The Treaty, tikanga Māori, ecosystem-based management, mainstream law and power sharing for environmental integrity in Aotearoa New Zealand – possible ways forward

Abstract

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has become an appropriate international response for addressing alarming global environmental degradation trends. EBM is designed and executed as an adaptive, learning-based process that applies the following common international principles: • the connections and relationships within an ecosystem; • the cumulative impacts that affect marine welfare; • focus on maintaining the natural structure and function of ecosystems and their productivity; • incorporate human use and values of ecosystems in managing the resource; • recognise that ecosystems are dynamic and constantly changing; • are based on a shared vision of all key participants; and • are based on scientific knowledge, adopted by continual learning and monitoring.

The New Zealand Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge agrees with these EBM principles but has adapted them into an Aotearoa New Zealand theoretical approach that fundamentally acknowledges mātauranga and tikanga Māori law hence the following Aotearoa New Zealand EBM principles: • a co-governance and co-design structure that recognises the Māori constitutional relationship and mana whenua at all levels (whānau, hapū, iwi), together with the guiding principles of mauri, whakapapa, kaitiakitanga, mātauranga-a-iwi and mātauranga-a-hapū; • is place and time-specific, recognising/understanding the ecosystem as a whole in all its ecological complexities and connectedness and addressing cumulative and multiple stressors; • acknowledges humans as ecosystem components with multiple values; • views long-term sustainability as a fundamental value, in particular maintaining values and uses for future generations; • includes collaborative and participatory management throughout the whole process, considering all values and involving all interested parties from agencies and iwi to industries, whānau, hapū and local communities; • has clear goals and objectives based on knowledge; and • includes adaptive management, appropriate monitoring and acknowledgement of uncertainty.

The report focuses on analysing EBM through the incorporation of mātauranga and tikanga Māori and power sharing through Treaty partnerships over the marine and coastal estate.