This first-of-its-kind project brings together an all-Māori research team of revered traditional mātauranga Māori environmental experts with contemporary kaupapa Māori scientists, academics, iwi practitioners, environmentalists and rangatahi.
The project draws on experts from the moana (sea), whenua (land), rangi (sky), and iwi (people) to address the state of our environment through rāhui. Each team member is a mātauranga expert and leader in their field of research, is well published, and has extensive experience of delivering excellent research. The five iwi representatives are tribal leaders, sit on tribal governance boards, and manage their environmental strategy. The iwi organisations are active Treaty partners to the Crown.
This collaborative project works with five iwi (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Hei and Ngāti Rehua Ngāti Wai) that have implemented rāhui or temporary legislative closures for identified species and spaces, in the degraded waters of Tīkapa and Te Moananui-ā-Toi. This intergenerational project will be a co-production across iwi experiencing similar catastrophic impacts in the moana to embark on innovative, replicable, pragmatic, in-water, mātauranga Māori solutions and actions to assist the regeneration and restoration of rohe moana.
