Iwi Management Plan

Te Tangi a Tauira - The Cry of the People

Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku Natural Resource and Environmental Iwi Management Plan 2008

This natural resource and environmental iwi management plan has been developed by Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku and Hosting and development of these web pages is on behalf of Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku.

Download Te Tangi a Tauira - The Cry of the People.

Kaupapa of this Plan

The kaupapa of this Plan is Ki Uta Ki Tai - From the Mountains to the Sea. It is a culturally based natural resource framework developed by and for Ngāi Tahu Whānui and has been identified and advocated as a key tool in assisting Ngāi Tahu achieve more meaningful rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga in natural resource management. It is about an indigenous understanding of the environment that can be used to help address the wide range of issues rūnanga face with regards to environmental management. Ki Uta Ki Tai is based on the idea that if the realms of Tāwhirimatea (god of the winds), Tāne Mahuta (god of all living things), Papatūānuku (mother earth) and Tangaroa (god of the sea) are sustained, then the people will be sustained.

The kaupapa reflects the knowledge that resources are connected, from the mountains to the sea, and must be managed as such. Furthermore the kaupapa reflects that we belong to the environment and are only borrowing the resources from our generations that are yet to come. It is considered our duty to leave the environment in as good or even better condition than received from our tūpuna. The historical practices were established by our tūpuna and must be passed on to ngā uri kei te heke mai, the generations to come.

Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku use this symbolism in the naming of this Plan.