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Value Te Ao Maori

Acknowledge mana whenua as the indigenous people of Tamaki Makaurau Auckland and recognise the significant role they play in sustaining the region. Accord value and celebrate te Ao Māori; (the Māori world view, culture and values) as a core element of the region's identity.

Tamaki Makaurau

Mai i Kaipara moana me te Te Arai o Tahuhu ki te raki
Mai i Karioitahi me Whakatiwai ki te tonga
Ko Aotea ki te rawhiti
Ko Te Moana o Rehua ki te uru
Ko Tämaki Makaurau
Tämaki Herehere nga waka
Kei Waenganui

From Kaipara harbour arcoss to Te Arai Point in the North
From Karioitahi beach across to the Whakatiwai stream in the South
Great Barrier Island is to the East
The Tasman Sea is to the West
Auckland, Auckland that binds all the canoes lays in between

Maori World View

The very essence of the Mäori worldview is relationships - not only between people but also between the spiritual world and the natural world.  Relationships extend from the deities to whanau, to hapu, to iwi, to fauna and flora. 

For Mäori generally the Mäori world begins with the creation, where all life emanated from Io, the Supreme Being.  A series of cosmological birth stages followed including Te Kore and Te Po, culminating with Papatuanuku, the earth mother and Ranginui, the sky father. Ranginui and Papatuanuku were separated by one of their children, Tane Mahuta, to let light, and hence knowledge, into the world - Te Ao Marama. The children of Rangi and Papa subsequently set about creating their domains, breathing mauri or life force emanating from Io into all things, both living and inanimate.

As well as the values attributed to them by those who benefit from and, in turn, care for them, land, air and freshwater bodies and their associated resources have inherent values of their own. They are part of the domains of various deities and consequently have mana atua.

Through creation Mäori claim an intimate relationship established by whakapapa to all entities of the natural world. 

For tangata whenua within Tamaki Makaurau, those relationships are based on whakapapa, and stem from long social, economic and cultural associations and experiences extending over several centuries.  Inherent in this relationship are the ancestral obligations as Kaitiaki to care for all other parts of the natural world within the territorie where they hold mana whenua.

Kaitiaki can take a physical or spiritual (metaphysical) form. Physical Kaitiaki include Tängata Whenua, reptiles, fish and birds. An example of a spiritual Kaitiaki is a taniwha.

Kaitiakitanga is an integral part of the expression of Rangatiratanga or authority, whereby it is often impossible to protect resources without also exercising a degree of authority and control over them. This is axiomatic.

This culturally distinct view of the world established natural and proper behavioural patterns - tikanga - between Tängata Whenua and other living things. When Tängata Whenua needed to hunt birds or fish, dig up plants or cut down trees, for example, proper rituals were performed recognising the sacredness of other life forms. The various deities maintained absolute power over their domains and it was to such deities that requests to use specific resources were made. Underlying these relationships was the holistic world view briefly described earlier, and it was only after such tikanga was satisfied that Tängata Whenua could safely take the lives of other living entities for food and resources for survival. For those who ignored tikanga, punishment was by way of personal calamity.

Over time Tängata Whenua developed a highly specialised knowledge of their environment and the resources that they relied upon for survival. Tribal tikanga sought to maintain the balance between people and other life forms. Birds and fish, for example, were protected much of the year by rahui or temporary ban, ensuring that such resources were not disturbed during breeding. Although continuing to evolve to suit changing circumstances, tribal tikanga still determines what activities can occur, and if so, how they can occur. While there is tikanga which is universal to Mäori, there is also tikanga which is specific to different Iwi and Hapu.

A Mäori world view is further illustrated by the following statement by an Iwi authority of the Auckland Region:

"Rivers are not just channels to facilitate the flow of water

Rivers are the lifelines, the blood veins of Papatuanuku

Rain is no t just water that falls out of the sky

Rain represents the tears of Ranginui, the sky father

who continues to weep as a result of the separation from Papatuanuku."

(Huakina Development Trust 1995)

While an abundance of food is valued for the physical sustenance it provides a tribe, tikanga also places enormous value on the concept of manäkitanga. The ability to provide an abundance of food to guests is a matter of tribal mana and well-being. Mäori values are also expressed in the importance placed on cultural materials found in the coastal environment, including those used for weaving and dyeing processes. The ability to live and work on ancestral lands (e.g. marae and papakainga) is also of fundamental importance, facilitating the meeting of Kaitiaki responsibilities and enabling relationships, culture and traditions with ancestral taonga to be nurtured.

Many activities have the potential to adversely affect the relationship of Mäori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral water, sites, wähi tapu and other taonga.  Of particular concern are the effects of sewage and stormwater discharges into waterways, degradation of water quality, damage to or destruction of wähi tapu, and any action that degrades or depletes life forms, particularly of species gathered and used by Tängata Whenua.

The values of Tängata Whenua towards land, air and freshwater bodies and associated resources, and the expression of such values in tribal tikanga and institutions, were confirmed and guaranteed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, signed in 1840. Rights and obligations in terms of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi need to be taken into account in the management of natural and physical resource

Supporting Documents