Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Filters

2011 - 20152

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.Co-management

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The good fight : power and the indigenous struggle for the Manawatū river : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Bennett, April Leanne
    Power is the central theme of this research. This thesis examines how power structures iwi contributions to freshwater planning and decision-making. Power has received little attention in literature on Māori and natural resource planning, even though it reproduces and potentially transforms existing inequalities among Māori, other actors and planning institutions. In failing to analyse power, scholars have left a significant gap in the literature. In New Zealand, the deleterious effects of agricultural expansion on water have significant implications for iwi, as water is linked to tribal identity and mana. Both past and current generations have struggled to protect water. Contemporary strategies to restore degraded water bodies and reclaim mana, as control and authority, over water include co-management arrangements. Simultaneously, Government has taken an enthusiastic, uncritical stance to promoting collaboration as an approach to freshwater planning, including iwi as one among multiple actors. In this pro-collaboration climate, however, power has been ignored. So, this research asks: How does power structure iwi contributions to freshwater planning and decision-making? To answer this question, a case study was undertaken of the Manawatū River, a highly degraded water body in the lower North Island of New Zealand. Two main methods were used to collect data: semi-structured interviews with 13 key informants and an analysis of 214 documents, including 180 newspaper articles. To interpret the data, the theoretical framework used Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital and habitus. The research found that power structures all contributions to freshwater decisionmaking into a hierarchy, with iwi contributions typically marginalised. The hierarchy is a colonial legacy which continues to be reproduced in multiple ways. So, while collaboration, as advocated by the Crown, has some benefits for iwi, it will not help re-structure this hierarchy to enable iwi to regain control over water. Other strategies, such as Treaty of Waitangi settlements, are liable to be more effective. This finding implies that iwi must assess whether co-management or collaboration strategies will enable them to reshape power imbalance. Gaining power is critical to transform inequality, reclaim authority and restore the mauri of water for future generations.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Joint management agreement between Taupō District Council and Ngāti Tūwharetoa : a summary of lessons for local government : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Hancock, Sonja
    The first Joint Management Agreement created under s36B of the Resource Management Act 1991 was signed on 17 January 2009. The parties involved were Taupō District Council and Ngāti Tūwharetoa. The JMA provides for publicly notified resource consents and plan changes applying to multiply owned Māori land to be decided upon by a panel of decision makers chosen equally by Council and Ngāti Tūwharetoa. It is the first example of an iwi authority having an equal share of decision-making power within statutory resource management decision making in New Zealand. This research considers the Joint Management Agreement within the context of other agreements between councils and iwi authorities in New Zealand, and government and indigenous bodies internationally. In addition, the research comments on the progression of Māori involvement in the statutory resource management framework in New Zealand, with a particular focus on the implications of recent Te Tiriti o Waitangi settlements. Findings of the research include that Ngāti Tūwharetoa’s position and ability to enter into a Joint Management Agreement is in part the result of their dominant land owner status in the Taupō District, with these land holdings being relatively unchanged by colonialist land takes. The over-arching lesson of the agreement is that each council must look at its own specific situation with iwi in its district, and look at all tools available in order to improve those relationships. S36B of the RMA 1991 was a tool that had not been used before but proved to be an efficient and effective one in this case.