Tau ki Ākau | Ridge to Reef, is a 5 year Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE) funded research project looking at ways to enhance the long term viability of coastal reef systems.
It is a mātauranga Māori-led, science informed project that will explore how mātauranga and science come together to create the strongest possible case for achieving sustainable coastal reef ecosystems.
This means using all of the threads of knowledge we have at our disposal and weaving them together to create the best possible safety net for coastal reefs and our relationships with them.
Ngāti Pūkenga ki Tauranga
PĀ WHAKAWAIRUA
(An agenda for change in our taiao)
Pā Whakawairua is an eco-system built from our local Ngāti Pūkenga knowledge and experience. It expresses our whakapapa to the natural resources that surround us. It expresses our obligations as kaitiaki. It expresses the seriousness with which we need to approach the process of making things right. However, it also expresses the challenges we have to overcome if we and our surroundings are to thrive.
The challenges
The challenges that are critical to returning to mauri ora include:
- Mauri mate: through which we are disconnected from and deprived of the natural resources that help us to thrive
- Mauri noho: characterised by “making do” and doing nothing to change things for the better
- Mauri oho: whereby something awakens our wairua and motivates us to make the changes that are needed
- Mauri ora: through which we are people thriving in environments that are also thriving because we took action
What do we want to achieve?
We want to:
- Restore and protect the mauri of the air by reducing carbon
- Re-establish the mauri of the freshwater and marine environments
- Re-ignite the mauri of the whenua of Ngāpeke
- Re-build whānau and community connectedness with their surroundings
- Grow the skills and capabilities of whānau and local communities so that they and their surroundings are doing well
Our focus is on the totality of the environments rather than any particular piece of it. It stems from our belief that everything is connected, and activities in one domain necessarily have an impact (adverse or otherwise) on all other domains.
Our Tools
Matariki
Matariki is the time when we remember those who have passed on and hope for a smooth journey for them as they return to their kāinga tūturu. It is also a time to celebrate the present and look to the future. So Matariki is represented in Pā Whakawairua as follows:
- Matariki: water catchment, water storage, and water harvesting
- Ururangi: carbon capture
- Waipunarangi: the total ecosystem for sustaining life naturally
- Tipuānuku: healthy soil and microorganisms
- Tipuārangi: bird life, seed dispersal, survival, and continuity
- Waitī: healthy freshwater habitats
- Waitā: healthy marine/ocean habitats
- Hiwa i te rangi: goal-oriented initiation, innovation, and action
- Pōhutukawa: seeking information and knowledge by being enquiring and curious
Matariki is the tool that draws together the knowledge, experience and lessons from the ancient and recent past. It is also the tool that brings our wisdom and the lessons from the past to the fore to help us shape a future in which we are connected to each other and to our surroundings as kaitiaki.
Māramataka
The Maramataka is a marker of time based on 11 lunar phases over 354 days. It encompasses natural rhythms and patterns in time, and we use it to indicate change to natural cycles. The Maramataka phases identify the best times to plant, propagate, harvest, and other related nature-based activities. The Maramataka is an under-utilised tool so growing our capabilities around it will be an important commitment.
Science
Science is another tool and source of knowledge which can be used by Ngāti Pūkenga ki Tauranga to help enhance people’s understanding of the problems that are created by or highlighted in our natural environment that then influence the mauri of our natural resources and the people who engage with them. Science will also help to shape potential solutions that we explore and adopt.
The science priorities at Ngāpeke are determined according to the unique characteristics that shape the relationships that the whenua, the awa, the moana and tāhuna, the āngi and the tangata whenua have with each other. The relationships are based on interdependence and the evidence thus far suggests the cost of ignoring the interdependence is too high.
Pā Whakawairua in action
Our agenda is encompassed by a series of interdependent and related projects:
Ngāpeke e Maha
(Matariki,Tipuānuku, Tipuārangi)
This project is focused on creating a practical model restoring the soil, building biodiversity, reclaiming native flora and fauna, creating a perennial food garden, and building the local community’s mātauranga around growing our own food without having an adverse impact on our surroundings.
Hiwa i te Rangi
(Pohutukawa, Ururangi)
This project responds to the spirit of innovation that is apparent within Ngāti Pūkenga and seeks to foster the design of ecologically sustainable pathways to mauri ora.
Te Repo Taurikura
(Waitī)
This project focuses on returning the wetland to a healthy habitat for tuna and kōaro.
Tau ki Toka
(Waitā, Matariki, Tipuānuku, Tipuārangi, Pohutukawa, Ururangi, Waitī, Hiwa i te Rangi)
In collaboration with the Universities of Waikato, Canterbury and Otago, this project is a mountains to sea project that identifies how land based activities impact the health of reefs at sea.