Exploration Of Māori Participation In Freshwater Management

• 1.0 Executive Summary
• 2.0 Introduction
• 3.0 Literature Review
• 4.0 Interviews
• 5.0 Further Discussion
• 6.0 Conclusions
• Appendix 1 – List and summary of literature reviewed
• Appendix 2 – Regional policy statement review table and summaries
• Appendix 3 – Regional plan review table and summaries
• Appendix 4 – Long-term council community plan review tables
• Appendix 5 – Iwi management plan review tables

Exploration Of Māori Participation In Freshwater Management

1.0 Executive Summary

This report has been commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment. Its purpose is to document the tools being used to support Māori participation in the management of fresh water under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and suggest areas that could be further investigated.

This work is primarily a literature review of regional policy statements, regional plans and some long-term council community plans prepared by regional councils and unitary authorities in New Zealand. Supporting this work is a review of a number of iwi management plans prepared by iwi authorities along with 15 interviews of iwi representatives and regional council staff. There is already a large body of literature on the subject of Māori participation in resource management.

This review has found that all regional policy statements and regional plans (affecting fresh water) identify and describe relationships between Māori and freshwater resources, issues of concern to Māori and that they use a broad range of methods. There are some regional policy statements and regional plans that stand out, these being reflective of high levels of input from iwi authorities, particularly those who are post-settlement governance entities.

Iwi management plans reviewed have a strong focus on freshwater resources, relationships with statutory agencies, education and recognition of cultural values. The stand-out plans were often produced by post-settlement iwi authorities and were comprehensive, articulate, professional and reflective of higher levels of capacity and capability.

Of the long-term council community plans reviewed, all had statements regarding building the capacity of Māori, these being general statements rather than specifically related to fresh water. The development of community outcomes that articulate Māori outcomes appears to be a potentially important tool for influencing local government processes and plan development.

Māori participation in freshwater management can be improved by building capacity and capability of Māori along with support by the increasing use of statutory acknowledgements following Treaty settlements, monitoring effectiveness of regional plans and regional policy statements, education of councils, iwi and the community, improvements in iwi planning documents, and the robust and reliable indicators for measuring Māori values and relationships.

This report suggests options for central government, local government and Māori to work towards improving Māori participation in freshwater management. These are summarised under key areas below.

Capacity and capability

1. Conduct an investigation into improving Māori capacity and capability to participate in freshwater management. Such an investigation could include i–vii below.

1. The journey and experiences of post-settlement governance entities in freshwater management and leadership could be recorded, published and disseminated to a wide audience. The characteristics of post-settlement entities could be further assessed to provide an insight into levels of capacity and capability, and the corresponding level of participation in freshwater management.
2. The identification and promotion of regional council governance and management models for freshwater bodies that have improved Māori participation in freshwater management.
3. The use of Māori commissioners and Māori experts, in particular proactively identifying potential commissioners and providing resource support for training and ongoing up-skilling. Māori experts could be supported to facilitate discussions between themselves regarding cultural values and water resources.
4. A stocktake of iwi authorities’ capability and capacity and the tools and mechanisms they use to participate in freshwater management.
5. An investigation into the feasibility of establishing a national framework that includes resourcing of capacity and capability building for iwi authorities who wish to improve their participation in freshwater management.
6. Increased support for new and second generation iwi planning documents that address freshwater resources. This could include more collaborative packaging of resource support to gain efficiencies in application and approvals.
7. The development of tools that can be used by regional councils and unitary authorities to regularly monitor the effectiveness of plans with regard to relevant Part II matters of the RMA relating to Māori.

Statutory tools

2. Increase the detail of statutory acknowledgements in settlement legislation to provide more direction to the statutory water manager.   

Education and training

3. Further develop education and training tools for councils and iwi/hapū. This includes a stocktake of public and private programmes, a list of training providers and piloting training programmes. This work could build on the New Zealand Planning Institute’s review of training available to planners.
4. Prepare information sheets and guidelines for regional council staff and iwi practitioners to assist in recognising and providing for cultural values in freshwater management.

Articulating outcomes and indicators

5. Further develop Māori outcomes regarding fresh water for long-term council community plans and iwi management plans. This would be beneficial to articulate Māori aspirations and influence the development of indicators.
6. Cultural standards and indicators for Māori values associated with fresh water could be developed in the areas of mauri, wairua, manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and other relevant values.

 Access to information

7. Continue to improve access to the wide range of resources that have been produced regarding freshwater management and Māori resource management. This may use existing internet and intranet systems, and electronic formats such as CDs and DVDs.

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