Leading voices in conservation gathered out of urgency to protect declining species in the face of changing legislation, emphasising the importance of Mātauranga Māori and Western science working hand in hand.
A crowd of 200 came together in Hamilton for the Endangered Species National Hui across two days to share knowledge from their own fields and make plans for action.
Calls for Mātauranga Māori
Te Ataahua Te Mamae Richardson, Cultural and Environmental Consultant from Te Riu o Waikato, shared her work in caring for the endangered pekapeka (bat). She says Mātauranga Māori plays a huge role in educating and protecting the species.
“I believe that conservation needs two knowledge systems and Mātauranga Māori needs to be seen as a legitimate knowledge system in its own right,” she says.
“Bringing Mātauranga Māori and Western science together will help us to achieve our goals in protecting the pekapeka, protecting their habitat and restoring their home for future generations”.
She hopes participants will form stronger networks for the sake on the biodiversity within their fields.
“What we need to do with our taiao needs to happen now. It needs to happen right now,” she says.
Siobhan Nuri, Marine and Freshwater Scientist from Earth Sciences New Zealand echoed the same sentiment in her talk on what can be done to protect tuna such as the long-finned eel whose numbers have been declining.
“I think it’s super important that we come into these science spaces with our traditional ways of monitoring our taonga species. For example, in Te Arawa, we use Tau kōura or whakaweku to monitor our koura populations because its more effective than Western Science methods. So, it’s super important that our people get to be in those spaces doing these things” she says.
Urgency in the face of legislation changes
Conference organisers, Tangaro Tuia te Ora says 89% of native freshwater fish species are now classified as threatened or at risk with bottom trawling adding further pressures.
Chief Executive, Natalie Jessup, says the goal is to have discussions that will address policy changes “that are dismantling environmental protections”.
“We have seen some really massive issues with destructive legislation that’s passed with our government at the moment and also there’s a lot of people who are working in isolation in different parts of the country”.
When asked about her reaction to see so many Māori partners in the room, she said she felt emotional.
“We’re all Tāngata Tiriti at this hui” she says.
“I think the key to having so many Māori here is our amazing leaders in this space...As Pākehā, we need to be elevating those voices and I think that’s what this hui is doing. It’s giving a platform to voices who haven’t necessarily been heard before”.
“The whole idea of this hui is to bring us together, to unite, to share our mātauranga, to share our experiences, and really focus on what we need to do together moving forward with some clear action points for te taiao so that we can scale and mobilise”.
