Kaitiakitanga - protecting New Zealand
Kaitiakitanga is the buzz word in New Zealand tourism.
This ancient word describes a traditional concept or guiding principle in Maori culture that's as relevant today as it was centuries ago.
In kaitiakitanga, humans are the guardians of the world who assist the gods and ancestral spirits to preserve and protect the physical environment, as well as cultural elements such as art and language.
In modern terms, kaitiakitanga is a holistic philosophy that aims to deliver the planet to future generations with its mana / status intact.
Future key
Renowned US adventurer and environmentalist Richard Bangs, who extensively explored the concept of kaitiakitanga in a a PBS documentary, a book and DVD, firmly believes kaitiakitanga holds the key to the future.
"It’s a notion that promotes guardianship of the earth as a key responsibility, a belief that we need to steward towards a better future not just for our children, but for all things, and for all time," Bangs said.
"This concept imbues much of New Zealand, transcending politics, landscapes, cultures, even eras to exist as a contemporary national ethos, and a proud explanation of why the country seems to get better with every look, and why it is becoming a model for the world."
"New Zealand is a land of heroes, myths, of rich story-telling and grand adventures, and of inspiration, and it is a place to which I vow to return again and again if just to be awed and renewed by its wonders, and to know more of the secret map that may lead the way to a bright and sustainable future for the whole of the world."
Finding the key
Richard Bangs said he found kaitiakitanga "amidst the giant kauri trees of Waipoua Forest in Northland, watching whales off the coast of Kaikoura [west coast of the South Island], heli-hiking in the Southern Alps and eating parāoa rewena [Māori Bread] in a Wellington café."
Other tourists are now visiting New Zealand with kaitiakitanga in mind, and seeing the country as Richard Bangs did through tours based on his itinerary and similarly designed eco-vacations.
Background: Kaitiakitanga
These terms and explanations help describe the concept of kaitiakitanga, and give an insight into its importance to Maori, New Zealand and the rest of the world.
- Kaitiakitanga: Guardianship, protection, preservation or sheltering. Managing the environment, based on the traditional Māori world view.
- Māori world view: Māori believe there is a deep kinship between humans and the natural world. All life is connected, and people are not superior to the natural order but they are part of it. Like some other indigenous cultures, Māori see humans as part of the web or fabric of life. To understand the world, one must understand the relationships between different parts of the web. Kaitiakitanga is a vehicle for rediscovering and applying these ideas.
- Kaitiaki: A kaitiaki is a person or group that is recognised as a guardian by the tangata whenua (local tribal group with authority). For instance, a hapū (sub-tribe) may be the kaitiaki for a lake or a forest. Interest in kaitiakitanga is growing today. Maori tribes are working to respond to environmental problems, and to renew their own knowledge, culture and experience.
- Environmental impact: All human societies, including Māori, affect the environment they live in. Before Europeans arrived, Māori hunted the moa (giant flightless bird) to extinction, and burnt large areas of forest. They had a negative impact on the environment in other ways too. However, Europeans also had a serious impact on native plants, animals, land and sea after they settled in New Zealand, eg large areas of forest were felled to make way for farming.
- Becoming endangered: In the 19th and 20th centuries, Māori communities and cultures were colonised and endangered. Many Māori likened themselves to native plants and animals on the brink of extinction, eg the people of the Ngāti Huia tribe saw the extinction of the huia as calamitous as this bird was central to their identity and mana (status).
- Guardianship of objects: Kaitiakitanga can also apply to valued items, including family heirlooms such as korowai (cloak), mere pounamu (jade club) and books about whakapapa (ancestry). An item that belongs to a person later becomes the property of all their descendants. It is cared for by an individual kaitiaki on behalf of the group. The kaitiaki is responsible for bringing the object to important occasions such as funerals, and for holding information about it.
Background: Kaitiakitanga - history
People and environment
Traditionally, there was an intimate relationship between people and their environment. The health of a community was reflected in its environment and vice versa, eg if waterways were unclear or polluted, something was amiss with the local people. Kaitiakitanga was based on this relationship.
Keeping the balance
Customary practices maintained the balance between communities and nature. For activities such as hunting birds, gardening and fishing, this ensured that resources were managed sustainably. Practices included:
- setting temporary rāhui (restrictions) on certain areas
- using the maramataka (lunar calendar) to guide planting and harvesting
- banning recreational fishing and birding
- using appropriate baskets for different types of food
- harvesting only what was needed
- laying mauri (life force) stones in gardens. A tohunga (priest) would say a karakia (charms) over the stone, which was believed to protect resources
- using bird snares at the right time, eg not during the breeding season
- limits on fishing, eg tribes sometimes fished with a huge net strung between two canoes, but they only did so once a year.
Connected to nature
In Māori culture, humans are seen as deeply connected to the land and to the natural world. Kaitiakitanga grows out of this connection and expresses it in a modern context.
Tangata whenua
Tangata whenua (literally, people of the land) are a group who have authority in a particular place, because of their ancestors’ relationship to it. Humans and the land are seen as one, and people are not superior to nature. The natural world is able to ‘speak’ to humans and give them knowledge and understanding. Human life is about aligning oneself with the natural world.
Mystical relationship
In some tribal traditions, humans changed into birds, fish and other creatures. There are also many examples where people identified the human body with features of the landscape. All of these traditions show an intimate experience of nature. Anthropologists have described it as a mystical involvement with the natural world.
Kaitiakitanga - key concepts
Mana, tapu and mauri are concepts that underpin the traditional Māori world view and kaitiakitanga:
- Mana: spiritual power - the mana (power) of a forest is expressed, for example, in its birds, trees and other natural features. Abundant blossoms and fruit, and birds arriving to feed, show the forest’s mana. Terms such as matomato (growing vigorously) and māpua (prolific) describe this abundance.
- Tapu: spiritual restriction - for mana to come forth in the forest, some restrictions have to be put in place. Tapu (spiritual restriction) gives rise to the practice of rāhui (restrictions).
- Mauri: life force -the forest must also possess mauri, an elemental life force. This allows fruit to grow, birds to arrive and so on. In traditional kaitiakitanga, forests were strictly managed. Tohunga (priests) carried out rituals such as karakia (prayer) over a mauri stone (a stone believed to preserve the life force). They protected the mauri of the forest so its mana could flow.
Contemporary kaitiakitanga
Kaitiakitanga is being rediscovered and explored. Māori communities are reconstructing and expressing traditional knowledge in their tribal areas. They are restoring both environmental areas and tribal knowledge of those places.
There are many examples of contemporary kaitiakitanga:
- Ngāi Tahu tribe are kaitiaki of the pounamu (greenstone) resource in the South Island.
- In 1981, a claim was taken to the Waitangi Tribunal on behalf of Te Āti Awa ki Taranaki, about sewage and industrial waste polluting tribal fishing areas.
- At Pukerua Bay, north of Wellington, the Ngāti Toa tribe worked with the residents’ association to place a rāhui (restriction) on taking seafood, so the local fishery could be replenished.
- Four tribes (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Muaūpoko and Ngāti Raukawa) have come together to address pollution of the Manawatū river.
- The Te Rarawa people are working to protect the kūkupa (wood pigeon).
Kaitiakitanga challenges
There are some challenges in applying kaitiakitanga today. Practitioners need to understand mana , tapu and mauri and relate them to the modern setting.
There are also challenges as non-Māori engage with kaitiakitanga. Forest or waterway management involves parties such as land-owners and regional authorities, who may have different world views and values.
Kaitiakitanga has been included in some legislation. The Resource Management Act 1991 aims to enable sustainable management of environmental resources. It states that people managing resources under the act must take kaitiakitanga into account.
This act defines kaitiakitanga as ‘the exercise of guardianship by the tangata whenua of an area in accordance with tikanga Māori in relation to natural and physical resources; and includes the ethic of stewardship’.
Kaitiakitanga was also included in the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004, where it has the same meaning.
As kaitiakitanga has been included in law, interest has grown considerably. Iwi (tribes) have seen these provisions as a chance to further kaitiakitanga in their traditional areas. In bringing kaitiakitanga into law, the government has put tribal interests and hopes within a wider community context.
Tribal groups often negotiate with other groups such as local authorities. This has led to ongoing debate about kaitiakitanga and how to provide for it in New Zealand’s environmental management regime.
Kaitiakitanga allows Māori today to feel they are meeting the responsibilities and hopes of their ancestors. It also allows non-Māori to reflect on the notion of kinship with nature, and how this idea might be useful in an environmentally threatened world.
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