November 29, 2022
Mātauranga key to Māori conservation projects
Conservation Minister Poto Williams says the latest round Jobs for Nature and Ngā Whenua Rāhui funding will support the use of mātauranga Māori in environmental protection.
The $11 million of Jobs for Nature projects include pest control, weeding, planting, and track maintenance on Māori land in Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Tairāwhiti, Nelson, and Southland’s Waituna Lagoon.
The $13 million for Ngā Whenua Rāhui projects will also target protection of indigenous biodiversity.
Minister Williams says the funding will support Māori landowners to protect and restore their whenua, while providing iwi, hapū and whānau with long-term nature-based employment.
“Using mātauranga Māori and traditional practice to support the restoration and the management of land is really important as part of this whole package,” she says.
Te Poho o Rāwiri Marae gets $5 million to create an ecological corridor stretching from Titirangi maunga to Tatapouri.
It will employ up to 20 people will be employed to preserve and reintroduce endangered species and undertake erosion control, waterway restoration, and pest control.
Ngāti Koata Trust received $999,150 to restore and protect 60 hectares of indigenous forest, which is home to native bird species and has significant cultural value for the iwi landowners. The project will employ five people to undertake pest and predator control, and plant riparian trees and other indigenous flora.
Te Mātai Trust in Hawke’s Bay received $1,146,017 to employ five people on two Māori land blocks totalling 3399 hectares. Work will include pest and weed management mustelids, and 35km of track maintenance.
Ngā Whenua Māori o Te Nehenehenui’s Wai Ora River Care Limited in Waikato gets $1.7 million to support three Māori freehold land trusts across five blocks to undertake pest control and plant 80,000 native trees. The project, which will employ nine people, will also help to protect two significant historic sites – Karuotewhenua and Te Anaureure o Maniapoto.
Māhia’s Rongomaiwahine Iwi Charitable Trust has received $1.25m to continue a pest eradication programme targeting possums, rats, and mustelids. The E Hoki Mai Rā Whenua Collective project, which will employ five people, focusses on the protection of endangered species like Shore Plover, Matuku and Dotterel within the Mahia Peninsula and is jointly undertaken with the Hawkes Bay Regional Council.
Te Wai Parera Trust in Southland has received $920,000 to employ five people to create open water habitat in the lower Waituna Lagoon catchment for native bird and fish species including tuna and wai koura. The project will also undertake pest control and planting as part of the conversion of 40 ha of incumbent pastoral land owned by Awarua Rūnanga (Ngāi Tahu). This will enhance water quality in the area which adjoins the internationally significant Waituna Lagoon RAMSAR site.