Te Kūwaha and Māori

Climate has always been important for Māori. It affects natural environmental systems and resources, influences social-ecological knowledge and practice, shapes community vulnerability and resilience.

A four-year research programme focused on the co-management and restoration of our freshwater taonga species.

Te Nehenehenui (previously Maniapoto Māori Trust board) and NIWA are working collaboratively to support Ngāti Maniapoto whānau to reconnect with and participate in the assessment of their freshwater according to their values.

This project seeks to understand and better implement a Māori perspective within the current marine biosecurity system in New Zealand.

NIWA is leading a new six-year research project that seeks to increase our understanding of piharau/kanakana/lamprey, using Mātauranga Māori, social science and biophysical science approaches.

Through the Te Wai Māori fund Ngā Repo o Maniapoto is a collaborative project between NIWA and the Maniapoto Māori Trust Board (MMTB) Whanake Taiao team that looks to develop an inventory of repo and puna (springs) for the Maniapoto rohe.

New Zealand’s freshwater and estuarine resources provide significant cultural, economic, social, and environmental benefits. Competition for the use of these resources is intensifying, and many rivers, lakes and estuaries are now degraded.

Three plants of an endemic submerged quillwort (Isoëtes) were recovered from Lake Ōmāpere by NIWA in 1998, prior to the lake weed (Egeria densa) dying off and the lake switching into an algal dominated turbid state. No further isoëtes plants have been observed in the lake since that time.

Ngā Waihotanga Iho, the estuarine monitoring toolkit for Iwi, has been developed to provide tangata whenua with tools to measure environmental changes in their estuaries. While Ngā Waihotanga Iho is based on sound science principles, it is also underpinned by tangata whenua values.

Using a collaborative case study approach, the aim of this project is to assist tangata whenua to bring together different, yet complementary knowledge systems - distinct Māori knowledge and conventional fisheries and ecosystem information.