Some of Aotearoa’s leading voices in conservation, mātauranga Māori and environmental advocacy are heading to Kirikiriroa this week, as a new national hui looks for collective solutions to a biodiversity crisis threatening indigenous species, waterways and ecosystems.
The inaugural Endangered Species National Hui — Taonga Tuku Iho: Restoring Māuri Through Collective Action — will be held on 2 and 3 September at The Atrium, Wintec in Kirikiriroa Hamilton.
The two-day gathering will bring together iwi, scientists, conservationists, community leaders, environmental advocates, creatives and rangatahi from across the motu.
Freshwater species sounding the alarm
Organisers say the hui comes at a critical point for te taiao.
According to the Endangered Species Foundation, 89 percent of indigenous freshwater fish species are now classified as threatened or at risk, with many populations continuing to decline.
Pressure is also mounting in the marine environment, while changing climate conditions are adding another layer of risk for vulnerable ecosystems.
A developing El Niño event is expected to increase the threat of drought, water shortages and wildfire, potentially placing additional pressure on wildlife and communities already dealing with environmental change.
For Māori, declining biodiversity is not simply a conservation statistic.
When an indigenous species disappears or a waterway becomes unable to sustain life, the impact can reach into mahinga kai, mātauranga, whakapapa, kaitiakitanga and the ability of future generations to maintain relationships with their taonga species.
Policy changes under scrutiny
The hui will also confront the political decisions shaping environmental protection.
Tāngaro Tuia te Ora – Endangered Species Foundation Chief Executive Natalie Jessup says the gathering will examine major policy changes affecting environmental safeguards while focusing on practical action and collaboration.
That puts the hui into a wider national debate about how Aotearoa balances development, resource use and economic growth against the responsibility to protect indigenous biodiversity.
The programme deliberately brings together scientific knowledge, community experience and mātauranga Māori rather than treating them as separate conversations.
Māui dolphin and data sovereignty on the agenda
Among the major sessions will be Action for Endangered Taonga, examining the critically endangered Māui dolphin.
The discussion will include tangata whenua leadership, rangatahi, education and data sovereignty, recognising that decisions about protecting taonga species also raise questions about who collects information, who controls it and how indigenous knowledge is used.
Another session, What’s Happening to Our Ika?, will focus on the crisis facing native freshwater fish and practical approaches to restoring waterways and protecting species.
Saving one of our most threatened wetland birds
The plight of matuku-hūrepo, the Australasian bittern, will also feature.
Wendy Ambury from the Love Bittern Project will explore how technology, community action and local knowledge are being brought together to protect one of Aotearoa’s most threatened wetland birds.
The session provides another example of the hui’s central theme — that protecting threatened species cannot be left to one government agency, organisation or group of scientists.
Local communities and tangata whenua can play a critical role because they often hold generations of knowledge about the environments where threatened species live.
From rugby league to environmental leadership
Former rugby league international Tāwera Nikau will bring another perspective to the gathering, sharing his journey from professional sport into environmental leadership and restoration.
Environmental campaigner Mike Smith will discuss lessons from opposition to oil prospecting and community mobilisation.
Their involvement broadens the kaupapa beyond traditional conservation organisations and demonstrates how protecting te taiao can draw leadership from across Māori communities.
Rangatahi must inherit more than the problem
Rangatahi will also have their own platform.
Tessa Thomson, Rosalie Norton-Lehali and Jonny MacKenzie will participate in a session examining the world through a rangatahi lens.
Their involvement carries particular significance.
Today’s rangatahi will inherit the consequences of decisions being made about freshwater, oceans, climate and biodiversity now.
But the kaupapa of Taonga Tuku Iho argues they should not simply inherit the problems.
They should also have a voice in designing the solutions.
Restoring māuri through collective action
The message underpinning the inaugural hui is that Aotearoa’s biodiversity challenge cannot be separated into individual species, individual waterways or isolated environmental battles.
Te taiao is interconnected.
Healthy waterways sustain indigenous fish. Wetlands provide habitat for threatened manu. Oceans sustain marine species and communities. Climate conditions influence them all.
And for tangata whenua, those relationships also connect people, whakapapa and place.
The challenge in Kirikiriroa this week will therefore be moving beyond documenting decline towards identifying what can actually be done about it.
Because if 89 percent of indigenous freshwater fish are already threatened or at risk, the question is no longer whether Aotearoa has a biodiversity problem.
The question is how quickly we are prepared to act — and whether government, iwi, scientists, communities and rangatahi can work together before more taonga are lost.
#TaongaTukuIho #EndangeredSpeciesHui #Biodiversity #TeTaiao #MataurangaMaori #Kaitiakitanga #ManaWhenua #Rangatahi #MauiDolphin #MatukuHurepo #NativeFish #Freshwater #Waterways #OceanHealth #ClimateChange #Conservation #EnvironmentalProtection #TaweraNikau #MikeSmith #Kirikiriroa #IndigenousKnowledge #TaongaSpecies #HauoraTaiao #MaoriEnvironment #Aotearoa #MaoriNews #WaateaNews #RadioWaatea
