Indigenous aspirations and ecological integrity: Restoring and protecting the health and wellbeing of an ancestral river for future generations in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

This paper seeks to provide a domestic example of the application of the environmental ethic of the indigenous Māori which ensures that humans are kaitiaki (guardians) of their surrounding environment by virtue of shared genealogy and how this ethic is being applied to restore and protect the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River, New Zealand’s longest. This particular river restoration project reflects many of the important aspects of ecological integrity. It serves too. as a domestic example of the most sophisticated attempt at powersharing to date between Māori and the Crown in relation to natural resources, which may be of interest to other jurisdictions.