Determining environmental intelligence needs of Māori Agribusiness Collectives (MACs) and iwi to inform the design of a Kaitiaki Intelligence Platform

Drawing on case studies and literature this report details the types of environmental data sought by Māori Agribusiness Collectives and iwi and the ways in which they would like this information communicated.

The report is divided into four sections. The first section provides a brief history regarding the evolution of MACs and iwi authorities to contextualise and explain their current environmental sensing needs.

The second section also draws on literature to explicate the underpinning knowledge structure, or ontology, of Māori environmental ethics. It explains how Māori are primarily concerned with maintaining and growing the mauri (life-supporting capacity) and mana (dignity) of various atua (environmental domains). It draws the conclusion that an environmental sensing network should generate information that is organised and processed in a way that can reveal to MACs and iwi the current impacts of land management activity on atua, and whether their mauri and mana is being upheld.

The third section reviews a range of Māori environmental frameworks (MEFs) as well as sections of Māori wellbeing frameworks (MWFs) that relate to the environment. This analysis demonstrates how the ontology underpinning Māori environmental ethics, explored in the previous section, is prevalent across MEFs and MWFs, and reveals the indicators and metrics being used in these frameworks, and how they are applied.

Based on the review and analysis of the MACs and iwi strategic reporting frameworks, the fourth section identifies the common biophysical metrics used by these authorities to determine and measure environmental health. It needs to be noted that the analysis concentrates on biophysical metrics for which data can be gathered by sensor networks, however discussion on the importance and incorporation of qualitative metrics is also discussed. Finally, this section synthesises all of the analysis to reveal the biophysical environmental data Māori authorities desire, and how this intelligence should be framed and communicated using mātauranga Māori.