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Capacity for Transition

Mauri Whenua Ora

Unlocking the potential of Māori land by advancing new production systems and market opportunities, using a mātauranga-centred framework

Maori Maps Waitangi Catchment

PROJECT DETAILS

Challenge funding: $2,000,000

Research duration: July 2016 – June 2019

COLLABORATORS

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What Are We Doing?

Many Māori groups are facing unprecedented levels of economic development through Treaty of Waitangi settlements and new entrepreneurial ventures. Māori cultural attributes are increasingly valued by consumers in some export markets; some estimates suggest the potential for adding value is $8 billion over 10 years.

However Māori agribusiness is complex. Land managers must ensure the cultural and environmental health of their whenua (land), while unlocking its economic potential to support its tangata whenua (people) – including descendants who now live elsewhere and may not be attached to or involved in their lands.

Mauri Whenua Ora researchers are collaborating with Taitokerau (Northland) land entities, hapū and individuals to co-develop a range of models responsive to diverse needs and interests. These models include the Te Hiku Platform, a multi-tribal economic platform, and Pā to Plate, a social innovation economy model which connects hua (produce and resources) from ancestral lands with descendant markets.

How Can The Research Be Used?

  • Mauri Whenua Ora researchers added Māori land block data into the existing Māori Maps platform, the website portal to the 768 tribal marae of New Zealand, soon after it was released by the Māori Land Court, with the goal of creating a land-use decision-support tool for iwi, Māori land entities, trusts, and other Māori land decision-makers.
  • Mauri Whenua Ora researchers then brought in another data set through Whenua Viz, the Māori land visualisation tool developed by Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research. This gave each Māori Map land block a direct portal to its land-use potential, historic land cover and soil properties on Whenua Viz.
  • The social and economic iwi data of Taitokerau is available at the Kete Aronui of Iwi of Taitokerau website. This resource includes income, employment and education data for the 9 Taitokerau iwi populations. The next steps are to integrate these data layers with the Māori Maps platform.
  • A proof-of-concept decision-support tool focusing on the Bay of Islands was developed through a collaborative process with the Amokura Iwi Consortium (representing chief executives of 7 Taitokerau iwi), Stats NZ and Manaaki Whenua. The decision support tool brings together cultural GIS data to guide Māori land use decisions where ecosystems and human health (oranga) are fundamental to outcomes in addition to economic objectives. Work to extend the decision support tool to the Bay of Plenty is underway. This will provide valuable information for a future national application.
  • The process of developing the Pā to Plate micro-economy model has begun by working with producers and community representatives to build the business model and cyclical value chain. This is beginning to fulfil a project aim to connect dispersed tangata whenua to their marae.
  • An iwi land use platform has been developed in collaboration with Te Hiku Iwi. The Te Hiku Platform is founded on iwi-defined principles of land use and development with a special focus on forestry. It will help centralise the role of iwi and collaborative partners in advancing forestry interests and will act as a model for wider application elsewhere.

In the Media

Land blocks information now accessible via Māori Maps pilot

Māori Maps media release, 30 April 2018

“Not only will this information enable a richer understanding of the Māori landscape, but it also provides another avenue for people to make connections back to their ancestral marae,” said Dr Paora Tapsell, Chair of Te Potiki National Trust

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Community Involvement

  • At the 2016 Oromahoe Trust AGM, attended by AgResearch, a micro economy was discussed and the wider community was invited to participate. Responses were enthusiastic.
  • A follow up report back was given to the Oromahoe Trust at its 2017 AGM.
  • A survey of 150 people in March 2017 (mainly at the Ngati Hine festival and an Oromahoe Trust special meeting) showed that close to 100% of survey respondents would like to purchase from an initiative like Pā to Plate. Many were willing to pay more for it or add a koha to the asking price.
  • Ongoing relationships with several First Nations people who are involved in entrepreneurial food enterprises within US communities were established at the Green Bay Food Sovereignty Summit (around 300 in attendance) in October 2017.
  • Mauri Whenua Ora has held 4 hui with iwi Chief Executives to help them access the Taitokerau regional decision-support tools and inform the design of further iwi and hapū decision support tools.

Team Snapshot

Professor Merata Kawharu
Research Lead

Professor Merata Kawharu

University of Otago
Professor Paul Tapsell

Professor Paul Tapsell

University of Otago
Garth Harmsworth

Garth Harmsworth

Manaaki Whenua
Tanira Kingi

Tanira Kingi

Scion
Stephen McTaggart

Stephen McTaggart

University of Auckland
Hauiti Hakopa

Hauiti Hakopa

University of Otago
Krushil Watene

Krushil Watene

Massey University
Hirini Tane

Hirini Tane

Otago University
Raaniera Te Whata

Raaniera Te Whata

Otago University

Research Outputs

PAPERS

Reinterpreting the value chain in an indigenous community enterprise context

Merata Kawharu
Journal of Enterprising Communities, February 2019

The purpose of this paper is to interpret values that may inform a new approach to considering value chains from New Zealand Maori kin community contexts. Research findings show that a kin community micro-economy value chain may not be a lineal, progressive sequence of value from supplier to consumer as in Porter’s conceptualisation of value chains, but may instead be a cyclical system and highly consumer-driven. The model may have implications and applicability internationally among indigenous communities who are similarly interested in socio-economic growth and enterprise development.

Geographically-explicit, dynamic partial equilibrium model of regional primary value chains – Mathematical formulation and application to forestry in Northland region of New Zealand

Monge, J.J. & Wakelin, S.J.
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, March 2018

This paper lays out the mathematical foundation of the Primary Value Chains (PVC) model, which is a geographically explicit, dynamic partial equilibrium model of regional value chains. Specifically, the model identifies: the equilibrium price-quantity bundles, optimal harvest schedules, market destinations, individual processing plant locations, and transportation routes. Results of a regional case study in the forestry sector in the Northland region of New Zealand are presented to showcase the model’s capabilities. The model’s structure is flexible enough to easily include other regions, cropping or farming systems, transportation alternatives, processing technologies and destination markets.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Indigenous Peoples: Another Missed Opportunity?

Krushil Watene, Mandy Yap
Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, February 2019

Indicators have emerged as a powerful communication tool for complex phenomena in the shift towards quantitative measurement. Using a framework informed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and indigenous knowledge this paper has two aims: 1) to explore if and how the SDGs have reframed policy relating to indigenous peoples in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand and 2) to explore how indigenous communities are developing their own indicators to inform their development needs and in the process mitigate the negative governance effects of national goal and target setting.

DIGITAL TOOLS

Maorimaps.com Waitangi Catchment Pilot

Tapsell P.J., Tane P., Harmsworth G., Sutherland A
Published dataset, April 2018

This provides a new web enabled access tool that connects cultural GIS data and soil and water science, with the Māori Maps marae community platform. This provides new ways for mana whenua to engage with their awa and whenua to achieve their aspirations. Māori Maps acts as a portal to WhenuaViz data provided by Maori Whenua Ora research. Work to extend the decision support tool to the Bay of Plenty is currently underway.

Kete Aronui of Iwi of Te Taitokerau

Stephen McTaggart
Published dataset, March 2018

This web-based resource informs the Iwi consortium of CEOs of personal income levels, sources of income, type of employment or business ownership, employment within industry types, occupation types, education/qualification achievement and levels of engagement in tikanga Māori specific unpaid work, within each of the nine Taitokerau iwi populations.

REPORTS

Whakapapakāinga: a template of cross-generational development for marae-communities

(Paratene) Hirini Tane
Doctor of Philosophy in Maori Studies, University of Otago, June 2018

Through case study research in Northland, New Zealand, this thesis investigates the future of papakāinga (kin-community settlements) and their marae (ancestral centres of tribal identity). It uses interviews with elders, a Māori land trust; a questionnaire with community descendants (local and non-local), archival research, and reflexive ethnography. The key finding of this research investigation is that papakāinga development should innovate within central needs – energy, housing and food – that restore economy around papakāinga and reactivate functional kinship links between community members.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Mauri-Whenua-Ora: kin-connecting local land, water and food-scapes

Kawharu, M. Tapsell, P. Tane, P.H.
Te Tai Tokerau Climate Change Action Conference, June 2019

Māori Maps: layering of people and place

Tane, P.H.
FOSS4G SotM Oceania, November 2018

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