Taiao

OUR COMMITMENT

Ngāti Kuri have been committed to re-visioning our ecological domains and considering the opportunities for positive change that seek to restore and protect some of our most vulnerable taonga and habitats remaining in Aotearoa. This regeneration has been at the forefront of all work programmes for the past 5 years with momentum achieved through various feasibility work including support from previous funders and external consultants which has now positioned Ngāti Kuri Trust Board well to host and sustain nature-based employment opportunities. The following areas are encased within this research theme;

OUR COMMITMENT

Pupuri Mauhanga

Pupuri Mauhanga are taonga stock takes of the ecological processes and information about flora and fauna of key sites on Ngāti Kuri whenua and motu and developed initially as a partnership with Manaaki Whenua Landcare Trust and Canterbury Museum to collaborate on sharing of mātauranga, collection of data by both Ngāti Kuri and researchers to provide all parties with an appreciation of the whakapapa and ahua of the biota.

PUPURI MAUHANGA PROGRAMME

We initiate Pupuri mauhanga as a framework into our Taiao projects to build the capacity of Ngāti Kuri to exercise kaitiaki through:

Reconnecting and restoring connection to whakapapa and taonga
Understanding current treasures and taonga tuku iho
Utilising mātauranga and evidence to nurture, protect, and rejuvenate the environment
Including our schools, community and taitamariki in the programme for continuity and succession.

Protecting and sharing whānau knowledge and sustainable living practices as they apply to our lives today, and to deepen and diversify our restoration knowledge through; storying, data collection,technology-enabled mapping, and analysis of whānau solutions to contemporary science-based restoration challenges is critical with this theme.

Restoration and recovery of Indigenous tribal ecosystem approaches, including freshwater, forests and food production initiatives, deepening understandings about the transformative Indigenous restoration frameworks to empower our own kaitiakitanga practices.

Advancement through a working iwi restoration agenda of the environmental, social, cultural and economic well-being of our communities through shared learning, utilisation of new technologies and capacity building across multiple iwi, whānau and science communities.

Development of innovative and leading methodology and methods to deepen and extend our iwi, specificly Tuna, Dune lakes, puna, Wetland, and whenua habitat knowledge and their application to contemporary sustainable challenges.

Pūkaiao Agreements

The Pūkaiao- meaning all living things, was created to reset research and science relationships, and how work with Ngāti Kuri is conducted and delivered in the best interests of our tāonga, our place and our people. Ngāti Kuri’s Pūkaiao, replaces any DOC permits and acknowledges mana whenua as the authority and kaitiaki of their natural resources. The agreement also provides cultural safety for partners working with us, and clearly maps out the obligations each party has with each other and specific projects we work on together.

The Pūkaiao covers all aspects of work associated with projects including field work, strategic relationships, the documentation of field specimens, and the development and dissemination of research outputs and protection.