Ngā Puna Aroha: towards an indigenous-centred freshwater allocation framework for Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT

Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental policy and legislation recognises Māori Indigenous principles and values, and gives prominence to Te Mana o te Wai (the authority of water itself). However, current policy, legislation, and practice are inadequate for enabling Māori rights and interests in water takes and instream flows and levels, in terms of both involvement and specific allocation mechanisms supporting Māori values. We argue that a policy and implementation space needs to be created that ensures indigenous Māori engagement and outcomes in freshwater governance, planning, and management. This space should provide for an integrated, precautionary, and bicultural ‘First Principles’ approach, ensuring that Māori rights and interests consistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) are enabled, including the exercise of mātauranga Māori (knowledge informed by Māori worldviews), tikanga (Māori customs and lore), and kaitiakitanga (guardianship). We outline a potential water allocation framework, Ngā Puna Aroha, that could provide direction and give confidence and certainty to the implementers of national water policy. Such an approach would need to be supported by a broader bicultural policy and we suggest an overarching philosophy Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho, which would encompass all natural ‘resource’ management, providing a korowai (cloak) for the management of each particular ‘resource’ or taonga (treasure) including freshwater. This type of bicultural proposal could inform freshwater and wider natural ‘resource’ management policymaking, regulatory frameworks, and implementation nationally and internationally.

KEYWORDS:

• Tikanga
• mãtauranga
• taonga
• indigenous rights
• co-governance
• co-management
• bicultural
• freshwater allocation
• policy
• legislation
• reform
• framework

Notes

1. Aotearoa is a Māori name both for New Zealand’s North Island and often used for the entire country, as is the case in this paper.

2. Since 1975 many New Zealand laws have referred to the principles of the treaty, all attempting to define the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi in contemporary New Zealand society. Treaty principles have been referred to in court cases, new laws, Waitangi Tribunal findings, and a 1989 government statement. For a useful guide, refer to He Tirohanga ō Kawa Ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi: A guide to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi as expressed by the Courts and the Waitangi Tribunal.

3. The other allocation mechanism proposed by the Tribunal, to satisfy ‘proprietary redress’ if regulatory reform is the only option, is royalties/charges.

4. The authors have included the term ‘responsAbility’ as coined in ‘ResponsAbility: Law and Governance for Living Well with Earth’ (Martin et al (eds) 2018) to prompt debate about ‘what is responsAble water allocation and broader governance and management?’. ResponsAbility comes from our relational life and our bonds with others; expressed as love (aroha), as a response to need, or as remedial action. Its focus is exploring the ethic of shared responsibility and relationships among communities as the building blocks for social action. It encourages precautionary, accountable, and relational approaches denoting a proactive and prospective orientation.

5. The framework is informed by Ngā Matapono ki te Wai which is supported by many iwi (Freshwater Iwi Leaders Group 2019).

6. We note that the 2019 freshwater reforms propose mahinga kai as a metric rather than mauri (Ministry for the Environment 2019b).

7. In comparison, as referenced in section 55 earlier, Article 318 of the Ecuadorean constitution explicitly prioritises these different water uses: 1. Human consumption (domestic water); 2. Irrigation for food sovereignty; 3. Environmental flow; and 4. Productive activities. And in Australia, some water reserves have been proactively set aside in Queensland and the Northern Territory to help indigenous communities achieve socio-cultural aspirations, including commercial aspirations (Jackson and Langton 2011; Jackson and Barber 2013).