November 26, 2019
Iwi to work through Blue Highway plan
A Ngāti Porou Rūnanga board member says the iwi is struggling to balance economic and environmental concerns as it deals with keeping the region’s forestry sector viable.
Tui Warmenhoven says the rūnanga has so far not been consulted on the Blue Highway plan to build a port at Hicks Bay, but hapū in the area are opposed to the development.
She says the iwi received 24,000 hectares of forest estate as part of its treaty settlement, and there is another 10,000 of private land managed by Ngāti Porou forests, so it has to weigh its competing interests.
"It’s a real dilemma but certainly the people in the north (of the rohe) are saying no port here and so these are issues we as iwi have to balance our economic and our social needs with out culture and our environmental, ecological and our kaitiakitanga of our home," Ms Warmenhoven says.
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