Vision Mātauranga

Find out about how researchers at the NZCCRI are understanding extreme weather damage from a te ao Māori perspective.

Background

We are looking at understanding extreme weather damage from a te ao Māori perspective. We do this through:

1. Collecting stories and images from local iwi and hapū, and planning an empirical element creating an index to begin to quantify this. There is also a data science portion compiling kōrero, images, and videos about the impact of disasters on whanau, hapū, and iwi.
2. Working with iwi and hapū, drawing on relationships with Te Taiao, to assess from a kaupapa Māori perspective the damage on assets (mahinga kai, ngahere, awa, and whenua) due to extreme weather events.
3. Identifying attributes and measures to define damage from extreme weather with iwi and hapū researchers:
   • from He Oranga ma ngā Uri Tuku Iho Trust (Ngāti Porou) to look at forestry and the impacts of non-native tree planting in Tologa Bay, and
   • from Ngāi Tuahuriri rūnanga (Ngāi Tahu) to look at what happens between the banks of the Waimakariri, including mahinga kai and other elements of infrastructure particular to te ao Māori that may be affected by flooding.

Outcomes

One of the outcomes of the Whakahura project will be a greater understanding of damage through a hauora/oranga (wellbeing/livelihood) lens, so that policies can be developed that consider the interests of iwi and hapū.

Additionally, the use of local knowledge and mātauranga will help inform responses to disaster management, while also empowering iwi and hapū decision-makers in resource management to actively rediscover, share, and implement kaupapa Māori-based solutions for disaster policy and planning.