Mana whenua, local government and climate change adaptation in Ōtepoti Dunedin

A common whakataukī used in te ao Māori, and by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu is “mō tātou, ā, mō kā uri ā muri ake nei” which translates as “for us, and our children after us.” In tikanga Māori whakapapa is everything. We walk into the future looking backwards, thinking intergenerationally and how we will impact future generations is of the utmost importance. In local government, and for some of the wider community, this is not necessarily the prevalent way of thinking or working. Planning intergenerationally for climate change adaptation that meets obligations in Te Tiriti o Waitangi will require a change from business as usual that focuses only on the immediate and short term, to future focused thinking and a deeper understanding of tikanga Māori. The aim of this research was to better understand how local governments are engaging with mana whenua on climate change and how a tika transition (after Bargh 2019, Bargh and Tapsell 2021) could improve these engagements.

The report can also be found here on the Otago University’s website.