Freshwater conference embraces Māori values as it looks to the future

Monday, 10 December 2018

Marcus McShane's Light Nelson installation 'If Words Were Water' displaying New Zealand's attitude to water.

Protecting freshwater is not a question of ownership, but guardianship, an iwi representative says.

Barney Thomas, a Nelson iwi manager for the Department of Conservation, said freshwater was 'probably the most important bloody issue in the universe' at a freshwater sciences society convention in Nelson.

The message of the convention, the society's 50th, was focusing on looking forward and looking after NZ waterways.

The theme of the conference, 'ka mua, ka muri: looking back, moving forward', hopes to include more than just academics in the discussion.

* Ngāti Rārua stand united with other iwi to support Water Conservation Order

* Protecting Te Waikoropupū Springs' purity holds deep spiritual significance to iwi**

Conference convener Cawthron Institute freshwater ecologist Joanne Clapcott, Ngāti Porou, said looking after freshwater was something all New Zealanders had a role in.

Her focuses for the convention were mātauranga Māori, or Māori knowledge and wisdom; and emerging science.

'There is a deepening understanding of the importance of mātauranga Māori, but a real capability and capacity crunch,' she said.

'There just isn't enough support for people to contribute that knowledge combined with scientific expertise. Plus the increase in demand for just that capability is exponential.'

She said it was time for academia to welcome the input and interest of 'citizen scientists' and non-academics.

Thomas spoke of the role of kaitiaki (guardian) whanau, hapu, iwi, and the scientific community had over water, and stressed the importance of freshwater for everyone.

'Not in New Zealand, but in the universe, because once it runs out we're history,' he said.

Te Waikoropupu Springs is a wahi tapu, or sacred place, which was mentioned by Barney Thomas when speaking at a freshwater science convention.

Thomas, who is of Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Tama, Te Ātiawa and Ngāi Tahu descent, said protecting water was not just for the people and organisations which have ownership over specific waterways.

He mentioned the mine near Te Waikoropupū which has been granted permission to dig 'one to ten metres deep'.

'If he [the miner] digs too far and disturbs an aquifer, who is going to fix that?

'It's an ugly word, 'ownership'. It's not about who owns it, it's about who is looking after it,' he said.

He said that while whanau, hapu, and iwi had an ancestral duty of care over their lands and rivers, the scientists and politicians attending the conference would 'earn their mana' through legislation that protected freshwater.

The FSS convention over the next week is a five-day series of lectures and idea-sharing on how to take the past into account while preparing for the future of freshwater ecology.