Ngaa taonga tuku iho o ngaa roto o Tahaaroa is a two-year Vision Mātauranga Capability Funded project with Ngaati Mahuta ki te Hauaauru (Ngaati Mahuta) and the Tahaaroa Lakes Trust.
Activities and research have been designed to engage and excite whaanau to reconnect with their freshwater taonga and to develop a hapuu-led monitoring programme to assess the mauri of their lakes and hauanga kai. The project also aims to ensure that Ngaati Mahuta gain the capacity and capability to sustain the hauanga kai datasets required by them to evaluate the environment and support future lake decision making.
This project is developing monitoring and evaluation approaches that respond to the hauanga kai aspirations of Ngaati Mahuta and the Tahaaroa Lakes Trust. It recognises and empowers Ngaati Mahuta and the Tahaaroa Lakes Trust to engage as co-leaders, researchers, knowledge holders and teachers, supporting the multiple roles of hapuu and whaanau in lake management.
New knowledge and datasets generated will assist Ngaati Mahuta and the Tahaaroa Lakes Trust’s engagement with regional and central government, and local industry and landowners, to support the outcomes sought by the Tahaaroa Lakes Monitoring Plan.
How we work (Te Kūwaha)
Lake management and restoration approaches that are grounded in tikanga Maaori, Maaori values and perspectives, and are co-designed to be responsive to the needs and aspirations of Maaori communities, will ensure that the outcomes are useful and of direct benefit to the participating hapuu and whaanau. When this approach is taken, the resulting outcomes are more likely to strengthen and add value to existing hapuu and community initiatives, thus increasing efficiencies when capacity and capability across different expertise and multiple government initiatives (e.g., Te Mana o Te Wai, RMA reforms, Affordable Water) is in demand.
This project aligns with the Vision Mātauranga themes:
- Taiao – achieving environmental sustainability through iwi and hapuu relationships with land and sea
- Hauora – improving health and social wellbeing
- Mātauranga – exploring indigenous knowledge and science and innovation.
Project outputs
Note: On this page the reo Maaori dialect used by Ngaati Mahuta, with double vowels instead of macrons, has been used. Kaiaua is the Ngaati Mahuta term for freshwater mussels, also known as kaakahi and kaaeo.
