praise statements and teacher stress. Both the teacher and the students viewed the intervention as socially acceptable, and treatment integrity remained high across all phases. Strengths, limitations, and implications for further practice are discussed.

year: 2023