Abstract

The Integrated Kaipara Harbour Management Group (IKHMG) promotes the integrated management, inter-agency coordination and kaitiakitanga of the Kaipara Harbour and its catchment. Led by the hap (subtribe) Te Uri o Hau, the group is a collective of stakeholders and community. In 2013, the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) and Te Uri o Hau examined the IKHMG to understand what enables and hinders mtauranga-informed management of the Kaipara Harbour. A review of literature relating to mtauranga and environmental resource management found a myriad of issues in integrating indigenous knowledge with science, or with indigenous knowledge holders working with scientists and/or resource managers. Our cross-cultural collaborative research examined to what extent the IKHMG overcame these issues and incorporated mtauranga into planning and decision-making. We make the case that the challenge facing cross-cultural integrated catchment programmes should not be so much how to integrate indigenous knowledge into resource management' but how to integrate indigenous knowledge holders into planning and decision-making' to enable indigenous knowledge holders to articulate management in their own terms as an expression of self-determination. Glossary of Mori words: atua: deity; hap: sub-tribe;

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