He oranga wai, he oranga whakapapa: Critical change in the health of the awa through Kaupapa Maori-led Kaitiakitanga practices

After generations of harmful exploitative environmental practices that have resulted from large scale land confiscations by the Crown (Baker, 2013; Waitangi Tribunal, 2011), the health of our awa in the Waikato has substantially deteriorated. Ngāti Maniapoto kaumātua indicate that the mauri of the awa is directly related to the oranga of the iwi. Ko te wai te toto o te whenua, water is the blood of the land. The land is the mauri of the people, keeps the people alive. If the water goes bad, the land goes… bad, the people die. (Iwi representative, Parsons, Fisher, & Crease, 2021). As tangata whenua, our waterways are interconnected with our oranga in a multiplicity of ways. Pūniu River Care Inc. (PRC) is an incorporated society that is contributing to the restoration of the Pūniu awa. During the time that this report was written, the commercial arm of the organisation was still in the development phase. Therefore, this review has not explored the commercial aspects that PRC has since developed. This study explores some of PRC’s practices with the aim of demonstrating how this kaupapa Māori-led organisation has been successful in improving the health of the awa, and achieving the cultural aspirations of the organisation, which include supporting the wellbeing of the marae and hapū that PRC are derived from.