Iwi oppose property rights on water

Mark Solomon.

14-07-2008 | Not Specified

While Maori accept Crown ownership of water resources, any attempts to attach transferable property rights to water will be strongly opposed.

This is according to Mark Solomon, the chair of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, who says over the past 12 months he has been in intensive discussion with iwi leadership across the country on the issue of water, and all accept only the Crown owns the water so long as no property right is attached to that water.

"Maori accepts that no-one owns the water and will participate in any regulatory process to gain access.

"But, if there is a transferable property right attached to that water consent every tribe in the country is going to put their hand up, bring their lawyers out and you will have a fight."

Addressing a water forum at last month's Federated Farmers national conference in Christchurch, Solomon says Maori organisations have recently held meetings with both the Labour and National parties and while Labour indicated they had no intention of attaching property rights to water, National would attach a property right to water consents.

Terry Heiler, the chief executive officer of Irrigation New Zealand, pointed out there is already some water trading going on and felt it was difficult not to put a transferable property right on water in areas such as Canterbury where the resource is fully allocated.

Without a transferable property right, water is essentially locked up making it impossible for any new irrigators to gain access to consented water.

Heiler says the issue of transferable property rights on water is something New Zealanders needed to discuss and decide upon.

Solomon says it was important to understand that Maori environmental philosophy does not extend to owning natural resources in the sense of ownership or title, as has been interpreted by some media particularly at the time of the seabed and foreshore debate.

"Rather the place of Maori and Ngai Tahu in the natural order is equal to all other living things and that we share the privilege of being able to sustainably use resources for our sustenance and needs."

This ethic is encapsulated in the term kaitiakitanga, which Solomon says also underpins many farmers' views of their role on the land.

He spoke about Ngai Tahu's view of the cultural significance of water in that it is central to its culture and ongoing identity, particularly around food gathering and hunting traditions.

Water is also a source of mana and spiritual sustenance, intrinsically linked to Maori well-being.

Solomon says Ngai Tahu has long held concerns about the degradation of water environments and the negative effects this was having on their traditional relationship with water.

"This denial of recognising the full extent of aboriginal rights guaranteed to us in law has led to many waterways being severely polluted and irreversibly changed into unnatural patterns."

Ngai Tahu, he says, continues to raise water-related concerns under the Resource Management Act (RMA), the Waitangi Tribunal and other statutory monitoring and planning services.

However as these bodies are driven by western science they often fail to take Maori cultural values into account in monitoring and development of policy.

A recent study looking at the cultural health of waterways throughout the country found South Island waterway sites to be in a state of moderate to poor cultural health.

The majority of sites lacked native riparian and wetland vegetation, had been extensively modified and often had intensive land use right up to the edge of the waterways.

Solomon says for Ngai Tahu, promoting riparian restoration and dealing with the sources of contaminants is seen as the most important challenge for the future management of waterways in the South Island.

"I believe that Ngai Tahu can and should work with Federated Farmers.

"Together we could make greater changes to the health of our waterways that cannot be achieved by solely working for councils for instance."

He says the RMA and council processes often put Maori in positions where they are at loggerheads with farmers instead of encouraging co-operation and win-win outcomes.

He challenged Federated Farmers to sit down with Ngai Tahu and discuss the opportunities to make real and achievable changes for the sake of waterways and a shared future.

"Why can't we together develop on-farm plans that protect and restore our waterways so people can again safely swim in them and eat from them?"

He says simple techniques like planting native vegetation on the edges of waterways can help save waterways with little impact on farming practices.

Farming operations owned by Ngai Tahu will be using these waterway protection techniques and certainly farming will be playing a much greater role in the tribe's future.

Solomon believed farmers today have a much greater understanding of Ngai Tahu's cultural position on water and both parties have a lot in common in that they are both practical people with a strong relationship with the land as a source of life and sustenance.

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