A report, two years in the making, on the health of the Wairoa River catchment in Northland shows much needs to be done to revitalise the health of Northland’s waterways that flow into the Kaipara Harbour.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, has presented the draft report to iwi in Whangārei.
The report is part of a study into two catchment areas: Te Mataura in Southland and Te Wairoa in Northland.
The Wairoa River catchment area is 3650 square kilometres and is fed by the Wairua and Mangakāhia Rivers. Sites within the catchment include the over-5,000-hectare Hikurangi floodplain, which empties into the Kaipara Harbour. According to the report, over 90% of the ecosystems within the catchment have been drained or cleared for agriculture.
Upton says in the 18 months since the report was first started, researchers have seen the impacts of environmental degradation on iwi in Northland.
“We’ve got climate change coming at people, we’ve got concerns about nutrients, about sediments, about biodiversity, and we really wanted to understand, when you try and put all of this together, what does it mean for the people living on the land?”
‘Lacks Māori viewpoint’
Iwi in Northland have welcomed the report but Chantez Connor-Kingi of Ngāti Kahu o Torongare says the report lacks a Māori viewpoint.
“Unless you are working alongside Māori, you’re not going to learn other things unless you’re working with us.”
Some of the draft findings were:
• Before human arrival, most of the Wairoa catchment was native forest or wetlands. Today, over 90 percent of these native ecosystems have been cleared or drained for agriculture. The main land uses are dairy farming, hill country sheep and beef farming, and pine plantation forestry. The catchment is also a significant producer of horticultural crops such as avocados, kiwifruit, and kumara.
• A partnership to reduce sediment into the Kaipara Moana (the Kaipara Moana Remediation Project) was established in 2020. The focus of this project is on restoring wetlands, fencing and riparian planting around waterways, and stabilising highly erodible land.
• The Hikurangi Repo plays a key role in regulating the quality and quantity of water in the Wairua River.
Mere Mangu, who attended the meeting, says she welcomes one of the main recommendations: Return the bio-diversity to the Hikurangi swamp.
“Ka tū te kōmihana me te kōrero mai, e, whakahokia mai te hōpua o Hikurangi hei kāinga mō wa tātou kai, mō wa tātou tuna, te mea, te mea, mō wa tātou rākau. Koia tērā ko te tūmanako, te moemoeā.”
When the commissioner stood and said to return the Hikurangi Swamp to its original condition, as a source of food, for our tuna and our native trees, that’s the goal.
