April 14, 2023
Crown fails on water protection
A Māori environmental planner says it’s time the crown admits it’s a poor steward of our waterways – and stops ducking Māori claims to water ownership.
Dr Mahinarangi Baker, a member of the Māori Freshwater Forum Kāhui Wai Māori, says the crown’s poor stewardship screams out from the latest freshwater monitoring report from the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ.
It reveals more than 4000 incidents of overflowing wastewater and an increase in pollution from farm run-off, and confirms that nearly half our rivers are unsafe for swimming.
Dr Baker says water is a taonga under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, but the crown won’t acknowledge that’s an ownership right.
“They have just continued on with the status quo, which is that the crown manags it, and we’re seeing the outcome of that. They have been terrible custodians of this taonga. So this report is a reminder of why that issue of the ownership of water is so important – not just for Māori, but for New Zealand,” she says.
Dr Baker says under Māori control water would be managed sustainably, with the focus on preservation, not pollution, production or profit.