Decolonising Blue Spaces in the Anthropocene Freshwater Management in Aotearoa New Zealand
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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Decolonising Blue Spaces in the Anthropocene Freshwater management in Aotearoa New Zealand Meg Parsons Karen Fisher Roa Petra Crease Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management Series Editor Justin Taberham London, UK Tis series is dedicated to the rapidly growing feld of Natural Resource Management (NRM). It aims to bring together academics and profes- sionals from across the sector to debate the future of NRM on a global scale. Contributions from applied, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approaches are welcome, including aquatic ecology, natural resources planning and climate change impacts to endangered species, forestry or policy and regulation. Te series focuses on the management aspects of NRM, including global approaches and principles, good and less good practice, case study material and cutting edge work in the area. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15182 Meg Parsons • Karen Fisher Roa Petra Crease Decolonising Blue Spaces in the Anthropocene Freshwater management in Aotearoa New Zealand Meg Parsons Karen Fisher School of Environment School of Environment University of Auckland University of Auckland Auckland, New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand Roa Petra Crease School of Environment University of Auckland Auckland, New Zealand Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management ISBN 978-3-030-61070-8 ISBN 978-3-030-61071-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61071-5 © Te Editor(s) (if applicable) and Te Author(s) 2021. Tis book is an open access publication. 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Te registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Ali and Den Parsons for all their aroha Acknowledgments We wish to thank various people for their contribution to this book. First, we need to acknowledge the tremendous work undertaken by Leane Makey throughout the research collection phase of this project. She helped us collect interviews, drove numerous research team members (ourselves, research assistants and students) around the Waipā River catchment on various site visits, and used for superior GIS skills to create maps. Accordingly, we ofer our special thanks to Leane, ehara koe i a ia! Second, we would like to express our gratitude to our three other research assistants on the project: Esther McGill, Bradley Jones, and Jack Barrett. Teir collective eforts to collect and organise our data sets were an invalu- able contribution to our capacities to analyse and write up our results, so a big tēnā koutou. Our third thank you, tēnā kōrua, needs to be given to Melanie Mayall-Nahi and Heather Paterson-Shallard, who occupied numerous roles during our research project (Honours and Masters’ stu- dents, research assistants, friends), and provided us with diferent per- spectives, new tangents to journey down, and practical help at key stages. We also recognise that the book and research for the book was sup- ported (directly and indirectly) by numerous people within Te University of Auckland. Te long journey leading to this book began in 2009 with attendance at hui and wānanga about the Waipā River settlement, and which then led to securing a research grant from the Marsden Fund in 2015 to explore the environmental geographies of the Waipā River. We vii viii Acknowledgments apologise in advance if we forget to acknowledge some of the people who have supported and guided us along the way. Our special thanks to our colleagues from the School of the Environment and the wider Faculty of Science at Te University of Auckland including: Mrs Anna-Marie Simcock; Professor Richard Le Heron; Associate Professor Nick Lewis; Professor Paul Kench; Associate Professor JR Rowland; Dr David Hayward; Dr Gretel Boswijk, and Ms Mel Wall. Tey all provided us with advice, empathic words of support, and practical actions that helped us undertake our research when we (the author team) faced incredibly difcult personal circumstances that necessitated us adopting a diferent and highly fexible way of working. In addition, the mahi of other University of Auckland staf was critical to the research being undertaken and the book written. Most notably Wendy Rhodes, Amy Weir and Kathryn Howard supported us with contract variations, sub-contracting and personnel requests, reporting requirements, budget inquiries, and helped to ensure the book could be made open access. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou mo to tautoko. Tis book and research for the book was supported by the Marsden Fund Council from Government funding, managed by Royal Society Te Apārangi. We also express our gratitude to the following organisations for their assistance with the collection of our historical data: Alexander Turnbull Library; Archives of New Zealand; Auckland Libraries; Hamilton City Libraries. Our special thanks are extended to the staf of Māniapoto Māori Trust Board, Waikato River Authority, Pūniu River Care, and Waikato Regional Council as well as others we encountered in complet- ing the research for this book. We are particularly grateful to the assis- tance provided by Ngahuia Herangi at various stages of this journey. We also express our very great appreciation to all the research participants who were interviewed as part of our research project and whose words are quoted in this book, a huge tēnā koutou to you all. Our personal acknowledgements are as follows: Meg Parsons would like to express her tremendous thanks to her par- ents Ali and Dennis Parsons for their endless support, compassion, and practical problem-solving eforts that enable Meg to undertake research- ing and writing the book in between hospital stays, medical treatments, Acknowledgments ix and the lockdown. She would also like to ofer her special thanks to Dr Anthony Jordan for his professional expertise that helped ensure that Meg was able to keep working despite her health-related challenges. Roa Crease would like to acknowledge her parents, Marivic and Luke, and partner, Kelvin, for their encouragement and support. She would like to thank her mum, in particular, for her unwavering support, positiv- ity and kindness. Karen Fisher would like to acknowledge her parents, Carol (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui) and Graeme, both of whom were proud children of the King Country and both of whom would have been delighted to see this book come to fruition. To her Ngāti Maniapoto whanau—ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa. Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Environmental Justice and Indigenous Environmental Justice 39 3 ‘Te past is always in front of us’: Locating Historical Māori Waterscapes at the Centre of Discussions of Current and Future Freshwater Management 75 4 Remaking Muddy Blue Spaces: Histories of Human- Wetlands Interactions in the Waipā River and the Creation of Environmental Injustices 121 5 A History of the Settler-Colonial Freshwater Impure- Ment: Water Pollution and the Creation of Multiple Environmental Injustices Along the Waipā River 181 6 Legal and Ontological Pluralism: Recognising Rivers as More-Tan-Human Entities 235 7 Transforming River Governance: Te Co-Governance Arrangements in the Waikato and Waipā Rivers 283 xi xii Contents 8 Co-Management in Teory and Practice: Co-Managing the Waipā River 325 9 Decolonising River Restoration: Restoration as Acts of Healing and Expression of Rangatiratanga 359 10 Rethinking Freshwater Management in the Context of Climate Change: Planning for Diferent Times, Climates, and Generations 419 11 Conclusion: Spiralling Forwards, Backwards, and Together to Decolonise Freshwater 463 Appendix: Table of Interview Participants 483 Glossary of Te Reo Māori Terms 485 Index 491 Abbreviations Crown New Zealand Crown EJ Environmental Justice ETS Te New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme GEC Te Guardians Establishment Committee GHG Greenhouse Gas IEJ Indigenous Environmental Justice IMP Iwi Management Plan JMA Joint Management Agreement MMTB Maniapoto Māori Trust Board NPSFM Te National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management RMC Te Nehenehenui Regional Management Committee NIWA National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research ODC Otorohanga District Council OTS Ofce of Treaty Settlements PAC Te Pollution Advisory Council RMA Resource Management Act 1991 SHMAK Stream Health Monitoring Assessment kit UNDRIP Te United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples UNFCCC Te United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention V&S Vision and strategy WDC Waikato District Council WRA Waikato Regional Authority WRC Waikato Regional Council WRCuT Te Waikato River Clean-up Trust xiii List of Figures Fig.