Me pēhea te whakarauora i ngā repo o Ngāti Maniapoto? How do we go about restoring the wetlands of Ngāti Maniapoto?

Kei ngā repo, ngā puna o te rohe o Maniapoto ngā mātauranga no tāukiuki e rere ana. Nō ngā pēhitanga ki runga i ēnei puna mātauranga kua whakatenatena a Maniapoto whānui ki te whakarauora i o rātou repo. 8.9% noa iho o ngā repo e ora tonu ana i roto i a Waikato whānui, e taunaki ana i te oranga o Maniapoto whānui, ā mātauranga , ā rawa nei. Ahakoa te hononga o Maniapoto ki ō rātou repō, ki tō rātou rohe, kaore noa o rātou hiahia kia rangona ki ngā mahi whakarauora repo. Ko ngā matauranga, te hiranga o te rohe, ngā uara hoki o Maniapoto tē kite ki ngā mahi whakarauora repo. Ka mutu, ko te nuinga o ngā mahi whakarauora repo e kaha aro ana ki ng āhuatanga ohaoha, hauropi o te rohe. Nā tēnei, i waihangatia a Maniapoto i tō rātou kaupapa whakarauroa repo, arā, Ngā Repo o Maniapoto. Ko tā te kaupapa o Ngā Repo o Maniapoto he tōtō mai i ngā mahi tāera mahere hei hanga i tētahi rarangi rawa o Maniapoto whānui. Mā tēnei kaupapa, ka māmā ake te whakauru i ngā hiahia, ngā mātauranga o Maniapoto ki ngā mahi whakarauora repo i roto i tō rātou rohe. Ko te ngako o tēnei tuhinga, he matapaki i ngā rautaki i whakamahia, ā, me ngā hua i puta i te kaupapa o Ngā Repo o Maniapoto. Mā konei, ka kite i te hiranga, ka whakamana hoki ngā mātauranga-ā-hapū, ā -iwi o Maniapoto mo ngā mahi whakarauora repo.

With only 8.9% of wetlands remaining in the Waikato, wetland loss and the loss of Maniapoto resources and knowledge systems associated with these critical ecosystems is a distinctive issue for many across the entire Maniapoto rohe (territory). Maniapoto consider puna (springs) and repo (wetlands) to be highly valued traditional resources and an integral component of the ancestral landscape. While restoration and/or preservation of wetland ecosystems often occurs at sites prioritised by economic or ecological drivers, iwi (tribes) and hapū (sub-tribes) have little opportunity to capture, reframe and utilise their mātauranga (knowledge system) to determine their own priorities and/or contribute to decision-making processes. Maniapoto identified that this requires knowledge of locations, values, uses, associations and the importance of these sites. Methodologies for capturing spatially-grounded mātauranga and a strategic decision-support framework for prioritising wetland restoration efforts based on mātauranga were developed in a project called “Ngā Repo o Maniapoto”. Participatory mapping methods using a combination of Geographic Information Systems, interactive mapping eBeam technology, and semi-structured interview techniques provided an effective and efficient way to build a knowledge inventory based on mātauranga ā-hapū (sub-tribal based knowledge). The novel application of eBeam technology together with participatory mapping allowed efficiencies and accuracy with data collection. The inventory was utilised with whānau (broadly a family grouping, but in this regard the hapū participants involved in the project) to build a decision-support framework to enable prioritisation of restoration efforts across their rohe. In this paper we discuss how these innovative methods were used to map, collate and assist Maniapoto whānau to reframe and prioritise their mātauranga to support iwi and hapū-based decision-making.