Matauranga Maori is being given due consideration in planning and on this website we highlight different ways to present that knowledge, and methodologies for implementation between parties.
“One of the most widely articulated concerns by Mäori regarding our participation in RMA processes is the tendency by decision makers to prefer Western scientific knowledge to Mätauranga Mäori – Mäori traditional and cultural knowledge.” (From A Wider Lens: An Iwi Planning Perspective (Kennedy, 2008, Mäori Report 6, page 12).
“The Resource Management Act 1991 has the capacity to embrace Indigenous perspectives of the environment in New Zealand. A 2009 analysis of three resource consent cases has shown that Māori are attempting to express their Indigenous knowledge in the Environment Court. Yet despite the Environment Court becoming more ‘sensitive’ to Māori cultural issues, science remains the … standard in resource consent cases. As a result, the Court misses the opportunity to embrace alternative ways of perceiving and understanding the natural world… It would truly be a loss to environmental law in New Zealand if Māori came to Court armed only with science.” (From Matauranga Māori in the Environment Court. Hogg, 2009)