MANA TAIAO STORY
Where rūnaka lead, we follow
This is the core principle at the heart of the work of our Mana Taiao team.
Notes from the CEO
When it comes to environmental and resource management, where rūnaka lead, we follow.
That’s the core principle at the heart of the work our Mana Taiao team carries out, as they work with manawhenua. Our aim is to ensure that rūnaka aspirations and intentions for the environment are reflected in the development and operation of all government, regional and local council plans, policies and strategies.
It’s crucial that manawhenua are invoved in these processes to ensure their intentions are recognised and protected into the future.
For us – and for manawhenua – involvement in to the Otago Regional Policy Statement, for instance, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get things right. The RPS will set the top layer of rules for Otago; all Regional and District Plans have to align with the RPS, so it’s a high priority for us.
It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come along often and I commend the Mana Taiao team for their ongoing mahi in this area.
Having rūnaka representatives present cultural evidence at the Otago RPS hearings has been crucial to this process, as it allows commissioners to hear the manawhenua perspective first hand.
Alongside this, we are also working hard to take the manawhenua perspective to our communities through our work on the Otago Land and Water Regional Plan. Working in partnership with Otago Regional Council on the deliery of community workshops has put manawhenua voices at the centre of these events. This is enabling the community to hear for themselves the commitment rūnaka have for our environment, our water, and our indigenous biodiversity, values that many in our community share.
In the end, the policy planning work is crucial to ensuring that Kāi Tahu values, aspirations, and intentions for te taiao are recognised into the future.
“It’s crucial that manawhenua are invoved in these processes to ensure their intentions are recognised and protected into the future."
– Rachel Wesley, CEO Aukaha
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