Protect

Customary Fisheries

There is a lot of on-going work in the area of customary fisheries, in particular the Ngāi Tahu Customary Fisheries Protection Areas Project and continuing support for the establishment of mātaitai has featured over the past year. [More...]

Department of Conservation

We continue to pursue maximisation of Settlement matters related to the Department of Conservation through regular meetings with the Southern Regional Office and Director General. The extent of the Department of Conservation administered land in the takiwā demands wide ranging initiatives to increase recognition and understanding of Ngāi Tahu values and expectations of the Department of Conservation's work. [More...]

Geographic Information Systems

GIS has become an established component of the Ngāi Tahu toolkit to ensure the Office is working towards outcomes that deliver real benefit to Papatipu Rūnanga and Ngāi Tahu Whānui. The most visual (and time consuming) project this year has been the Cultural Heritage Mapping project where GIS provides the engine for mapping the Ngāi Tahu values associated with our place and space. [More...]

Legal Services Unit

The Legal Services Unit (LSU) has had a particularly busy year accompanied by several changes in personnel. The key role for LSU is to contribute towards projects managed by other teams within Te Rūnanga, in particular those managed by Strategy and Influence (e.g. fisheries and aquaculture), Toitū te Whenua (e.g. resource management and tribal property issues) and Toitū te Kāinga (e.g. pounamu and regional development). [More...]

Mahinga Kai Enhancement

Work in this area continues to support, resource and provide advice to mahinga kai enhancement projects increasing the abundance of mahinga kai available to Ngāi Tahu. Financial support is provided to tribally significant mahinga kai species and sites and restoration projects including: the Rakiura Tītī Islands' Trust (ex Crown Tītī Islands), Te Waihora, Otago Buff Weka, Kaupapa Kererū, Te Roto o Wairewa, Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau/Sinclair Wetlands, Mataura/Waikawa kanakana protection and mātaitai/taiāpure monitoring tool development. [More...]

Māori Rock Art Trust

The 2008-09 year has been another busy one for the Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Trust, again fully focused on the Trust's key project, the development of the Māori Rock Art Centre in Timaru. As a small flax-roots organisation, the biggest challenge for the Trust has been raising the $2.6m required to complete the project. [More...]

Mapping Areas

Toitū Te Whenua continues to progress mapping areas of cultural significance with a particular focus on Kaikōura, associated with the tribal boundary, and the High Country. In this project to assist our cultural protection and revitalisation vision Ngāi Tahu place names, places and associated kōrero are mapped using a blend of literature research and, most importantly, kōrero from manawhenua. [More...]

Resource Management

Resource Management work continues to cover a large range of issues of tribal significance, with fresh water issues dominating in the areas of policy and consenting. The earlier part of the year included working with rūnanga to draft and present evidence for the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement hearing, the Lower Waitaki River resource consents and the National Environmental Standard for Ecological Flows. [More...]

Succession Planning Environmental Expertise

Toitū Te Whenua has been pursuing methods to build our overall tribal environmental management capability in partnership with Papatipu Rūnanga. Secondment of a rūnanga-based resource manager has proved invaluable to all involved and demonstrates a potential way to enhance our support for rūnanga-based resource managers, particularly in their succession planning endeavours. [More...]

Sustainable Business

Work has progressed on the development of an internal Environmental Management System (EMS) for the Office of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. A cross-functional team has drafted an EMS policy and set up an EMS intranet area. Workshops to identify the key activities of the Office and their environmental impact were held to identify and enable implementation of initiatives to reduce impact, consumption or waste. Waste audits were undertaken at Hui-ā-Tau and within the Office. [More...]

Te Whakaariki

The Te Whakaariki agenda has been full and demanding over the last financial year, with a new government in place requiring considerable work to build and strengthen relationships with the new decision-makers who will make calls that affect the lives of Ngāi Tahu whānau and communities. [More...]

Tribal Properties

Tribal Properties activities continue to focus on working with kaitiaki rūnanga to protect and enhance the values of the properties in keeping with rūnanga aspirations. This work encompasses management, development and restoration of significant sites across the takiwā and the new staff member responsible for this work has been kept busy establishing and maintaining relationships with whānau, rūnanga, local authorities, adjacent landowners and the Department of Conservation. [More...]