Enabling kaitiakitanga and environment-based management

Aotearoa New Zealand’s increasingly degraded coastal and marine environments are, in part, a consequence of the radical ecological changes following colonisation. The colonising processes sidelined mātauranga Māori and kaitiakitanga-based environmental management in favour of western scientific knowledge, and associated environmental management and governance approaches.

Aotearoa New Zealand needs new marine management approaches that incorporate multiple forms of knowledge, including scientific and mātauranga Māori. Any new approach must also address Māori rights, interests and values as Treaty partners, mana whenua and kaitiaki.

This project is part of the New Zealand government’s Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge / Ko ngā moana whakauka.

This project explores two key areas. The first is the alignments and differences between kaitiakitanga and EBM, and how can these approaches successfully work together. The second is how place-based practitioners, policy makers and others engaged in EBM can bring both science and mātauranga Māori together to underpin decision-making.

The project team will co-develop a practical toolkit of strategies and tools for practitioners to use for collaborative kaitiakitanga and EBM approaches in marine management.