Councils, iwi and DOC unite for conservation in top of the South Island
An alliance of councils, iwi and the Department of Conservation in the top of the South Island plans to work
collectively with their communities to restore natural landscapes across the region – from west to east and from the
mountains to the sea.
Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance includes Buller, Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough and Kaikōura councils, the West Coast
Regional Council, a number of iwi in the region and DOC.
A dawn blessing was held in Nelson today to launch the Alliance and its strategy for collaboratively achieving
significant conservation gains across the top of the South Island. The launch was timed for Matariki, marking the start
of a new season and the start of this new way of working for conservation.
The Alliance will provide environmental leadership and coordination in working together and with others to protect and
enhance the wider region’s diverse natural landscapes. The landscapes include vast areas of beech forest, eastern
dryland, alpine hinterland, the sheltered sounds of Marlborough, freshwater catchments and varied marine environments
including extensive intertidal flats and wild and exposed coasts. Hundreds of native plant and animal species live
within those landscapes, including some unique to the region.
Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance independent chair Martin Rodd says the Alliance and its strategy are focussed on
enabling landscape-scale conservation projects that have environmental, social, economic and cultural benefits.
“Our aspiration is to see the natural environment across the top of the South Island flourishing through ecological
restoration over large areas with people caring for and benefiting from the environment and the flourishing nature in
turn enriching communities.
“Kotahitanga is about collaboration, working together in collective action with communities, industry and a variety of
organisations to achieve conservation gains that enhance and protect Te Taiao, our natural heritage.
“Having this alliance across local government, iwi and DOC enables us to do more together than we can each do on our own
to achieve successful landscape-scale conservation across district boundaries and places.
“The Alliance’s leadership and coordination role will include identifying, prioritising and integrating conservation,
attracting investment and resources for new conservation work, providing advice and support to conservation projects,
and linking new projects with existing projects.
“The Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance Strategy outlines high-level conservation goals and provides guidance and
direction on where and how to work. The strategy was developed with the support of natural heritage management
practitioners and scientists.
“Core to the strategy is combining science with mātauranga Māori, Māori knowledge and values, recognising the
interconnected relationship between the spiritualworld, the natural world and people.
“The strategy will change and develop over time as Alliance members engage with their communities and community
aspirations are integrated into it.”
Brendan Wilson, Chair of Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Trust says iwi look forward to achieving significant outcomes across the
wider Top of the South area, which without this collaboration might not have been possible.
“The aims and objectives of the Alliance, to achieve large-scale conservation projects with wider social, cultural and
economic outcomes, resonates well with iwi and the acceptance from the Alliance to embrace mātauranga Māori concepts as
a foundation, ensures that our long-held values of protecting and enhancing our natural environments will have a greater
chance of success. We look forward to being part of the process and to share in those successes.”
Marlborough Mayor John Leggett says, like other regions, Marlborough’s indigenous biodiversity is fragile with species
at the brink of extinction and ecosystems in a state of collapse. A new approach is urgently needed, he said.
“This strategy, pooling resources and expertise to tackle some agreed targets, makes so much more sense than continuing
to work on our own patches. This way we should be able to make some real progress.”
The Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance and Strategy have been developed over the past two years. Currently, five iwi have
committed to the Alliance and Strategy including Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Trust, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kuia Trust, Ngāti Tama
ki Te Waipounamu Trust, Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui Trust, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae. A number of other iwi in the wider
region are also considering committing to the Alliance and Strategy and are discussing this within their iwi.
ends