Kaitiakitanga: Caring for the Whenua
Photo of my whenua at Mohaka (Ngāti Pāhauwera), Source: Maia Aramakutu.
Kaitiakitanga is a term we should all, hopefully, be aware of by now. Especially because one of our values at UC is tiakitanga: “He kaitiaki tātou katoa, we will enhance and nurture our resources.” I hope the term kaitiakitanga is familiar to us all as UC students, and that we at least have an idea of what the value means.
In Te Ao Māori, humans, and the whenua (land) are one. This is because we belong to the whenua, rather than the whenua belonging to us.
Therefore, our identity is our environment and we whakapapa to the whenua, which means we are connected to the whenua.
In my iwi, Ngāti Porou, our tipuna (ancestor) Paikea transformed himself into a tohorā (whale). Through this, he established our connection between ourselves and nature. We understand that whenua and moana have mauri (life essence) – therefore it’s essential for us to treat the whenua and moana as such.
This affects how we view the whenua, as in Te Ao Māori we only take from the whenua what we need, and we give back to the whenua. This is because we aim to leave the whenua in the best condition for our future generations to thrive.
In Te Ao Māori every iwi and hapū are kaitiaki (guardians) over their tribunal boundaries, and the environment that lies within those boundaries.
Kaitiakitanga is a core value in Te Ao Māori. Kaitiakitanga is defined simply as guardianship and protection.
In the Resource Management Act 1991, the Government defined kaitiakitanga as “The exercise of guardianship; in relation to a resource, includes the ethic of stewardship based on the nature of the resource itself.”
In a 2000 paper, academic Merata Kawharu (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi) wrote, “Kaitiakitanga should not be defined only as ‘guardianship’ … but also resource management.”
These definitions are all valid and communicate the concept of kaitiakitanga.
An example of kaitiakitanga is that Māori only trap birds during the right times of the year – which mean they do not trap birds when they are breeding. If Māori were to continue to hunt birds all year round, it would negatively affect the balance of the ecosystem.
Because the climate is different throughout Aotearoa – for example, Te Waipounamu the South Island is colder than Te Ika-a-Māui the North Island – the environment will need to be looked after differently. Therefore, iwi have their own forms of kaitiakitanga which are relevant to their whenua within their tribunal boundaries.
However, the basic principles of kaitiakitanga are the same across Aotearoa. For example, iwi will take over all resources.
In relation to sustainability, kaitiakitanga is a core value that we can utilise to ensure our environment is properly managed and protected.
Kaitiakitanga is in action in the contemporary era – many organisations throughout Aotearoa have kaitiakitanga as a core value, in all different sectors. It was even one of the values at my high school, which in my opinion is kind of random.
Amongst iwi, kaitiakitanga is a core value that iwi uphold. Let’s take a look at its role for Ngāi Tahu.
The whakataukī (proverb) for Ngāi Tahi businesses is “mō tatou, ā, mō kā uri ā muri ake nei” (for us and our children after us) – according to the Ngāi Tahu website.
This relates to sustainable practice in the management of resources and the protection of the environment so they can sustain health living from the whenua for many years.
An example is Ngāi Tahu’s relationship with pounamu. Ngāi Tahu are the kaitiaki (guardian) of pounamu resources in Te Waipounamu the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. This means they are the supplier of Te Waipounamu pounamu to the commercial pounamu industry.
As a result, they have developed a resource management plan that allows for the protection of pounamu in a way that is sustainable and responsible.
Ngāi Tahu protects pounamu by placing restrictions on fossicking and collection. Fossicking of pounamu is allowed on the beaches of Te Tai o Poutini the West Coast. A person is only allowed to take as much as they can carry on their person, or in a backpack, within a 24-hour period.
Ngāi Tahu also place restrictions on collection, which can be permanent or temporary. These are put in place to protect pounamu and to make sure there is pounamu for future generations.
Akaroa Harbour. Source: Bernard Spragg / Flickr.
Another example of Ngāi Tahu kaitiakitanga is Ngāi Tahu Seafood, which manages the fisheries settlement assets owned by Ngāi Tahu Fishers Settlement Ltd.
Ngāi Tahu Seafoods invests in the sustainable management of fisheries and works closely with the Ministry of Primary Industries to ensure fish stocks are well-managed, making sure that quotas reflect availability and that they are not taking more than is sustainable.
Ngāi Tahu also use fishers whose families have been fishing for generations. Therefore, they are guided by the principles of kaitiakitanga that have been known to them for decades.
Māori, as a collective, have influence over sustainability within the fishing sector. This is because Māori have a 50% stake in the company Sealord, a market leader in frozen fish and ambient seafood.
According to the New Zealand Environment Guide, “57 iwi groups collectively maintain the largest single commercial interest in the country’s fisheries.”
As such, Māori across Aotearoa can make sure that fishing is sustainable by applying the principles of kaitiakitanga in their fishing practices – as seen in Ngāi Tahu.
This can also be seen in the way Ngāti Porou operates their seafood groups. Ngāti Porou owns their own brand of smoked fish products, Ahia, which is sold throughout Aotearoa.
To stay sustainable, they have switched the packaging of some of their products from plastic to glass.
On the Ngāti Porou website, they have written that they made this decision “because it was the right thing to do, not the easiest thing to do.” Ngāti Porou acknowledged that plastics are harmful to our environment – therefore they made the change to reduce harm. Disregarding whether it would be easy, they did it because the environment needs to be protected.
Ngāti Porou, through their treaty settlement in 2010, have “dual authority” with the Crown over conservation within their whenua boundaries around Tairāwhiti Gisborne.
Here, they reassert kaitiakitanga in the conservation of their whenua, which is important as Ngāti Porou are the kaitiaki over their tribal boundary.
Their mātauranga-a-iwi (our tribunal knowledge system) is built into their environment. Therefore, they know better than anyone else the right way to go about conversation of the whenua, as they have been learning for a very long time on how to take care of their whenua.
Through the principles of kaitiakitanga we can live off the whenua sustainably and we can help to protect our environment.