Silver Linings
There was a time when flounder could be seen swimming above the shingle lake bottom, when eels were so plentiful the creeks stirred, slippery and black, and plant life grew abundant and rich – a time of balance and health. But now the waters of Te Waihora are in shadow – damaged and considered unsafe for people to wade into.
Decades of settlement and farming have taken their toll and with significant lake areas drained to develop farmland and pasture, the hugely productive, healthy wetland has been turned into a sink for farming run-off and the direct discharges of sewage.
Of New Zealand’s 140 lakes, Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere was this year rated the worst by National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). The rating is even more abysmal considering Te Waihora covers 20,000 hectares.
Although the lake’s future might appear as bleak as its own now darkened waters, there are bold programmes in place to restore it to its former glory.
In 1991, Te Waihora Management Board was formed to advise the Ngāi Tahu Māori Trust Board on the Ngāi Tahu Claim aspects that related to Te Waihora, which had been a treasured source of mahinga kai for more than 48 generations. The lake was after all, Te Kete Ika o Rākaihautū – the fish basket of Rākaihautū, abundant and significant to the iwi. It was a lake that sustained life.
The lakebed of Te Waihora was returned to Ngāi Tahu ownership in 1998 as part of the Treaty of Waitangi Deed of Settlement. Since that time, Te Waihora Management Board has worked with the Department of Conservation (DOC) on a joint management plan for the lakebed and surrounding DOC-administered lands. Last year the board implemented an access arrangement for commercial activities affecting the lakebed that Ngāi Tahu owns in a fee simple title.
Subsequently three more milestone victories have been won that will give momentum and direction to restoring Te Waihora.
Firstly, and of great importance, is the enduring co-governance relationship agreement and shared commitment between Environment Canterbury (ECan) and Ngāi Tahu (represented by Te Waihora Management Board). Significantly, the agreement is the first voluntary agreement that is not enforced by a Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
It will have at its heart Whakaora Te Waihora as a key part but also as a stand-alone cultural and ecological restoration programme.
Te Waihora Management Board chairwoman Terrianna Smith says the co-governance relationship agreement with Environment Canterbury, supported by the Crown, signals a new way of doing things.
“It’s the start of a new approach to the management of natural resources in the region – one which acknowledges and brings together the tikanga responsibilities of Ngāi Tahu and the statutory responsibilities of Environment Canterbury.”
Secondly, the Crown has approved amendments sought by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and DOC to the Lake Ellesmere Water Conservation Order.
The amended order explicitly recognises the historic relationship between Ngāi Tahu and Te Waihora as a nationally outstanding feature. The order specifically requires the consideration of habitat for indigenous wetland vegetation and fish, along with wildlife, and tikanga Māori in respect of Ngāi Tahu history, mahinga kai and customary fisheries, when managing the lake, and in particular lake openings.
It also officially recognises the dual Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere name.
The third milestone is $10.3 million in funding for Whakaora Te Waihora from the Government, Environment Canterbury, and Ngāi Tahu over the next two to five years. Of this funding, $6 million has come from the Government’s Fresh Start for Fresh Water Clean-Up Fund.
A further $1.3 million has been pledged by Fonterra to support Whakaora Te Waihora and clean-up activities within the catchment, taking the total funding to $11.6 million. The involvement of Fonterra came at a later stage and directly to the Government and Environment Canterbury, who enthusiastically welcomed it as a major breakthrough. Te Waihora Management Board and Ngāi Tahu shared the positive nature of the pledge, but also wanted to ensure a meaningful relationship was built. The board has since met directly with Fonterra, and had them out to Ngāti Moki marae to discuss the relationship and contributions further.
The formal sign off on these three initiatives took place on a fine day at Ngāti Moki Marae on 25 August 2011. Members of the local hapū, Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki ki Taumutu, Te Waihora Management Board and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu welcomed the Crown (represented by Environment Minister Nick Smith), Environment Canterbury, local politicians, fishermen, farmers and community members onto the marae at Taumutu, nestled on the southern edge of Te Waihora.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu kaiwhakahaere Mark Solomon says the iwi has contributed around $250,000 every year since the Ngāi Tahu Settlement, for the clean-up of Te Waihora, which covers six Papatipu Rūnanga (Taumutu, Koukourarata, Ōnuku, Wairewa, Ngāti Wheke and Ngāi Tūāhuriri). He says the funding and new agreement will accelerate the clean-up.
Solomon says the responsibility of restoring Te Waihora is ours today, and we must always leave things in a better state for the next generation.
“Ngāi Tahu can’t do it on its own. We can only do it by working with you, the community; and the community means exactly that. It means you. It means government. It means local government. It means Māori. It means everyone. This is a path and journey we must take together.”
Terriana Smith says the discussions the board has worked through and the processes they have developed may be applicable to other iwi and hapū around the country.
She says the challenge for Ngāi Tahu in general, is to use all the tools at their disposal such as “the law, our tenacious negotiation skills and our skilled environmental, legal and communications team – to maximise the enhancement and protection of this valuable place and to ensure we keep true to ourselves, so that we have full, unimpeded access to healthy mahinga kai and a healthy lakebed”.
Nick Smith says Whakaora Te Waihora shows a maturing relationship between the Government and Ngāi Tahu. “I am constantly surprised at the depth of the interaction between Ngāi Tahu and the Crown – I think it goes beyond what was envisaged (from the Deed of Settlement).”
He says the current state of Te Waihora is a disgrace, and that the Government wanted better results but was “frustrated by the lack of progress by ECan”.
He says there are no quick fixes. “We are going to require the best of goodwill, the best of science, the best of engagement if we are going to take on this humongous challenge.”
The Minister also announced two grants from the Community Environment Fund for Te Ara Kākāriki: Greenway Canterbury, which will receive $30,000 over three years; and Te Waihora Ellesmere Trust, which will receive $50,000 also over two years.
He also complimented the way Environment Canterbury commissioners had taken up the challenge of managing fresh water in Canterbury.
Environment Canterbury Chair of Commissioners Dame Margaret Bazley says the agreement with Ngāi Tahu is significant for the region of Canterbury, and indeed New Zealand. “We are forging a way in which iwi and regional government can work together for common goals.”
Dame Margaret says it is important for everyone with an interest in the lake and catchment to work together.
“We jointly recognise the unique relationship that Ngāi Tahu has with the ancestral lands and taonga of Te Waihora. We are expressing and confirming our commitment to the restoration and rejuvenation of the mauri and ecosystem health of Te Waihora.
“This agreement marks the start of a new approach that brings together the tikanga responsibility of Ngāi Tahu and the statutory responsibility of Environment Canterbury.”
Dame Margaret says it is only by bringing the whole community with us that this initiative will be successful.
She agrees with Terrianna Smith that the agreement between the regional council and iwi was a blueprint that could be applied elsewhere in the country.
Terrianna Smith inherited the mission to restore the lake from her father, Trevor Marsh, who was part of the original board along with Anake Goodall and Donald Brown. The board’s purpose was to address issues around Treaty settlement progress and the Resource Management Act. It also gave a voice for the kaitiaki rūnanga, each of whom have representatives on the board.
“Even without the people involved, reversing the lake degradation is a complex biophysical process,” says Terrianna Smith. “We’re dealing with multiple issues. It’s exhausting and it’s constant. But we’re the watchdogs, and if we can start turning the lake around, the next generations can continue the project.
“There have been successes and that’s been very heartening, and, I hope, inspirational to the wider Ngāi Tahu whānau; but when my tamariki and mokopuna can swim in that lake again, that’s when I’ll be cheering. That’s when I’ll say ‘we’ve done it’.”
Maria Johnson, known affectionately to many as Aunty Ake, was born and raised by the shore of Te Waihora. She later remarked after the signing of the agreement, that it had been a very interesting day.
In May this year, eighty-seven year old Aunty Ake testified at Te Waihora Water Conservation Order Hearing on behalf of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and the Department of Conservation. Others who testified included: Te Waihora Tangata Tiaki (and only surviving Ngāi Tahu member of the team that gave evidence on Te Waihora during the Ngāi Tahu Claim process Wai27) Donald Brown, Te Waihora Board member Craig Pauling, Ngāi Tahu leader and tribal historian Tā Tipene O’Regan, Mark Solomon, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Tribal Interests general manager David O’Connell and tribal customary fisheries advisor Nigel Scott.
Aunty Ake’s heartfelt testimony of being able to see flounder swimming on the bottom of the lake was a poignant reminder to many of how much damage Te Waihora has suffered.
In her testimony she said how, after an absence of many decades from the region, she almost fell over when she saw the state of the lake waters.
“The lake was a beautiful place to me and I continued to visit until 1946 when I married a railway man and moved around New Zealand. When I came back for my first visit to the lake in 50 years I just could not believe what I was seeing, I still cannot understand why things had changed so much.
“In my day you could go right around the lake on a single track. Go right round and the colour, you could see the shingle bottom when I was a young kid. You could see the fish in the water, now you can’t see anything and it smells.
However, Aunty Ake now feels things are heading in the right direction. “It was marvellous to see so many important people and organisations. It shows – for them all to be there at the marae – they must have a conscience.”
She says she would never have imagined attending such an event a year ago.
“Ngāi Tahu has worked fast. And there’s a lot of people who must’ve been working very hard to get to where we are today. It’s going to take a few years however, before the cogs of the wheel start moving and we will start to see change.”
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May 17th, 2012 at 6:56 pm
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