“Ka ora te taiao, ka ora te tangata”
“Our environment is healthy, we are healthy and will prosper”
We see the world as a unified whole, where all the elements are connected. As tangata whenua, we must maintain the balance of both the spiritual and physical well-being of the environment while allowing the use of resources for commercial, recreational, educational and social purposes.
Kaitiakitanga is a practice that has been instilled in us. We want to pass on a legacy that leaves the environment in a clean and sustainable state for future generations. This can be achieved by restoring and enhancing the mauri of land, rivers, streams, aquifers, wetlands, estuaries and the coastal environment within our rohe.
Our Plan
In 2018 we developed a hapū management plan to voice the collective aspirations for the environment and our people. This plan (particularly chapter 5), which we’ve updated along the way, covers all aspects of our taiao: land and air; rivers, streams and groundwater aquifers; wetlands; fisheries and our moana. It includes policies related to the effects of human activities (e.g. discharges, earthworks).
This is what we’re working towards:
- A healthy environment so that we can swim safely and gather kai
- To be able to provide sufficient food for ourselves and our manuhiri
- Our lands to be productive and managed in line with our cultural values
- Water to be taken and used responsibly and efficiently
- Our people to reconnect to our whenua, our moana and our culture
- To revitalise cultural practices and upskill whānau – as kaitiaki – to be more actively involved in caring for our environment.