TIAKI TAONGA 🌠🌌

Ka mānawatia a Matariki whetū heri kai me te huhua o Tupuānuku, o Tupuārangi, o Waitī, o Waitā, he tātai arorangi e puritia nei ngā mātauranga tuku iho hei oranga mō tātou. Tēnei te Tiaki Taonga te mihi atu nei.

Anei he kai anō, arā he pitopito kōrero mō ngā kaupapa huhua o
Wai 262 - Tiaki Taonga i runga i ngā take o te wā mō Kanohi Ora.
Tai 262 - Succeeding to the Mauri

One silver-lining to the Kāwanatanga taking its sweet time (more than a decade now) to respond to the findings for Wai 262 in Ko Aotearoa Tēnei is that our taura here whakapapa is longer and stronger than ever: our claims are 4 generations deep now. 

Tai 262 are the collective of taiohi who whakapapa to the tohunga and rangatira who lodged the Wai 262 claim in the early '90s. They are the legacy holders who have succeeded to the practice of mātauranga Māori pertaining to ngā mahi Tiaki Taonga - the doing of Tiaki Taonga; organising and actioning for the kaupapa. 

So if you didn’t know, now you know: the Wai 262 awa runs deep as it runs wide.

Tai 262 representing at the 30th commemoration of the Mātaatua Declaration last month.
Hard-Kāo to the Fast-Track

Te Taumata Whakapūmau i te Mauri o Wai 262 were among the 27,000 submitters to make their view of the Fast-Track Approvals Bill known to Parliament’s Environment Committee in April. The overarching view submitted on behalf of the Tiaki Taonga kaupapa was a hard-Kāo! to the fast-track.

Tiaki Taonga requires that Kāwanatanga explicitly acknowledge that it asserts NO proprietary rights or interests in taonga and mātauranga Māori. Clearly that’s not the play where approvals potentially fast-tracked would include resource consents and the like under the RMA 1991; concessions under the Conservation Act 1987; authority to do things otherwise prohibited under the Wildlife Act 1953; archaeological authority under the Heritage NZ Pouhere Taonga Act 2014; marine consents in relation to the exclusive economic zone; land access under the Crown Minerals Act 1991; and aquaculture activity under the Fisheries Act 1996. 

Due to the time constraint (go figure) the Environment Committee will only hear 1100 (of the 3000) submitters who asked to present their submission orally. You can count us among that lucky number as we have voiced the problem with the Bill as well as the solutions in Tiaki Taonga (check out our instagram link below).

The Problem (at least part of it)

In both New Zealand and global legal frameworks, systemic deficiencies continue to lead to situations where individuals or corporations can freely utilise (either wholly or partially) mātauranga Māori and taonga tuku iho without consultation with or obtaining consent from kaitiaki.

The Solution

Addressing this issue requires a suite of different solutions that will include hard law, as well as other tools like codes of conduct, contractual provisions, research guidelines, and educational material. The body of solutions - hard, soft, and all - is what we call “Tiaki Taonga”.

Embodying the solution:

One of the solutions already in play that embodies the principle of Tiaki Taonga is the granting of legal personhood to taonga tuku iho directly. 

The Goldman Environmental Prize has been awarded to “grassroots leaders” from around the world (every year since 1989) whose leadership has had “an extraordinary impact on the environment”. This year, all of the winners of this prize represent indigenous communities. One of them is a lawyer in Spain whose mahi led to legal recognition of the rights of the Mar Menor ecosystem, Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon. 

That nature can have rights, as people do, is not something that a European legislature had previously been able to stomach. Ki Aotearoa nei, our legislature has been doing it since 2014 in relation to Te Urewera and the Whanganui river, with Taranaki maunga set to follow. Like it or not, kakī whero mā, all around the world environmental law and human rights (which, lest we forget, includes the rights of indigenous people) are becoming more and more intertwined. Get it, Nature!
But could we hustle for Nagoya?!

14 years since the UN adopted the Nagoya Protocol and our Kāwanatanga continues to defer signing it. No fast-tracks laid out for this one. 

If you’re not really sure where to place the Nagoya Protocol, think of it as the tamaiti of the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (the “CBD”, which Aotearoa signed up to in 1993). It’s significant to Tiaki Taonga because it implements the access and benefit sharing and traditional knowledge provisions of the CBD -  and it’s legally binding on state parties (not always the case in international treaties). 

At a time when incentives to conserve biological diversity are critical; when our informed consent for outsiders to access our taonga tuku iho remains a real part of the struggle, surely it’s time for Aotearoa to join the benefit-sharing party: by signing and ratifying the Nagoya Protocol. 

The Waitangi Tribunal’s report on Wai 262, Ko Aotearoa Tēnei, outlines the context of this kaupapa in its chapter on access and benefit sharing. Or, if you’re more the visual type, here’s a picture from the same chapter that shows the key themes of access and benefit sharing.

(Waitangi Tribunal. Ko Aotearoa tēnei: a report into claims concerning New Zealand law and policy affecting Māori culture and identity. Te taumata tuarua. Volume 1, p149.)

Signing and ratifying the Nagoya Protocol is a priority for Tiaki Taonga and we support all efforts (like those of Manu Caddie and the team at Te Kotahi Research Institute) which encourage the Kāwanatanga to do the right thing. Better late than never fast-tracked, nē?

"Benefit-sharing"

One of the kaupapa kōrero we heard at the national conference held last year by Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora was the need for localised benefit-sharing guidelines for taonga and mātauranga Māori, which need to be couched in local contexts. 

He Muka Tāngata - He Mana Wāhine
From left to right, four of the mana wāhine who shared kōrero: Tarcila Rivera Zea (Quechua); Mililani Trask (Hawai'i); Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Te Ātiawa, Ngāi Tahu); Inez White Faitala (Te Arawa, Ngāti Porou, Tainui). Click on the image to be directed to their session.

Last month Tiaki Taonga collaborated with Kanapu and AATEA Solutions to host He Muka Tāngata - He Mana Wāhine, an online gathering of indigenous women from across Te Ao o Kiwa. Our aim: to exchange kōrero and intertwine the threads of our shared experiences and aspirations for our whānau as women of Oceania. No stress if you missed it, you can still watch the recorded sessions here.

We were honoured to have the space for kōrero opened by Te Makau Ariki Atawhai as patron of Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora; with contributions shared from mana wahine nō Hawai’i, Peru, Samoa, me Aotearoa mai i te Hiku ki te Ūpoko o te Ika. 

Indeed the mauri of mana wahine is woven into the fabric of Tiaki Taonga; the legacy of those trailblazers and actionists who believed in the importance of preserving mātauranga tuku iho mō ake tonu atu through the process of Wai 262. Nā whai anō ko te kaupapa kōrero i tū ai: He Muka Tangata - He Mana Wahine; honouring the special role which women play in the succession of ngā taonga from one generation to the next hei mātauranga tuku iho

Ka mihi rā ki ngā kahurangi katoa i takoha mai te kōrero hei kai mā tātou; toro atu ki ngā rōpū tautoko pērā i Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora, te Pacific Indigenous Women's Network me te International Indigenous Women's Forum (FIMI); arā hoki, ki ngā kairaranga i takoha mai ngā taonga ātaahua ka kitea i raro iho nei. Kua rangatira a Tiaki Taonga i a koutou katoa wāhine mā. 

Kairaranga, Taimārino Rīwai (Te Māhurehure, Ngāpuhi nui tonu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) & Rebecca Toki (Ngāti Hao, Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Kuta, Ngāti Manu), with the taonga they wove and gifted to the kaupapa. Relevant to the kōrero of the day as taonga used by mothers while reciting whakapapa for pēpi, weaving together feathers from kererū & toroa, as well as soft fibres (bringing similar sister silky fibres of the Pacific to mind). 
Dealing with hōhā hone ahurea
(cultural misappropriation)

Khylee Quince, AUT Dean of Law, speaking with Te Rina Kowhai on Te Ao with Moana
“One of the local iterations of this kaupapa has been the Wai 262 claim…in particular the Tiaki Taonga workstream, which is people working on how do we look after that cultural intellectual property in ways that are tikanga-led.”

Instagram

Cutting and pasting someone else’s head onto the body of a kaiwero in a photograph (which you didn’t create) and distributing that photograph in marketing materials, is:

  1. an infringement of copyright law = theft

  2. pretty much digital decapitation, right?

  3. offensive to most people as individuals for lack of consent

  4. offensive to a whole ahurea for trying to suck the wairua value from a cultural ceremony and use it for your own purposes = exploitation

Owning your bad and saying sorry is:

  1. meaningful when you’re led by the ethics of those from whom you’ve stolen

  2. always better kanohi ki te kanohi

  3. a lot less hōhā when the thief chooses the process by choice (& not because they’re legally compelled to)

Nevertheless, when organisations, companies, and rāwaho get it wrong but don’t have the grace of Te Rawhitiroa and Ngāti Rangiwewehi to guide them through the situation, then what? If we “reverse-engineer” Tiaki Taonga (he whakaaro nō Rangi Kipa, tēnā koe e hika!) what levers need to be pulled at a systems-level to arrive at a future where taonga and mātauranga are protected, and mana is preserved? What can be done to facilitate best practice (according to our tikanga) where rāwaho want to get it right? #appreciation not misappropriation, nē Aotearoa. 

Tiaki Taonga is an opportunity to collaborate with allies and good partners who have a genuine desire to conduct themselves more ethically, in tune with indigenous tikanga. Let’s be clear, we’re not talking rāwaho appropriation of said tikanga; however, a system resourced for Aotearoa that encourages best industry practices (and deters shitty ones) by our allies - in ways which support tino rangatiratanga of mātauranga and taonga tuku iho. 

Partnership agreements, licenses, and permitting systems that facilitate a direct and ethical relationship between kaitiaki and those seeking access are examples of the more immediate possibilities for protection of taonga. Like, did you hear about that Microsoft deal? Māori control of Māori things (like our data), to infinity and beyond.

FestPAC is on point. CITES not so much.

Hawai’i has been hosting iwi taketake from more than 20 nations across Te Ao o Kiwa at the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture (“FestPAC”). With heritage arts, performing arts, visual arts, kōrero about philosophy, plus ceremony that will always mau te wehi of course, FestPAC has something for everyone.

The theme for this year’s festival was Ho’oulu Lāhui: Regenerating Oceania. For Tiaki Taonga it’s a reminder that regenerative (c.f. degenerative) practice for taonga tuku iho is a knowing, doing, being we hold in common with our Oceanic whanaunga; as ways that keep us in relationship with each other and with our environment: kia kore ai e ngaro he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea

Yet for festi-goers/ creatives/ performers/ exhibitors traveling with taonga, did you know you need a special permit to travel with any that are made from one of 40,000 listed endangered species of flora and fauna? Aotearoa signed up to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna & Flora (“CITES”) in 1989, joining 183 other state parties from around the world. 

While the intention to protect endangered species from trade among international poachers may be well-meaning, the consequence is an impingement upon the traditional practices of iwi taketake from all over Te Ao o Kiwa. Among those taonga from Aotearoa that have been denied travel to FestPAC by the US government (which has legal jurisdiction in the host nation) are māripi, matau, rei puta, whakakai, heru, and poi piu which incorporate materials derived from whale bone, sinew and baleen. 

This kaupapa kōrero has been taken to this year's festival to discuss the shared impact it has on tangata whenua and tangata moana of our Oceanic region. Aotearoa delegation co-leader, Bonita Bigham, shared some insights about it recently: “Our cultural practices, our material culture, our knowledge systems, our artistic practices are being impinged by [not being] able to share, to grow, to gift”.

Taonga displayed by Rangi Kipa during his Toi Māori workshop at the Tiaki Taonga hui ki Taranaki 2024.
His taonga are among those denied travel to Hawai'i for FestPAC by the US government. 

Ngā Kōrero a Kanohi Ora

“You’re probably Tiaki Taonga and have some connection to this claim, whether you know it or not” (Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Tiaki Taonga hui ki Manurewa 2023).

Rangi Kipa on “reverse-engineering our dreams and aspirations” and challenges for Kanohi Ora (Tiaki Taonga hui ki Taranaki, February 2024).

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Join the movement - Register your tautoko to Wai 262 here: https://www.tiakitaonga.com/whakahono-mai 

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