Māori perspectives on risk

Approaches to identifying natural hazard risks, hazards and impacts and ways to mitigate them have been based on western scientific methods with little consideration of other perspectives and worldviews. This approach misses the benefit of insights that Te Ao Māori can provide. It also risks Māori communities not being sufficiently involved in resilience planning and preparation decisions, potentially resulting in adverse outcomes for communities and local environments.

We aim to create a knowledge bridge between mātauranga Māori and the hard-science focused multi-hazard science themes to address the impact of natural hazards.

To achieve this, we are working with the Whanake te Kura i Tawhiti Nui programme and hapū and iwi to:

• identify the Māori values and perspectives for risk across four key hazard themes: coastal, volcanoes, earthquake and tsunami, and weather and climate.
• design kaupapa Māori and mātauranga Māori approaches, frameworks and attributes for modelling risk and multi-hazard planning, and test the integration and modelling of these within one rohe (area).
• refine the modelling outputs to maximise their use by Māori in decision-making to meet Māori aspirations and achieve outcomes such as environmental and community resilience.

Our goal is for Māori to be full partners in resilience planning in Aotearoa New Zealand to ensure the insights of mātauranga Māori are included, and mitigation methods align with the aspirations of the affected Māori communities.

Ko te pūtake o ngā aramahi tautohu i ngā tūraru mōrearea taiao, ngā mōrearea, ngā pāpātanga me ngā tikanga whakamauru, ko ngā tikanga pūtaiao taketake, ā, kāore i whai i ētahi atu tirohanga ki te ao.  Kāore tēnei aramahi e whai hua i ngā tirohanga o Te Ao Māori. Ko tētahi tūraru anō, kāore ngā hapori Māori e tino whai wāhi ki ngā mahi whakamahere manawaroa me te whakarite whakataunga, nā ka kino pea te putanga ki ngā hapori me ngā taiao ā-rohe.

E whai ana mātou ki te waihanga i tētahi hononga mātauranga i waenga i te mātauranga Māori me ngā hōtaka rangahau i ngā mōrearea-matarau e aro ana ki te pūtaiao-aotūroa hei urupare i ngā pāpātanga o ngā mōrearea taiao.

Hei whakatutuki i tēnei, kei te mahi tahi mātou me te hōtaka o Whanake te Kura i Tawhiti Nui, ngā hapū me ngā iwi ki te:

• tautohu i ngā uara me ngā tirohanga Māori ki ngā tūraru mō ngā kaupapa mōrearea matua e whā: te takutai, ngā puia,te rūwhenua me te taiāniwhaniwha, te huarere me te āhuarangi.
• hoahoa i ngā aramahi kaupapa Māori, mātauranga Māori hoki, ngā pou tarāwaho me ngā āhuatanga hei whakatauira i te tūraru me te whakamahere i ngā mōrearea-matarau, ā, te whakamātau i te whakauruuru me te whakatauira i ēnei i roto i tētahi rohe.
• whakapakariti i ngā putanga whakatauira kia whakamōrahi ai te whakamahi a te Māori i roto i ngā whakatau e tutuki ai ngā wawata a te Māori me ngā putanga pērā i te manawaroa o te taiao me te hapori.

Ko tō mātou whāinga kia noho te Māori hei hoa rangapū mana taurite ki roto i ngā mahi whakamahere manawaroa i Aotearoa e mātua whakarite ai e whakauru ana ngā tirohanga mātauranga Māori, ā, e hāngai ana ngā tikanga whakamauru ki ngā wawata o ngā hapori Māori e whai pānga ana.