May 28, 2020
Case made for Te Mana o Te Wai
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The chair of Te Kahui o te Wai, the Māori advisory group on freshwater, says new rules designed to clean up rivers, lakes and wetlands are a significant advance.
Kingi Smiler says the starting point for the national policy statement for freshwater management is Te Mana o Te Wai, which prioritises the health and wellbeing of the water itself.
Human needs are put before extractive uses like irrigation, and the whole package is designed to change behaviour among central and local government and industry.
He says the acceptance of Māori values was a major advance and a tribute to the work of iwi over the past decade.
“If you read the submissions, and there were about 17,500 submissions, the pleasing things were the huge support from all sectors for the notion of Te Mana o Te Wai, and so one of the reasons it’s in there is there is a lot of support now throughout the country,” Mr Smiler says.
Mahinga kai is included as a compulsory value in the national objectives framework, and there will be iwi appointments to all new freshwater hearing panels.
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