Category: Te Ao Māori

Source: Radio New Zealand

A new study has linked food insecurity experienced by Māori to the ongoing consequence of colonisation rather than the result of individual choice or lifestyle.

The study, led by postdoctoral health researcher Dr Madeline Shelling (Ngāti Porou) from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland draws on in-depth interviews with Māori kai experts.

It documents how land loss, environmental degradation, restrictive laws and the marginalisation of mātauranga Māori have dismantled Māori food systems across generations.

Shelling said the research began with a visit to her whānau in Te Araroa, where despite the community taking pride in the food they could source from the land they were still counted as being food insecure.

“It came out quite clearly in my PhD that the way that we assess kai security or food security in Aotearoa is not representing Māori values, traditions or knowledge because it’s a questionnaire made up of eight questions that are all related to how we access food by having money and obviously in te ao Māori and many indigenous cultures around the world, having money is not the only way that you access kai, and it never has been.”

The outcomes of food insecurity in Aotearoa, as a wealthy, settler colonial nation, are expressed in obesity, diabetes and non-communicable and diet-related diseases which come with stigma, she said.

“Having great access to bad food is a problem that is faced by indigenous people in settler colonised countries all over the world it’s a very common pattern and yet individual choice is still blamed and so I’m just really passionate about moving away from that stigma that there is a choice because there often is very little choice.

“What if fish and chips is the only option in your area that you can access? What if you work two jobs and you don’t have transport and the only place you can walk to is McDonald’s?

“People who have the privilege of choice don’t understand what it’s like to not have that choice.”

Shelling said reducing food insecurity to individual choice ignores systemic issues faced by people in lower socio-economic areas and it excludes people who have experienced colonisation.

“Colonisation is such an important determinant of food insecurity and it has to be acknowledged so that we can remove some of these stigmas about individuals having choice over their food, when really their environment, their intergenerational trauma, their lack of intergenerational wealth through colonisation has all contributed to their inability to choose certain types of food and particularly healthy foods.”

The study identified four key impacts of colonisation, loss of land, erosion of rangatiratanga, marginalisation of Māori knowledge and impacts on health.

“It’s hard to get healthy kai when you don’t have healthy whenua that you can access,” Shelling said.

To solve the problems of food insecurity there is a responsibility from the top down to implement policy and there’s also from the bottom up, what whānau decide to do day to day and what they are able to do, because for a lot of whānau choosing where to buy food is not an option, she said.

“I want to make it really clear that Māori are trying to do something about it and Māori don’t want to be reliant on fast foods and takeaways.

“If we truly understood how colonisation impacted our food systems, we would not call it playing the victim it’s about understanding truly the effects of colonisation on every aspect of our life and for my research in particular on food systems and then where do we go from there and that’s a responsibility that we have for tangata tiriti and tangata whenua for doing it from the top down and the bottom up.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

At the end of 2025 New Zealand missed its smokefree target and a tobacco control advocate says getting back on track will require a policy shift away from focussing on individuals towards whole system change.

The target was to reach smoking rates of below 5 percent for all population groups. According to the latest NZ Health Survey, 6.8 percent of the total population were daily smokers, but rates for Māori remained stubbornly higher at 15 percent.

The government released a revised Smokefree Action Plan at the end of 2024.

Associate professor at the University of Otago and co-director of Aspire Aotearoa Anaru Waa (Ngāti Hine) told RNZ that reaching a Smokefree Aotearoa might require a rethink of the goal, moving away from thinking of it as a problem of too many people using nicotine towards a problem of tobacco industry exploitation.

“I think the big thing is to achieve the goal, we’ve got to stop focusing on individuals. I mean, we need to support people to quit … it’s vital, but actually the focus should be on the industry and where they sell their products. And so the only way to get to an end game is to stop the supply.”

However, the goal of a smokefree Aotearoa was still achievable, he said.

“When you can buy cigarettes or vapes at any corner store, at service stations and so forth, that’s the problem. So I think it’s entirely achievable, in fact we could achieve it within two years if we wanted to, if we had a government that was committed to it.

“In fact, I think we need to have a fairly close time frame, because I’m worried that the longer we take to achieve the goal, the more time we give the industry to adapt.”

Waa said any revamped smokefree plan would need to have tailored measures to support Māori, although he said tailored measures would not achieve the goal alone.

“In Aotearoa, it started in the 80s, our tobacco control programme largely focused on individuals and the assumption was that individuals need resources to do what we want them to do, either quit smoking or not start smoking. We know that those resources aren’t the same throughout society, so some people have more social support, are less exposed to retailers, we know that there’s more vape retailers in poorer communities … [if we] run with the assumption that if we focus on individuals, what we do is we get slow change and we get inequitable change.

“So the only way to make the change fair and equitable is to have big, wide-ranging measures that affect everybody in the same way. Therefore, getting rid of our smoked tobacco is a really good start, addressing other nicotine products to make sure they’re only there as therapies, if at all, and that’s the best way to do it.”

Associate Minister of Health Casey Costello said New Zealand had made great progress in reducing smoking rates – especially since 2018 when vapes became widely available. The gains had been particularly noticeable for young people and for Māori, she said.

“When the NZ Health Survey began in 2011/12, more than 37 percent of Māori were daily smokers. In the latest survey that figure was down to 15 percent. Since 2018, Māori smoking rates have halved and the latest stats show 118,000 Māori have quit smoking in the last five years.

“These reductions are really significant; no other country is making this sort of progress.

“But of course we still have a way to go – we want to stop people smoking to reduce the health impacts and there’s a particular focus on supporting Māori and Pacific populations where rates are higher. The official target we’re working towards is to reduce smoking rates below 5 percent for all population groups.”

Costello said the Smokefree Action Plan 2025 covered a range of actions across four key areas: reducing smoking uptake, increasing quit attempts, improving access to quit support, and supporting people to stay smokefree.

“To reach the 5 percent goal, health promotion campaigns, community mobilisation activities and stop smoking services need to be targeted and appropriate for the communities and population groups they are trying to reach.

“For example, Health New Zealand’s Breakfree to Smokefree social media campaign is targeted at Māori and Pacific smokers and government-funded Kaupapa Māori quit smoking programmes across the country support Māori to quit in a culturally appropriate way.”

But Waa called the plan a “rehash” of what had been done in previous decades.

“[The plan] was about, you know, focusing on young people to stop picking up smoking, some measures around disposable vapes which was important, and supporting people to quit smoking. But we know these measures, like I said, have a small incremental change over time, but they’re inequitable.

“So it was a rehash of what we already know, while important, wasn’t going to achieve the goal at all. And in fact, I’d also argue that they probably had less resource to do what they had previously. So it was a bit of a window dressing.”

Costello said because most who were still smoking were older, long-term smokers, it was important to provide access to less harmful products that could help people quit smoking and to encourage people to get help as stopping smoking was not easy.

“People are around four times more likely to quit smoking by using a stop smoking service, than by trying on their own.”

In the lead up to the election in November, Waa said he would be looking closely at each party’s policies around tobacco, although he noted the repeal of the Smokefree Act was not in National’s manifesto heading into the last election in 2023.

“Let’s be clear, the repeal of the Act means that a lot of people are going to continue to smoke. And we know that a lot of those people who continue to smoke are going to die or have, you know, really large harm. So there’s a huge harm on society, which this government has caused.”

Waa said he would also like to see efforts to curb tobacco industry influence and lobbying.

Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verall has proposed a member’s bill “to protect New Zealanders’ health from the influence of big tobacco and shed light on their links to decision-makers”.

“We definitely need stronger measures because as we close the door on tobacco, it’s not as if the industry isn’t thinking about what they’ll do next. What they’ll do next is get more people addicted to vapes,” Waa said.

Waa said whatever the approach to reaching a Smokefree Aotearoa, it could not be a piecemeal one – it is a system and needed to be addressed as a whole system.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Pita Tipene is no stranger at Waitangi. He served on the Waitangi National Trust Board for almost a decade, only stepping down when he hit the board’s maximum term limit.

Now as chairperson of the Northland Regional Council, he wants local government more involved at Waitangi.

“Knowing that the bicentennial of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is now only 14 years away, I hope I’m still here then, so if you keep that in focus and you look at what Te Tiriti o Waitangi is all about, article 2 refers to kawanatanga, governance.

“Too often people look to Wellington, and by the way, the capital used to be just across the water here at Okiato. But too many people look to Wellington as kawanatanga and tend to forget that local government is just as involved in that article. Local government, in my case Northland Regional Council, has to step up and be honourable partners.”

Tipene said it did not really matter where the council was located, but he said the four Northland councils, Far North, Whangārei, Kaipara and Northland Regional, had been working together to ensure the solutions for Northland came out of Northland.

“So what we know is Northland is not one place where you can paint it with one brush. Over in the Kaipara, or north of Mangamuka, or in the Bay of Islands or Hokianga, we have our different ways and implications. So my message is we are very united and we are going to the government to say we have the solutions, bespoke solutions, that for instance protect and enhance our environment.”

Northland Regional Council included a committee called Te Ruarangi, which was a mixture of iwi voices and hapu voices, to give affect to Te Tiriti, he said.

“It is a very powerful forum and if you were to ever sit in there and experience the level of discussion and debate and insight into how Te Tiriti o Waitangi as envisaged in 1840 can be applied in 2026 and beyond, I’d invite anybody to come and listen to that.”

Far North District Council mayor Moko Tepania said last year was the first that Local Government New Zealand was officially represented at Waitangi.

“We at a local government level carry so many of those principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi around partnerships, local partnerships with iwi, hapū, marae, whānau on the ground. So it’s only right that we as a sector are represented here at the same time.”

Northland councils have always been co-hosts alongside mana whenua for Waitangi commemorations and it was great to have other councils participate, he said.

“We have obligations under so many different pieces of legislation, least of all in the Local Government Act to uphold the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and how we deal with Māori on the ground. We’re local government. We sit alongside iwi rūnanga, who are also a form of local government in this country as well. So it’s always beautiful to come home to see those who come to also respect and honour our nation’s founding document here in the birthplace of the nation, Waitangi.”

Tipene said in the lead up to the centennial in 1940, iwi and political leaders got together and asked what could be done to ensure that the centennial reflected the nationhood.

“The tangible symbols is the Whare Rūnanga, they built and opened it on the 6th of February 1940. Ngātokimatawhaorua the waka was launched at the same time.

“Tangible symbols, what’s our generation contribution? Will it be a new bridge that is two lane and symbolic of Te Tiriti o Waitangi instead of the one lane bridge that we currently have? That’s something for us to all think about.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A group of Aboriginal manuhiri (visitors) say they have travelled across the Tasman to stand alongside Māori at Waitangi, drawing on shared experiences as Indigenous peoples navigating the impacts of government policy on culture, language and land.

Follow updates from Waitangi on RNZ’s blog

The rōpū arrived in Aotearoa mid-week and took part in a WugulOra – a morning ceremony – at the Upper Treaty Grounds at dawn. They say being present at Waitangi is about solidarity, learning, and strengthening ties between Indigenous nations.

Gumbaynggirr woman Ellie Buchanan attended the dawn ceremony with her young daughter, Raya.

“We’re here to show support for our Māori whānau. To show solidarity,” Buchanan told RNZ.

“Toitū Te Tiriti.”

She said Indigenous communities in Australia closely watched what happened in Aotearoa, particularly in relation to language revitalisation and the protection of cultural rights.

“We look towards our Māori whānau in terms of being staunch on their culture and staunch on their language,” she said.

“If that changes, it has a significant impact on us as well as Indigenous people all around the world.”

Buchanan said relationships between Indigenous nations were grounded in a shared responsibility to the whenua (land) and to future generations.

“It’s absolutely important,” she said.

“Indigenous people have the strongest relationship to our country and to our earth. If we want to be able to sustain that, we need to be looking towards our First Nations’ people and to our Indigenous people.”

She described similarities between Gumbaynggirr and Māori values, particularly around caring for children, elders and land.

“[It is] very important to fill our bellies and love our babies and look after our old people and our country and sing our song and tell our story,” she said.

“It’s beautiful to connect and continue to connect.”

Buchanan also spoke about the political climate in Australia, saying it has been a difficult period for many Aboriginal people.

“A little while ago we had a referendum to get our own treaty, which was turned down,” she said.

“Unfortunately what that has opened up is more opportunity for racism and more opportunity for our people to be spoken down and denigrated.”

Despite that, she said her community continued to focus on strengthening its own foundations.

The group she is travelling with is connected to the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School, which she said translated to “a place of freedom for our Gumbaynggirr people”.

“We see that as an opportunity to say, we’re not dealing with that. You fellas do your own business, and we’re going to stand up for what’s right for our community and be staunch and be Gumbaynggirr every day.”

Troy Robinson, a Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Dunghutti man from the mid-north coast of New South Wales, was also part of the delegation. He said gatherings like Waitangi were important opportunities for Indigenous peoples to reconnect across borders.

“I think it’s very important that we have these gatherings and coming together of different nations, different cultures,” Robinson said. “We say different cultures, but in actual fact we’re actually quite similar in everything we do.”

Robinson said witnessing te ao Māori in action – particularly the strength of te reo Māori and tikanga – had been a key reason for making the haerenga (journey).

“Coming here to Aotearoa and seeing just the significance with language and the people, the strength and the resilience that they’ve built here, that’s why we come here,” he said.

Robinson is involved in establishing a bilingual school on Gumbaynggirr country, which now caters for children from kindergarten to Year 9. He said visiting Māori immersion and bilingual education settings here in Aotearoa was very valuable.

“Showing our children how important language is, the response to being together and being as one and looking after one another and sharing – that’s so important for our people.”

Robinson said the dawn ceremony his group performed at the Upper Treaty Grounds was a long-held cultural practice.

“Morning ceremonies and sunrise ceremonies were very frequent in a lot of cultures, and ours, it’s very, very frequent,” he said.

“Setting the mind, the body and the spirit free in peacefulness and solidarity – it’s something that our people have done since time immemorial.”

He said bringing rangatahi (young people) on the trip was a key focus, with around 15 to 20 of them travelling to Aotearoa.

“They’ll go back and be humble enough to share,” he said.

“Strength and resilience and love, caring, sharing – it’s already in their blood. They need to just move

forward and lead the way.”

Robinson said being at Waitangi was part of a much longer story of exchange between Indigenous peoples across oceans.

“The passing of knowledge, the passing and sharing of country, our people were at one with country,” he said. “Building that with others, that’s what our people did and have done since a long time ago.”

Both Buchanan and Robinson said their presence at Waitangi was about standing beside Māori as fellow Indigenous peoples.

“We’re here to show our solidarity,” Buchanan said.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Rangatahi at Waitangi say the decisions being made today must be grounded in the wellbeing of future generations, with many calling for stronger action on climate change and greater Māori participation in decision-making.

Taane Aruka Te Aho, who has been attending kaupapa alongside iwi leaders in Te Tai Tokerau, said being present in those spaces was about preparing the next generation of leaders.

“It’s important for us to understand what sort of mahi goes into the iwi chairs forum because we are the next generation of leaders,” he said.

“Because we want to be a part of it. We want to make a difference to ensure that our mokopuna, to ensure that our uri whakatipu are living in flourishing futures.”

Te Aho was one of the rangatahi leaders of Te Kāhu Pōkere – the group that travelled to Brazil for COP30 last year on behalf of Te Pou Take Āhuarangi, the climate change arm of the National Iwi Chairs Forum.

Tumai Cassidy, a Ngāi Tahu rangatahi leader who is also attending Waitangi this year, said caring for the environment was central to that future.

“Something that’s quite close to my heart is around our environment and how do we look after the environment and how do we stop these impacts from climate change that are battering our communities,” he said, adding that rangatahi had a crucial role to play.

“I think it’s important for rangatahi to be at the table, to listen, to learn, so that when they’re of that age where they’re leading their iwi, they have a broad range of experiences, all that history, those kind of things to inform our future decision making,” he said.

“But I think it’s good for rangatahi to be at the table and offer a different perspective as well.”

Iwi leaders say that involvement is already being seen on the ground.

Pou Tangata chairperson Rahui Papa said rangatahi were not just observing this year’s iwi chairs forum, but actively helping run them.

“Some of the rangatira, especially from Te Kahu o Taonui, have designated some of their rangatahi, and they’re wandering around, they’re being the hosts, they’re taking part in actually the facilitation of the hui, which is awesome,” he said.

“So you have some of the older folk that sit as chairs and things like that, but they’re actually bringing an air of succession into the facilitation of these hui.”

Papa said rangatahi from across the country had also travelled to Waitangi to help shape what their own future pathways could look like.

“They will be the stewards, they will be the custodians and the guardians of all aspects of te ao Māori in their time.”

Ngāti Kawa Taituha, Te Tii Marae chair said rangatahi involvement reflected a long line of intergenerational responsibility.

“It’s just again, adding and enhancing the mana of our tūpuna, the signatories, and then down to us, the descendants,” he said.

“And here we are today, carrying out all that mahi of our forebearers. Putting in all the effort to set up our next generation. Obviously, that’s what it’s all about for us.”

He said rangatahi were playing roles both behind the scenes and in visible leadership spaces during the commemorations.

“I think this is kind of really cool to see these groups of rangatahi coming to the marae, being part of the pōwhiri,” he said.

“These groups here are really organised leadership groups, and specifically honing in on really being in tune with our taumata, and capturing all this kōrero.”

‘Haere ki te pōti’

With an election year approaching, some rangatahi also linked their hopes for mokopuna with political participation.

Aruka Te Aho encouraged whānau to focus on their own communities and lift Māori voter turnout.

“We have three options,” he said.

“One is to elect a government and work with a government that prioritises te iwi Māori and the environment to increase climate funding.

“Two, we stop moaning about what this government can’t do for us and seek funding opportunities globally or elsewhere to ensure that we get that ‘moni’ motuhake. Or thirdly, we just keep doing what we’re doing and suffer the consequences.”

He said increasing Māori participation in voting was key.

“What we need to do is look at our own backyard, look at our own rohe and see what we can do to get soldiers out in terms of getting the voting up to ensure that Māori have a seat at the table so that we can make real change,” he said.

“Haere ki te pōti.”

Cassidy’s focus this election was centred on the environment.

“Vote for the taiao, vote for the environment. Without the environment, we’re not going to be here,” he said.

The focus on mokopuna and future generations is also being carried by a group of rangatahi taking part in a six-day hīkoi from Cape Rēinga to Waitangi, due to arrive on 6 February.

Many of the young people involved say they are marching to stand up for future generations and to send a message about honouring Te Tiriti.

The hīkoi is expected to make its way across Waitangi following waka celebrations.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Celebrations getting underway for Waitangi Day, starting with a dawn service which we are livestreaming on this page. Plus, follow our live coverage of all the action through the day from Waitangi and around the rest of Aotearoa on our liveblog below.

Follow our live coverage of all the action through the day at the top of this page.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

“Cremate and bury it”.

That’s the word from Minister for Māori Crown Relations Tama Potaka, who sat down with MATA host Mihingarangi Forbes in Waitangi for a wide-ranging interview on issues affecting Māori.

Asked what it was like as a Māori to watch his own party support the controversial Treaty Principles Bill through its first reading the Minister for Māori Crown Relations, Māori Development, Whānau Ora, Conservation and Associate Minister for Housing admitted it was difficult.

“He uaua,” he said

“But my understanding of the National Party position was very firm that we would take it to a certain point in time but we would ultimately cremate and bury it and that’s what we did.”

A recent Mata-Horizon poll asked Māori voters if they thought Aotearoa New Zealand had become more racist, less racist, or stayed the same on the current coalition government. Seven percent of respondents said it was less racist, 28 percent said it was the same, while 58 percent said the country had become more racist.

Asked what he thought about the results, Potaka said he did not support racism or prejudice in “any way, shape or form”.

“My intention and aspiration in the matters that I’m involved in is to remain very impartial and objective and I don’t get caught up in this air of racism or prejudice.

“I take responsibility for supporting iwi, Māori and other related organisations around their economic development, around their social and cultural development, around a range of matters and we work very hard in a constructive, positive and meaningful way to give effect to the aspirations of Māori.”

Pushed again on how he could not support racism but still be part of a party that supported the bill, Potaka said it was not a “binary matter”.

“I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive to be part of a government that actually is responsible for discussions of bills that many, many people don’t agree with. Previous governments have been like that too, no matter what the political hue of the previous governments,” he said.

Tama Potaka was also asked about his work decreasing the number of people in emergency housing and a subsequent rise in homelessness.

Asked why the government did not know where the one in five people who previously lived in emergency housing ended up, Potaka said New Zealand was not a “police state”.

“I think that we don’t run a police state, Mihi. We’re not responsible to know where everybody that moves around in this country [is], we [don’t] know where they are at every single hour of the day.

“We’re actually comfortable with the work that we’ve done to ensure that the numbers of whānau living in emergency housing have considerably reduced,” he said.

Potaka also paid tribute to departing senior Labour MP Peeni Henare, who announced he was stepping down from the party after 12 years in politics.

“I am surprised, very surprised. Mihi ana kia Peeni,” he said.

“He’s a formidable force in the Labour Party [and] he’s done some outstanding mahi as a representative of his people… he’s been a massive contributor for the Labour Party and in New Zealand politics generally.”

The full interview is available on the RNZ website.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

As Waitangi Day commemorations continue drawing people from across Aotearoa and around the world to the Bay of Islands, Te Tii Marae has become a gathering point for Indigenous ocean leadership from across the Pacific.

Taiātea: Gathering of the Oceans held its public forum on 4 February, uniting more than 20 Indigenous leaders, marine scientists and researchers from Canada, Australia, Hawai’i, Niue, Rapa Nui and the Cook Islands.

The forum forms part of a wider 10-day wānanga taking place across Te Ika a Māui (North Island).

With a focus on the protection and restoration of Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean, kōrero throughout the day centred on the exchange of knowledge, marine protection, ocean resilience and the accelerating impacts of climate change.

A key message remained prevalent throughout the day – the moana is not separate from the people, but a living ancestor, and a responsibility carried across generations.

‘Continue that path of conservation, preservation’

Hawaiʻi’s Solomon Pili Kaho’ohalahala, co-founder of One Oceania, a former politician, and a respected elder, framed his kōrero around the belief that there is no separation between human and nature – we are all one.

For Kaho’ohalahala, being present at Waitangi has been a powerful reminder of the links between past, present, and future.

“Waitangi is a very historical place for the Māori people,” he said. “It is where important decisions were made by your elders. So to be here in this place, for me, is significant.”

“We are talking about historical events that have happened to our people across Oceania, preserved by the elders who had visions to create treaties … decisions that were going to be impactful to the generations to follow,” Kaho’ohalahala said.

“It brings the relevancy of these conversations. They are what we need to negotiate and navigate the challenges we face in the present. The purpose for this is, ultimately, no different to the kupuna (Hawai’ian elder), that this was intended for the generations yet unborn,” he added.

Kaho’ohalahala also reflected on the enduring connections between indigenous communities across oceans.

“To be a part of this conversation from across the ocean that separates us, our connection by our culture and canoes is to help us understand that we are still all connected as the people of Oceania.

“But we need to be able to reiterate that, and understand why we need to emerge from that past to bring it to our relevancy to these times and issues, to continue that path of conservation, preservation, for those unborn.”

‘Our ocean … a living organism,’ advocate says

Cook Islands environmental advocate and Ocean Ancestors founder, Louisa Castledine, reiterated the responsibility of indigenous peoples to protect the ocean and pass knowledge to future generations.

She said Waitangi was the perfect backdrop to encourage these discussions. While different cultures face individual challenges, there is a collective sense of unity.

“One of our key pillars is nurturing our future tamariki, and the ways of our peu tupuna, and nurturing stewardship and guardianship with them as our future leaders,” Castledine said.

“It’s about reclaiming how we perceive our ocean as being an ancestor, as a living organism, as whānau to us. We’re here at Waitangi to stand in solidarity of our shared ancestor and the responsibility we all have for its protection,” Castledine said.

She said people must be forward-thinking in how they collectively navigate environmental wellbeing.

“We all have a desire and a love for our moana, our indigenous knowledge systems of our oceans are critical to curating futures for our tamariki and mokopuna,” she said.

“We want to ensure that generations that come after us will continue to be able to feed generations beyond all of us. It’s about safeguarding their inheritance.”

Learning about shared challenges

Canadian representative Chief Anuk Danielle Shaw, elected chief councillor of the Wuikinuxv Nation, said the challenges and goals facing Indigenous peoples were often shared, despite the distances between them.

“This is [an] opportunity to learn about common challenges we may have, and how other nations and indigenous leaders are facing those challenges, and what successes they’ve been having,” she said.

“It just makes sense that we have a relationship, and that we build that relationship.”

She noted the central role of the marine environment for her people.

“It’s not lost on me that my people are ocean going people as well. We rely on the marine environment.

“Our salmon is the foundation and the backbone of our livelihood and the livelihood of all other beings in which we live amongst. I’m a world away, and yet I’m still sitting within the Pacific Ocean.

“So the work I do at home and how we take care of our marine environment impacts the people of Aotearoa as well, and vice versa. And so it just makes sense that we have a relationship, and that we build that relationship, because traditionally we did,” she added.

Following the public forum, indigenous leaders will visit haukāinga in the Tūwharetoa and Whanganui regions for further knowledge exchanges and to discuss specific case studies.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand