Ki uta ki tai – IEM ki te ao Māori?

Taumutu Marae

On the 25^th August 2011, Ngati Moki hosted for the first time in its history, a Government Minister at its Taumutu Marae. 

Dr Nick Smith, the Minister of the Environment visited the marae to mark the signing of Whakaora Te Waihora, a long term relationship agreement and shared commitment between Ngāi Tahu, Te Waihora Management Board and Environment Canterbury.

One of the dual purposes of this agreement is to:

“provide for sustainable management of natural and physical resources, and the realisation of outcomes aimed at the restoration and rejuvenation of Te Waihora, including the cultural, biodiversity, mahinga kai, economic, and recreational values. This includes the outstanding values relating to habitat for wildlife, indigenous vegetation and fish and significance in accordance with tikanga Ngāi Tahu in respect of Ngāi Tahu history, mahinga kai and the customary fishery. This will be delivered for Te Waihora and its catchment through a framework driven by Ki Uta Ki Tai / integrated management of the catchment which recognises and provides for the practical and meaningful exercise of the respective statutory and kaitiakitanga responsibilities of the Parties.” [emphasis added]

Whilst a blog (and probably an essay) could be written about the IEM implications within the first part of that clause, for the time being I am more interested in investigating further the expression “ki uta ki tai”.

In the interpretation section of the agreement, it is defined as:

“a Ngāi Tahu paradigm and ethic and is the Ngāi Tahu way of understanding the natural environment, including how it functions, how people relate to it and how it can be looked after appropriately. It is the concept used to describe the overall approach to natural resource management by Ngāi Tahu - from the mountains to the sea.”

Quite literally, it means “from the mountains to the sea”, but I was curious to find out what this means in actual environmental management practice, and how close it is to an integrated approach to environmental management.

This led me to Ngāi Tahu’s 2025 vision document, in particular the Te Ao Tūroa (natural environment) section. This vision was prepared in 2000 and contains goals for the iwi, and “where their whānau, hapū and iwi would be in 25 years time, what they would look like and what the world would look like”

Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu logo

Under te ao turoa, Ngāi Tahu has a number of 5 year and 5 to 25 year goals, including to develop a generic ‘Ki Uta Ki Tai’ iwi environmental management plan (within 5 years), and to develop ‘Ki Uta Ki Tai’ environmental management plans for Papatipu Rūnanga (the ancestral tribes) (5–25 years).

As a means to achieving this first goal, in 2002/2003 Ngāi Tahu’s Kaupapa Taiao (“environment policy") developed a draft scoping document for the Ki Uta Ki Tai concept, including ways it can be implemented to achieve the aspirations for our natural environment as outlined in Ngāi Tahu 2025.

From this document, the following local Papatipu Rūnanga Ki Uta Ki Tai Plans (“iwi management plans”) have been developed, including:

• Te Taumutu Rūnanga Natural Resource Management Plan 2003;

• Kāi Tahu Ki Otago Natural Resource Plan 2005;

• Kaikōura Rūnanga Natural Resource Management Plan 2005 (second edition 2007); and

• Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio Kaitiakitaka Pounamu (Pounamu Resource Management Plan) 2009.

So, how do these plans reflect the principles of IEM?

On closer inspection of the Kaikōura Plan (2^nd edition), it is possible to see a substantial amount of the Bührs' IEM Matrix within the plan’s contents page alone. (I won't go further than the contents page, given the document is 339 pages long!)

Selected components of Kaikōura Rūnanga Natural Resource Management Plan	Corresponding Bührs IEM matrix / IEM principle component
Part 1: Introduction
“Relationship with other plans and policy”	Integration with other policies/plans
“Outcomes” Kaitiakitanga and Treaty-related outcomes; Environmental outcomes; and Social, economic, health and well-being outcomes.	A broad, holistic view of “environment”, includes consideration of components of the triple bottom line (plus culture!)
Part 2: Kaitiakitanga
“Legislative frame work”	A further integration of policy, sets out connections with existing legislation.
“Kaitiakitanga: Values and principles”	Integration of knowledge, interpretation, analysis.
Part 3: Policy
“Atmosphere and Air”	The first component of a wide interpretation of “environment”. The following sections include this wide interpretation, adopting a catchment based approach to environmental management.
“Awatere”	Integrates the land-related environmental components of the Awatere River catchment and surrounds, for example: mountains (Tapuae o Uenuku), forestry, vineyards, freshwater, riparian planting, salt extraction, mahinga kai, biodiversity, river banks, hazardous substances/new organisms.
“Waiau Toa”	The Clarence River catchment gets a similar integrated management approach as the Awatere River catchment. This section also includes consideration of high country matters (tenure, access), and transport matters.
“Te Ahi Kaikōura a Tama ki te Rangi”	Again, an integrated, “catchment” based approach to management of the local Kaikōura region, including the township. Covers matters such as residential subdivision, business, tourism, farming, sewage disposal, gravel extraction.
“Okarahia ki te Hurunui”	The Hurunui catchment (includes Tūtae Putaputa, Waiau and Hurunui rivers). Matters such as forestry, limestone mining, Hanmer Springs, water extraction and minimum flows.
“Te Tai o Marokura”	The coastal marine area of Kaikōura: from Te Parinui o Whiti to the Hurunui River and out to the open sea. Includes issues such as coastal land use and development, coastal protection, activities in the CMA, fisheries, marine mammals, marine birds, offshore petroleum extraction.
“Wahi Tapu”	Significant treasures and sacred places. The final component of the broad interpretation of “environment”.
Part 4: Implementing the plan
“Effective partnerships”	Institutional integration of Ngati Kuri with regional/territorial authorities and other organisations, where “effective partnership” involves communication and collaboration.
“Implementation tools and methods”	No single “solution” advocated – a variety of tools that are flexible and adaptable.

 

From the mountains..

Whilst that is a very brief summary of the content of the plan, it seems to me that it embodies both literally, and strategically, the “mountains to the sea” philosophy of “ki uta ki tai”. I will be interested to follow how such management plans are now implemented, and how the notion of ki uta ki tai can contribute to an integrated approach to environmental management.

Inland Kaikoura (view from Mount Fyffe)

..to the sea