Na Ara Ahurea: Envisioning Collaborative Governance in Disaster Risk Reduction in Aotearoa

Abstract

New Zealand has recently experienced a range of natural hazard disasters, including the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes, the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake as well as Cyclones’ Debbie and Cook, in 2017. Following each of these disasters, Māori communities rapidly drew on core assets such as marae (Māori community centres) and other material resources as well as operationalised cultural networks and personnel in order to assess and address the needs of devastated communities. Research findings (Kenney et al, 2014; Kenney & Solomon, 2014; Phibbs et al, 2015) have suggested that in every instance, the Māori response was efficient and effective. Subsequent to a ministerial review of the formal responses to the aforementioned natural hazard disasters, the New Zealand Government has determined that there is a key role for iwi (Māori tribes) at every level of the nation’s disaster governance infrastructure. Legislation is proposed as a mechanism for fostering the creation of a fully collaborative go-governance partnership between the Crown and Iwi to manage all aspects of disaster risk reduction. The programme of research outlined in this presentation will inform that outcome through creating the first comprehensive Māori disaster management theory and implementation framework. Research findings will equally innovate New Zealand’s disaster management legislation and infrastructure through facilitating development of a collaborative co-governance framework for managing disaster contexts. The proposed framework, the first partnership between a government and colonised Indigenous peoples to ensure effective disaster preparedness, management and resilience throughout a nation state, will also align with core priorities outlined in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.