Indigenous-Environmental-Autonomy-in-Aotearoa-new-Zealand

Abstract

British colonization of Aotearoa New Zealand diminished the influence of the tribal territory on Indigenous autonomy, identity and belonging. Yet land is still key to securing Indigenous futures. This paper explores the reassertion of Indigenous autonomy over the environment. A governmentality critique is used to explore efforts to embed indigeneity into environmental politics. As part of this critique three examples of Indigenous environmental autonomy are provided that show how Māori are asserting greater control over the tribal territory, particularly natural resources. I argue that resistance has been critical for the re-emergence of Māori autonomy over the environment, creating greater opportunities for assertions of local authority and the customary practice of kaitiakitanga (a Māori environmental ethic). Although there is still much to achieve in this space, Māori are now in a stronger position to resist ongoing colonization of the landscape and engage with the state around resource management of natural resources.

Pursuing Plurality: Exploring the Synergies and Challenges of Knowledge Co-production in Multifunctional Landscape Design

“…The maps highlight a process of place-making that challenges current visions of ownership, control, and democracy, which remain tied to specific visions of personal property and renditions of history that fail to capture Māori land use. The land dispossession caused by colonial capture of Aotearoa NZ is an unresolved issue, whose ongoing impacts are well-documented (McIntyre, 2007;Forster, 2016;Ojong, 2020). Thus, while our work through cultural mapping attempts to reveal the limitations of juridically ordained indigenous land rights in facilitating land and agro-pastoral management that is healthy and equitable, responding to a longer more transformative goal, our farm-scale map addresses the needs of the university to experiment with innovation which also respects the anxieties of regional farmers.…”

Environmental stewardship: A systematic scoping review

“…These stewardship relationships that have a notion of ownership of resources are inconsistent with many Indigenous worldviews, which have been developed and maintained collectively for centuries, and not only describe a duty of care for ecosystem management but also encompass the interconnectivity, reciprocity and relations of balance between all natural beings [128][129][130][131][132][133]. Over the past thirty years, there has been an increased inclusion of Indigenous worldviews and knowledge-holders when developing and planning local and national conservation / environmental actions [134][135][136]. Some communities are turning to Indigenous knowledge and experiences to provide insights, for example landscape management in Australia [137,138], fisheries and waterway management in Canada [136,139] and Aotearoa New Zealand [140][141][142][143][144][145].…”

He Tātai Whenua: Environmental Genealogies

“…Elsewhere, I have used a genealogy approach to governmentality to create a series of environmental histories that show why and how a Māori environmental agenda has struggled to emerge beside the dominant exploitative economy agenda that prioritises the primary industries (Forster 2013b). However, continued contests from Māori to disrupt this status quo has created new ways of thinking and acting by embedding kaitiakitanga, or a Māori environmental ethic that prioritises sustainable resource use into the Aotearoa New Zealand environmental management space (Forster 2012(Forster , 2014(Forster , 2016. This paper builds on this work by converting these environmental narratives into whakapapa sequences to demonstrate how whakapapa could be used to explain the phenomena of environmental management.…”

“…There have been contests for land between Māori and Pākehā, vigorous throughout the nineteenth century and not forgotten by Māori since, and environmental interventions resulting in resource destruction, soil erosion and the spread of unwanted, and costly, pests and weeds. (Pawson and Brooking 2011, p. 17) However, Māori and supporters of a conservation agenda have continuously contested the emphasis on exploitative economies (Forster 2014(Forster , 2016Young 2004). By the 1950s, a global movement for sustainability (McClean and Smith 2001) was also beginning to influence the direction of Aotearoa New Zealand's environmental policy (Memon 1995); change was imminent.…”