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Estuaries are among the world’s most productive ecosystems, but due to their geographic location, they are at the forefront of anthropogenic pressures. Sea level rise (SLR) is one major consequence of climate change that poses a threat to estuaries with extensive intertidal habitats. The ecological implications of intertidal habitat loss have been largely overlooked despite their likely significance. We aimed to address this knowledge gap by investigating how benthic macroinvertebrate communities and their contributions to ecosystem function are likely to respond to SLR. Based on a spatially extensive dataset (119 sites) from a large coastal lagoon, depth, sediment chlorophyll concentrations, mud content, and average current speed were identified as the main drivers of community compositional turnover. Shifts in benthic community structure and associated functional implications were then evaluated using depth as a proxy for SLR. Three main macrofaunal groups representing intertidal, shallow subtidal, and deep subtidal habitats were identified. Functional trait analysis indicated low functional redundancy for a key intertidal suspension-feeding bivalve (Austrovenus stutchburyi) and the lack of a shallow subtidal functional replacement should intertidal habitats become inundated. These findings strongly suggest SLR and the associated environmental changes will alter estuarine macroinvertebrate communities, with implications for future ecosystem function and resilience.

Contemporary photographic practice has evolved into a broad field of possibilities, a flux of representational modes that represent emotions, experiences and feelings. In parallel the depth and layering of places offers a stimulating challenge to researchers and artists whom are willing to creatively explore nuances of land and nature as well as the multi-sensorial and spatial “reality” of places. The Waikato River is my research locale, located in the central North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. I draw on contemporary photography practice and theory to develop multimodal approaches to my research place, expanding objective modes of landscape and place representation. I trace a timeline from early landscape photography practice particularly during the British colonisation in New Zealand juxtaposing my photography practice as a counter approach to Eurocentric modes of place representation. This is informed by local Waikato Māori cosmologies and more contemporary readings on place. As a result I conceptualised a theoretical framework around the notion of place imaginaries as a creative platform for the development of expanded photographic modalities., A prática fotográfica contemporânea evoluiu para um amplo campo de possibilidades, um fluxo de modos representacionais que representam emoções, experiências e sentimentos. Paralelamente, a profundidade e as camadas dos lugares oferecem um desafio estimulante para pesquisadores e artistas que desejam explorar criativamente as nuances da terra e da natureza, bem como a “realidade” multissensorial e espacial dos lugares. O Rio Waikato é meu local de pesquisa, localizado na região central da Ilha Norte de Aotearoa, Nova Zelândia. Eu me baseio na prática e na teoria da fotografia contemporânea para desenvolver abordagens multimodais para o meu local de pesquisa, expandindo modos objetivos de fotografia de paisagem e representação de lugar. Eu traço uma linha do tempo a partir da prática inicial da fotografia de paisagem, particularmente durante a colonização britânica na Nova Zelândia, justapondo minha prática fotográfica como uma contra-abordagem aos modos eurocêntricos de representação do lugar. Isso é informado por cosmologias locais Waikato Māori e leituras mais contemporâneas sobre teoria de lugar. Como resultado, conceitualizei um referencial teórico em torno da noção de imaginários de lugar como uma plataforma criativa para o desenvolvimento de modalidades fotográficas expandidas.

Viruses are important constituents of ecosystems, with the capacity to alter host phenotype and performance. However, virus discovery cued by disease symptoms overlooks latent or beneficial viruses, which are best detected using targeted virus detection or discovered by non-targeted methods, e.g., high-throughput sequencing (HTS). To date, in 64 publications, 701 viruses have been described associated with indigenous species of Aotearoa New Zealand. Viruses were identified in indigenous birds (189 viruses), bats (13 viruses), starfish (4 viruses), insects (280 viruses), and plants (126 viruses). HTS gave rise to a 21.9-fold increase in virus discovery rate over the targeted methods, and 72.7-fold over symptom-based methods. The average number of viruses reported per publication has also increased proportionally over time. The use of HTS has driven the described national virome recently by 549 new-to-science viruses; all are indigenous. This report represents the first catalogue of viruses associated with indigenous species of a country. We provide evidence that the application of HTS to samples of Aotearoa New Zealand’s unique fauna and flora has driven indigenous virus discovery, a key step in the process to understand the role of viruses in the biological diversity and ecology of the land, sea, and air environments of a country.

Accessing healthcare during a disaster matters for the well-being of people and communities. This article explores healthcare messaging about General Practitioner (GP) services for non-COVID-19 health concerns during the Level 4 lockdown in Te Papaioea (Palmerston North), Aotearoa New Zealand. Messaging from Government, media and local GP clinics were analysed to understand how people were advised to seek care for non-COVID-19 health concerns. We found inconsistencies in these communications, ranging from messages to not attend healthcare services because of possible COVID-19 surges, to messages with vague, or lack of, information. Government messages did include advice for seeking general healthcare, but this was largely rendered invisible due to the focus on ‘staying home, saving lives’. Media messaging was similarly influenced by these Government directives. Few GP clinics had websites, and few provided information about accessing general healthcare services. Clinics also lacked up-to-date telephone messages about seeking healthcare for non-COVID-19 symptoms and illnesses. All three sources neglected the cultural, social and contextual diversity of the local audience. We recommend that communication during disasters should be clear, concise and consistent. Further, GPs should be supported to have websites and telecommunication platforms. All communications should be inclusive and aim to reach diverse audiences.

In the age of misinformation, trust and trustworthiness – core values of journalism – have become more important as news companies reeling from the pandemic seek emergency funding for their operations from the public and funders look for trusted brands to support. Earlier studies indicated people are more willing to pay for trusted news brands, and recently, the public funding of news has been directed to institutions that are regarded as trustworthy news outlets, and provide information that is in the public interest. While the concept of trust is complicated and measuring it is challenging, trust has rapidly become a key inquiry in academia. However, New Zealand lacks in this research, and this study aims to start to fill that gap. The paper is based on our survey of 1204 New Zealanders, and comparable data from 38 countries surveyed in the Reuters Digital News Report 2019. The paper finds that trust in news in New Zealand is high when compared internationally, but a large proportion (47%) of citizens don’t trust the news. It also finds New Zealanders are more concerned about misinformation and disinformation than respondents in other Western societies.

Previous briefsaddressing Te Ara Paerangi Future Pathways Green Paper evolve from awareness that the pandemic has raised serious concerns about the sustainability of today’s research institutions and funding systems. Aotearoa’s highly contestable funding raises concerns that our system may be among the most unstable internationally and prone to the problems observed in increasingly hypercompetitive research systems worldwide. Hypercompetition is associated with poor behaviours and mediocrity, undermines diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and reduces the likelihood of funding innovative projects and careers.How can we build more collaborative, connected careers within research systems appropriate for taking society on innovative journeys to solve the biggest challenges such as climate change and protecting endangered biodiversity? This paper and previous work describes analysis to arrive at design suggestions for an innovative base funding proposal that better achieves the historical intentions to meet national research needs that have evolved considerably over 30 years. The proposed system would reallocate existing and possibly additional government funding to support 30–50% of researchers’ salaries and related costs. The intent is to enhance the overall well being of the research workforce and knowledge systems by creating or incentivising a number of features that overcome current dilemmas, improving the responsiveness, connectivity and use of research within Aotearoa New Zealand, though self-organisation following Ostrom’s principles of common resource pool allocation. The proposed scheme has advantages over the current highly contestable system, and is expected to outperform tenure-driven systems.

Inequities in the provision of accessible primary health care contribute to poor health outcomes and health inequity. This study evaluated inequities in the prevalence and consequences of barriers that children face in seeing a general practitioner (GP) in Aotearoa New Zealand. We analysed data on 5,947 children from the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study cohort on barriers to seeing a GP in the previous year, reported by mothers when their children were aged 24 months and 54 months (in 2011/12 and 2013/14 respectively); and maternal-reported hospitalisations in the year prior to age 54 months. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for consequences of these barriers.Overall, 4.7% (n = 279) of children experienced barriers to seeing a GP in the year to 24 months and 5.5% (n = 325) in the year to 54 months. At each age, and for each specific barrier studied, barriers were more prevalent among Māori (the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand), and among Pacific, compared to New Zealand European, children. Children facing barriers in the year to age 24 months were twice as likely to be hospitalised in the year to 54 months (OR 2.18, 95%CI: 1.38 to 3.44). When this relationship was analysed by ethnicity, the association was strongest for Māori (OR: 2.92, 95%CI: 1.60 to 5.30), less strong for Pacific (OR 2.01, 95%CI: 0.92 to 4.37) and not present for New Zealand European (OR 1.27, 95%CI 0.39 to 4.12) families.Barriers that children face to seeing a GP have social and cost implications for families and the health system. Changes to the health system, and future health policy, must align with the New Zealand government’s obligations under Te Tiriti o [The Treaty of] Waitangi, to ensure that health equity becomes a reality for Māori.

Te Ara Paerangi Future Pathways Green Paper seeks a major transformation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s research, science and technology (RS&T) system and places ‘prioritisation’ at the head of its consultation process. Work to date has found that prioritisation is the most challenging topic, yet one that can provide a powerful test of whether proposed changes in all other categories can transform Aotearoa New Zealand’s research system as desired. This work analyses the potential to use more effective prioritisation as a target for transformational and feasible reform by sequentially applying frameworks identified by Meadows and Ostrom, to prioritise interventions in systems and manage common pool resources, respectively. The analysis identifies how to reframe the historic paradigms driving reform to prioritise and maximise the appropriation of well-being benefits of RS&T expenditure within Aotearoa, using an ‘NZ inc’ perspective. The analysis supports reframing and managing the nation’s RS&T institutions, infrastructure and funding as a common resource pool.

Our primary aim was to gain a better understanding of current technology availability and use in the homes of primary school children. The online-accessible questionnaire was made available for families with a child enrolled at primary school, with over 300 families participating. The results suggest that it is common for children to be introduced to screen media early in life and that they watch a wide range of content. While many families have rules regarding their children’s technology use, screen media is a significant part of their lives, with many children exceeding the recommended two hours of viewing per day. Future research could investigate whether media access and use differ between ethnic and socio-demographic groups, and whether changes have occurred as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected global healthcare access and exacerbated pre-pandemic structural barriers. Literature on disabled people’s experiences accessing healthcare is limited, with even less framing healthcare access as a human rights issue. This study documents and critically analyses Deaf people’s healthcare access experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eleven self-identified Deaf individuals participated in semi-structured videoconferencing interviews. Discourse analysis was applied to participant narratives with discourses juxtaposed against a human rights analysis. Barriers influencing healthcare access included: (1) the inability of healthcare providers to communicate appropriately, including a rigid adherence to face mask use; (2) cultural insensitivity and limited awareness of Deaf people’s unique needs; and (3) the impact of ableist assumptions and healthcare delaying care. Barriers to healthcare access represent consecutive breaches of rights guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Such breaches delay appropriate healthcare access and risk creating future compounding effects. Action is required to address identified breaches: (1) The CRPD should also underpin all health policy and practice development, inclusive of pandemic and disaster management responsiveness. (2) Health professionals and support staff should be trained, and demonstrate competency, in Deaf cultural awareness and sensitivity.

At Te Papa Atawhai/Department of Conservation in Aotearoa New Zealand, ‘cultural differences’ account for some of the difficulties that department staff experience in their interaction with Indigenous Māori in conservation work. To meet the need for better ‘cultural awareness’ of Māori conservation principles, the department has facilitated the development of Te Pūkenga Atawhai, which is an introductory course to Māori views of conservation offered to all department staff. For Māori, the course is also a part of a broader revitalisation process for Māori culture and society and a recognition of their bicultural Treaty partnership with the Crown. The paper investigates how the Te Pūkenga Atawhai course addresses the perceived difficulties with cultural differences between DOC and Māori in conservation work, and how Pou Kura Taiao and participants perceive its usefulness for teaching staff about Māori views of conservation. Some department staff argue that the course has contributed to a better understanding of Māori culture and conservation principles, others that it is too politicised and engages in cultural ‘tokenism’ of little relevance for conservation work.

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is considered a major threat to biodiversity, yet impacts of offshore ALAN on seabirds remain poorly understood. Particularly understudied are deck strikes (collisions of seabirds with vessels due to ALAN‐induced disorientation). To infer deck strike risks to the critically endangered Whenua Hou Diving‐petrel (Pelecanoides whenuahouensis; WHDP), we estimated nightly vessel counts and associated probability of floodlight use in close proximity of their only breeding colony, number of WHDP commutes, duration of phenophases, and ultimately the cumulative exposure to floodlights using a Bayesian framework. The estimated nightly number of vessels was 0.76 (0.64–0.89), 31% (21%–38%) of which used floodlights. WHDPs were potentially exposed to 28.9 (19.7–39.7) floodlights per breeding period. There was no evidence for inter‐annual variation in vessel counts, floodlight use, or WHDP activity, despite varying environmental conditions. WHDP activity, and therefore risk, was highest during courtship and post‐guard. Yet, there was potential for deck strikes throughout the breeding period, which could impact WHDPs. We identify key research questions (likelihood of a deck strike occurring, survival of deck‐struck birds, and post‐release survival of deck‐struck birds). In the meantime, small behavioral changes of vessel operators could be a successful approach to protecting seabirds from offshore ALAN. Tuhinga whakarāpopoto Ko te rama tāwhai ite pō (ALAN) he mea whakamōrearea i te rerenga rauropi, engari ko ngā pānga ote ALAN ki ngā manu moana ki tai kāore anō kia āta whakamāramatia. Ko ngāāhuatanga kāore anō kia āta tātari ko te tukinga kāraho (ko te tūtukinga o ngāmanu moana e tāhurihuri ana ki ngā waka, nā te ALAN). Ki te whakapae atu i temōreareatanga o te tukinga kāraho ki te Kuaka Whenua Hou (Pelecanoideswhenuahouensis; WHDP) he manu e ngaro haere ana tōna whare ora, i whakatau tatate tini o ngā waka e tere i te pō me te tūponotanga e hāngai ana ki tewhakamahinga o te tūrama raharaha e pātata ana ki pūrei kōhanga anake ō rātou,te maha o ngā rerenga o ngā WHDP, te roa o te tauwāhi mātai, ā, i te otinga kuawhakamahia te anga ‘Bayesian’ ki te ine i ngā pānga tapeke o ēnei manu ki ērārama. Ko te whakatau tata o te maha o ngā waka i ia pō ko te 0.76 (0.64‐.089),31% (21%‐38%) o ēnei i whakamahia ngā tūrama rarharaha. I hōrakerake ai pea ngāWHDP kia 28.9 (19.7‐39.7) ngā wā i ia wā whakatipu. Kāore he taunakitanga i tererekētanga o te maha o ngā waka, te whakamahinga o te tūrama raharaha, te mahio te WHDP i waenga i ngā tau, ahakoa he rerekē ngā āhuatanga o te taiao. Ko temahi a ngā WHDP, waihoki ko te pānga o te mōrearea ki a rātou hoki, kua pikiake i te wā o te whakaipoipo, ā, mō muri hoki i tā rātou tūtei hua. Arā tonu tepitomata ka tukia pea te kāraho i te wā katoa o te wa whakatīpu, mā reira e pākino ai ki ngā WHDP. Ka tūtohutia e mātou ngā pātai rangahau matua (tetingatanga o te tukinga kāraho, te oranga tonutanga rānei o te manu kua tukia kite kāraho, me te oranga tonutanga o te manu kua whakamātūtū, ā, kua whakahokiakētia ki tōna ao). Āianei, mā te paku panonihanga o ngā whanonga hautū waka ongā kaihautū waka ka tiaki pai ngā manu moana i te ALAN ki tai.

At Te Papa Atawhai/Department of Conservation in Aotearoa New Zealand, ‘cultural differences’ account for some of the difficulties that department staff experience in their interaction with Indigenous Māori in conservation work. To meet the need for better ‘cultural awareness’ of Māori conservation principles, the department has facilitated the development of Te Pūkenga Atawhai, which is an introductory course to Māori views of conservation offered to all department staff. For Māori, the course is also a part of a broader revitalisation process for Māori culture and society and a recognition of their bicultural Treaty partnership with the Crown. The paper investigates how the Te Pūkenga Atawhai course addresses the perceived difficulties with cultural differences between DOC and Māori in conservation work, and how Pou Kura Taiao and participants perceive its usefulness for teaching staff about Māori views of conservation. Some department staff argue that the course has contributed to a better understanding of Māori culture and conservation principles; others that it is too politicised and engages in cultural ‘tokenism’ of little relevance for conservation work.

This article analyses how specific nodal points of performative control developed and consequently structured the discourse on Aotearoa New Zealand’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies these points by adopting a rhetorical-performative approach to uncover three particular performances of control that articulated the pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand, from the diagnosis of the first COVID-19 case in the country in February 2020 through to October 2020. This period of analysis covers the emergence, subsequent nationwide lockdown, elimination, and re-emergence of the virus. There are three distinct nodal points that unfold as key to the nation’s ability to control COVID-19: the hegemonic “us”; iwi regionalism; and the rhetoric of kindness. A mixed approach of content analysis of government data, Facebook data, and key imagery is employed to constitute these nodal points’ relevance and how they structured the performative control that threaded through the nation’s initial response as a whole. The article demonstrates how Aotearoa New Zealand, considered by popular assessment to have been successful in its response to COVID-19, managed to eliminate the virus twice in 2020, but not without aspects of the antagonisms that have beset other nations. These include the exacerbation of internal dichotomies and questions about the legality of Government mandates. As the country’s response to COVID-19 is traced, the employment of a rhetorical-performative framework to identify the key nodal points also highlights how the framework could be applied to Aotearoa New Zealand’s continuing response as the pandemic endures.

This is a poetic compost story. It is a situated tale of how I gradually began to shred my fantasy of being a self-contained responsible individual so I could become a more fruitful response-able Pākehā (for the purposes of this paper, a descendant of colonial settlers or colonial settler) from Christchurch (the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand), Aotearoa (The Māori (the Indigenous people of New Zealand) name for New Zealand) New Zealand. Poetic compost storying is a way for me to turn over Donna Haraway’s composting ethico-onto-epistemology with critical family history and critical autoethnography methodologies. To this end, I, in this piece, trace how I foolishly believed that I could separate myself from my colonial family and history only to find that I was reinscribing Western fantasies of transcendence. I learnt by composting, rather than trying to escape my past, that I could become a more response-able Pākehā and family member.

Multistakeholder participatory processes are essential decision-making elements in contemporary contested marine spaces. Such processes have long time horizons, diverse interests, and complex objectives. Their complex and evolving nature make it difficult for participatory process proponents and participants to adequately plan their processes and to assess performance quality. We position the findings of this paper in the context of participation as place-based, long-term, emergent, and complex processes in Aotearoa New Zealand. We pose the question "what does success look like?" in marine participatory processes. We provide an indicative answer in the form of a rubric, which outlines key components for navigating participatory processes through ongoing formative evaluation. The relationship between criteria and phases of participatory processes is stressed as "success" challenges, and achievements are unlikely to be stable from phase to phase. The notion of "whose success" is critically reflected upon, as the politics and power of success discourses shape what might be considered success in any given context, marine space, or participatory process. We argue that self-defined, ongoing learning evaluation, where criteria are debated and created by participatory process users, contributes to an empowering notion of success. Success as seen in this way is not an externally imposed set of standards to achieve but cocreated by those involved to best meet their needs. In this way, metaphors of success can be recognized, negotiated, circulated, and institutionalized. The authors' journey to developing the rubric helps unpack the key components of participatory processes and outlines its relationship to evaluation literature. Finally, we touch on the tension involved in creating a rubric for both practice and as a high-level discursive artifact.

For in excess of 30 years climate change mitigation in New Zealand has stalled over the country’s chief source of emissions: biogenic methane emissions from livestock. This thesis argues that this stasis, and the international condemnation it has provoked, is a key for unlocking a critique of New Zealand’s political economy which extends New Zealand’s scholarship by situating the climate crisis as a crisis of capitalism. This form of crisis derives from the contradiction between capital’s requirement for ongoing expansion, and the ability of its conditions of production (and humanity’s conditions of reproduction) to absorb the corresponding increasing demands on regenerative capabilities. An associated theory of change for achieving meaningful action on climate change can thus be oriented around uniting labour, social and environmental movements in the struggle for democratic, collective control over the conditions of (re)production. The analysis presented here advances ecosocialist scholarship by centring a theorisation of the state as a, if not the, key terrain of struggle over the conditions of (re)production in this conjuncture. The thesis anchors this theoretical exploration in concrete historical analysis of New Zealand’s political economic development since colonisation to the contemporary moment, providing what Cindi Katz terms a ‘countertopography’ oriented around class struggle for socio-ecological reproduction in-against-and beyond the capital relation, as crystallised in the state form over time. In doing so, the thesis aims to fortify and extend a theoretical framework which is of use to the labour, environmental and social movements it considers. Meaningful action on climate change is here unable to be divorced from meaningful action addressing the root cause of social and environmental crisis tendencies in capitalism.

Aotearoa New Zealand is a small, island nation located on the rim of Oceania. Since colonisation by British settlers in the mid-1800s, the internationalisation of higher education (HE) in Aotearoa New Zealand has reflected shifting notions of nationhood – from an extension of Great Britain, to a (separate) bicultural nation, to a player in the global knowledge economy. Since the late 1980s, internationalisation policy has reflected the primacy of market concerns; the internationalisation of HE has been imagined primarily as a means to attract export revenue and human capital to Aotearoa New Zealand, and to increase brand recognition. However, internationalisation, as the movement of people and knowledge between places, can also be seen as pre-dating the development of nations, particularly in the Oceania context.Within mātauranga Māori, or Māori (indigenous) epistemological traditions, place is central to identity. To be human is to be part of something bigger than oneself; care for the land is care both for ancestors and the wellbeing of future generations. In this paper, we (re)consider internationalised HE in light of three questions that are central to mātauranga Māori: “Who am I? What is this world that I exist in? What am I to do?” (Royal, 2012, p. 35). After tracing the connections between internationalisation, colonisation, and nationhood in Aotearoa New Zealand,we consider how attention to Māori place-based epistemologies and values drawn from mātauranga Māori might challenge, stretch and ground contemporary internationalisation policies and practices in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Popular songs play an important role in mobilising political campaigns by creating platforms for voices of protest and dissent in the discussion of significant issues that questions those in power. This research considers the role songs of protest and political dissent have played over the past 60 years of Aotearoa New Zealand’s postcolonial history. Political messages have been embedded in musical texts reflecting the region’s unique historical and cultural development, especially the positioning of its Pacific peoples (indigenous Māori and immigrants from other Pacific Islands) in issues and processes of political protest. In the 1960s and 1970s, when global human rights movements were gaining traction, in Aotearoa intense feelings over inequities and injustices manifested themselves in song. Māori land rights, sporting relations with the apartheid regime in South Africa and the programme of nuclear testing pursued by the French in the Pacific were all issues of major concern, provoking marches, occupations and boycotts. The social reforms and domestic processes experienced in the separation from Britain (1947) included a ‘coming out’ of difference and dissent and a ‘coming in’ of new cultural influences into the music industry by new waves of migration and the birth of the local recording industry (1960–1986). This case study features 17 representative recordings that cover a range of themes (racism, land rights, nuclear tests, climate change and political discontent) that attracted media attention and public debate. The results presented show how protest songs in Aotearoa continue to play an important role in mobilising political campaigns in the Pacific.

This article investigates the relationship between legal personality for nature and Indigenous philosophies by comparing two cases: the Ecuadorian Constitution of 2008 and the 2014 Te Urewera Act of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Through these case studies the article considers the nature of Indigenous relations with the concept of rights of nature, arguing that this relation is primarily strategic, not genealogical. The article engages with the concept of legal personality and shows that it is not a direct translation of Indigenous conceptions, but rather a potential straitjacket for Indigenous emancipatory politics. The radical character of Indigenous ontologies is not fully reflected in the concept of legal personality. Furthermore, the way in which rights are granted to the natural environment is an important part of the effect that such rights might have on Indigenous communities. Despite some affinities between rights of the environment and Indigenous philosophies, overstating the connection might constrain the radical political and legal implications of Indigenous thought.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, agricultural land-use intensification and decline in freshwater ecosystem integrity pose complex challenges for science and society. Despite riparian management programmes across the country, there is frustration over a lack in widespread uptake, upfront financial costs, possible loss in income, obstructive legislation and delays in ecological recovery. Thus, social, economic and institutional barriers exist when implementing and assessing agricultural freshwater restoration. Partnerships are essential to overcome such barriers by identifying and promoting co-benefits that result in amplifying individual efforts among stakeholder groups into coordinated, large-scale change. Here, we describe how initial progress by a sole farming family at the Silverstream in the Canterbury region, South Island, New Zealand, was used as a catalyst for change by the Canterbury Waterway Rehabilitation Experiment, a university-led restoration research project. Partners included farmers, researchers, government, industry, treaty partners (Indigenous rights-holders) and practitioners. Local capacity and capability was strengthened with practitioner groups, schools and the wider community. With partnerships in place, co-benefits included lowered costs involved with large-scale actions (e.g., earth moving), reduced pressure on individual farmers to undertake large-scale change (e.g., increased participation and engagement), while also legitimising the social contracts for farmers, scientists, government and industry to engage in farming and freshwater management. We describe contributions and benefits generated from the project and describe iterative actions that together built trust, leveraged and aligned opportunities. These actions were scaled from a single farm to multiple catchments nationally.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, person rights for nature have been added to the suite of resolution mechanisms for Treaty of Waitangi claims. New laws for two national parks personify landscapes and Maori relations with them to encourage greater appreciation and care, and similar arrangements will follow for other parks. However, it is uncertain whether recognizing Indigenous rights by tying them to the rights of nature will be enforceable and effective. In Te Urewera, Treaty claims emerged more from land loss than disrespect for biocultural values, but the granting of person rights was intended to avoid return of ancestral land to the local tribe, Ngai Tuhoe. Personhood will realize only some of Tuhoe’s interests because retention of preservationist conservation means that few will ever live or work on their homelands. Rather than resolving the false inclusion, repressive authenticity and delimited recognition observed in overseas processes for claims settlement, granting personhood to nature for the purported benefit of Maori is an act of mis/recognition. Disingenuously, it conflates Indigenous with environmental, development with preservation and human with natural values. En Aotearoa (nom indigène de la Nouvelle-Zélande), le principe de reconnaissance de la nature en tant que sujet de droit a été incorporé aux mécanismes de résolution des revendications du Traité de Waitangi. De nouvelles lois ont ainsi attribué une personnalité juridique aux paysages de deux parcs nationaux et aux relations que les Maori entretiennent à leur égard – et des dispositions similaires vont suivre pour d’autres parcs –, dans un souci de valorisation et de ménagement accru de ces espaces. Il n’est cependant pas certain que lier la reconnaissance des droits autochtones aux droits de la nature soit applicable et efficace. À Te Urewera, alors que les revendications formelles ont davantage procédé de la perte de terres que du mépris des valeurs bioculturelles, l’attribution du statut de sujet de droit à cet espace a constitué un moyen de contourner la restitution de terres ancestrales à la tribu locale, Ngai Tuhoe. Un tel statut ne sert par ailleurs que très partiellement les intérêts des membres de la tribu qui, en raison du maintien d’une forme stricte de conservation, vont difficilement pouvoir vivre ou travailler sur leurs terres. Plutôt que de s’attaquer à l’inclusion factice, aux injonctions essentialisantes et aux formes de reconnaissance circonscrites que l’on observe dans les processus de règlement de revendications ailleurs dans le monde, l’attribution du statut de personne à la nature au soi-disant bénéfice des Maori est un acte de mal/reconnaissance qui associe maladroitement l’autochtonie à l’environnement, le développement à la préservation et l’humain aux valeurs naturelles.

This research focuses on the relationship between Indigenous urbanisms and Indigenous urban geographies of empowerment. It is argued that emerging literature is demonstrating the potentialities and possibilities of Indigenous urban geographies that are moving beyond marginalization and resistance. In an attempt to develop a theoretical understanding of these geographies, a definition of Indigenous urban geographies of empowerment is proposed. As an example, ways Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand are expressing these geographies are examined based on qualitative research and data collected from interviews and field observations. The Māori case studies put forward demonstrate the potential for these emerging geographies to develop wherever Indigeneity and cities engage and interpenetrate one another. A core argument presented is that the materiality of the city (e.g., land, territory, space, place, built environments) are at the core of Indigenous decolonizing struggles. Cet article porte sur la relation entre les urbanismes autochtones et les géographies urbaines autochtones de l’empowerment. La littérature disponible démontre que les potentialités et les possibilités des géographies urbaines autochtones vont au-delà de la marginalisation et de la résistance. Dans cet essai pour développer une approche théorique, nous proposons une définition des géographies urbaines autochtones de l’empowerment. La manière dont les Māori d’Aotearoa en Nouvelle-Zémande expriment cette géographie est explorée à titre d’exemple sur la base d’une recherche qualitative et de données collectées lors d’interviews et d’observations de terrain. Cette étude de cas montre le potentiel de ces géographies émergentes partout où l’indigénéité et le monde urbain s’interpénètrent. L’argument clé est que la matérialité de la ville (terre, territoire, lieux, environnements construits) est au coeur des luttes autochtones pour la décolonisation.

In 2020, in the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Aotearoa New Zealand consistently maintained stringent public health measures including stay-at-home lockdowns and distancing responses. Considering the widespread disruption to social functioning caused by the pandemic, this paper aimed to explore environmental and social factors that influenced the wellbeing of individuals during the first lockdown in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our mixed-methods study involved a survey (n = 1010) and semi-structured interviews of a subset of surveyed individuals undertaken at the tail end of the first 2020 lockdown. Survey participants were recruited through social media-driven snowball sampling, less than 50% were aged under 45 years and 85% identified as female. Of those interviewed, 63% identified as female. Qualitative interview findings and open-ended survey results were analysed thematically. Participants described a variety of factors influencing wellbeing, largely related to the community and household; physical, behavioural, and lifestyle factors; access to health services; and social and economic foundations. While much of the focus of COVID-19 recovery was on reversing the economic and physical toll of the pandemic, our findings emphasise the need to empower individuals, families, and communities to mitigate the pandemic’s negative implications on wellbeing.

This paper reports on the importance of the stories and perspectives of early childhood education Associate Teachers (ATs) at a time when there is considerable flux being experienced in the Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood sector, due in particular to the ongoing impact of changes in government funding policy, ongoing debates about pathways into the teaching profession, and an updated curriculum framework. The paper developed out of a research project that asked Associate Teachers (AT) about their views on the impact of recent national education policy changes. The views of ATs provide an influential voice for the sector, and particularly for teacher education providers through the student teacher practicum experience. Evidence and analysis of AT views provides insight into how the triadic of student, lecturer and practitioner can work together to support student teachers with their practicum experience in relation to the recent policy changes. A very small return rate for online questionnaires left the research team with the challenge of talking about the meaning of such silence, while at the same time acknowledging and valuing the views of those who did complete the questions. The paper presents a shift in the researchers’ perspectives on the subject of their research, and raises awareness of the problem of working with, and being committed to, the silent voices. The paper concludes with foundations for future research, focusing on ATs as active participants in teacher education policymaking and involving them both as researchers and participants.

Aotearoa New Zealand's Eco-index research programme is developing a 100-year national biodiversity vision. The purpose of the vision is to establish a concrete restoration goal that land managers can pursue through relatively small year-by-year actions and investments that lead to large cumulative biodiversity impacts over generations. This paper presents findings from a content analysis method developed to identify biodiversity restoration visions of major land management stakeholders including government, industry, NGOs, and indigenous communities. The method combines these biodiversity visions to establish a meta-vision that represents the collective national position across groups. The purpose of this research is to determine the individual and collective position of stakeholders, in order to develop the 100-year National Biodiversity Vision that reflects their stance to improves uptake and action. The meta-vision emerged as ‘strategies and initiatives to protect and maintain indigenous regional and New Zealand (biodiversity) values and outcomes.’ Both the meta-vision and group stakeholder visions highlighted processes for protecting and maintaining biodiversity but were generally technocratic and vague. Perhaps most importantly, they lacked a vision for regional or national biodiversity restoration end states and targets from which indicators could be developed and land managers could orientate action around. Consequently, we present some suitable 100-year National Biodiversity Vision suggestions which incorporate clear end-states while retaining the key values identified in biodiversity visions of land management stakeholders.

The British invasion of the Māori region of the Waikato in 1863 was one of the most pivotal moments in the colonisation of Aotearoa New Zealand. It has been the subject of multiple authoritative histories and sits at the centre of historical discussions of sovereignty, colonial politics and the dire consequences of colonisation. This article approaches this complex historical moment through the personal histories of a Māori/Pākehā homestead located at the political and geographic epicentre of the invasion. This mixed whanau/family provides the opportunity to explore a more kinship-based ontology of the invisible lines of influence that influenced particular actions before and during the invasion. It does so by mobilising two genealogical approaches, one by author Hugh Campbell which explores the British/Pākehā individuals involved in this family and uses formal documentation and wider historical writing to explain key dynamics—but also to expose a particular limitation of reliance on Western ontologies and formal documentation alone to explain histories of colonisation. In parallel to this approach, the other author—William Kainana Cuthers—uses both formal/Western and a Māori/Pasifika relational ontology of enquiry, and in doing so, allows both authors to open up a set of key insights into this pivotal moment in the history of Aotearoa New Zealand and into the micro-dynamics of colonisation.

Protest is a tool that social movements can use to express discontent and present claims to those in power. In New Zealand, campaigns around native forest protection, genetic engineering, mining and offshore oil exploration have mobilised numerous participants, forcing the state to acknowledge public concerns and, in some cases, effect change of course. However, impact of the ideological orientation of the governing party on environmental protest behaviour is less well understood. The aim of this paper is to identify how political opportunities and threats in the protest arena are shaped by changes in the electoral arena. The methodology of protest event analysis is used to identify environmental protest under the left-wing Labour (1999–2008) and right-wing National (2008–2017) governments. Findings suggest that the orientation of the governing party is important in shaping opportunities, illustrated by periods of dominance of the electoral arena by the National Party leading to a corresponding intensification of mobilisation in the protest arena.

The invitation to write this chapter offers both Wiremu T. Puke (tangata whenua – person with Māori descent) and Sebastian J. Lowe (Pākehā – New Zealander with European ancestry) the opportunity to reflect on their friendship and research partnership, which they refer to as a takarangi, or an interlocking spiral, as seen in traditional Māori carving practice. This motif denotes the origin of all things: thoughts, ideas, concepts and genealogies, which are interconnected through a rich tapestry of history and tradition through a process of ongoing evolution, Te Ao Hurihuri (the ever-changing world) and Te Ao Mārama (the world of light). They recognise the spaces that separate the two coils of the outward-radiating and interlocking spiral as their shared space. This space symbolises the unknowns as they move from them to tangible forms, through the written word, oral traditions, such as whakatauākī (sayings/proverbs), or through the many Māori visual arts such as whakairo (carving), or in film. Written as a dialogue between Puke, a tohunga whakairo (master-carver) with strong genealogical connections and tribal affiliations, and Lowe (anthropologist and musician) in recognition of their research partnership, this chapter discusses how their own cultural upbringings, personal and shared experiences, have contributed tothe forming of their ever-expanding shared space. The ideas and themes they discuss have led to the formation of this chapter.

School-based research has historically played an important role within the education system contributing to our understanding of the organisation and practice of formal education. Supported by relevant literature, this article reports on current challenges in conducting school-based research in Aotearoa New Zealand as experienced by one researcher. It suggests that conducting school-based research is becoming increasingly difficult, with possible explanations for this being the divergent workflows of researcher and school-based participant(s), the volume of demands on teachers and schools, and restricted roles for teachers and parents, which increase the risk of research fatigue. The article argues that although school-based research is rarely an immediate priority for school leaders, it is imperative that they support it if they want to be informed by its insights for policy and practice.

Responding to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate commitments are urgent priorities facing many governments. Meeting these commitments will require new industry management architectures that align measures of progress (economic, environmental, human and social) with government structures, datasets, and reporting. Comprehensive emissions quantification and reduction targets for tourism must be a part of this new architecture. In this paper we propose a comprehensive Tourism Carbon Information System (TCIS), comprising four essential information components: national tourism carbon footprint, the carbon-economic linkage, drivers and decarbonization progress, and benchmarking. The TCIS is then tested and applied to Aotearoa New Zealand (2007–2013) to track tourism carbon performance and its decarbonization speed, compared to the national average across sectors. This critical information sheds light on future growth in tourism relative to the national greenhouse gas inventory and establishes the required mitigation trajectory for destinations to move onto a sustainable emissions pathway.

On the morning of the 5 November 1881, my great-grandfather stood alongside 1588 other military men, waiting to commence the invasion of Parihaka pā, home to the great pacifist leaders Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi and their people. Having contributed to the military campaign against the pā, he returned some years later as part of the agricultural campaign to complete the alienation of Taranaki iwi from their land in Aotearoa New Zealand. None of this detail appears in any of the stories I was raised with. I grew up Pākehā (i.e., a descendant of people who came to Aotearoa from Europe as part of the process of colonisation) and so my stories tend to conform to orthodox settler narratives of ‘success, inevitability, and rights of belonging’. This article is an attempt to right that wrong. In it, I draw on insights from the critical family history literature to explain the nature, purposes and effects of the (non)narration of my great-grandfather’s participation in the military invasion of Parihaka in late 1881. On the basis of a more historically comprehensive and contextualised account of the acquisition of three family farms, I also explore how the control of land taken from others underpinned the creation of new settler subjectivities and created various forms of privilege that have flowed down through the generations. Family histories shape the ways in which we make sense of and locate ourselves in the places we live, and those of us whose roots reach back to the destructive practices of colonisation have a particular responsibility to ensure that such narratives do not conform to comfortable type. This article is an attempt to unsettle my settler family narrative.

This paper draws on an initiative where we experienced being new, radical, and, from some viewpoints, dangerously progressive at Unitec—a Polytechnic/Institute of Technology in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The initiative was driven by a need to improve student experiences of interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and to develop a common semester for students transitioning to a bachelor degree programme, as well as a new suite of interdisciplinary qualifications at postgraduate level. This discussion paper is situated within a self-study paradigm befitting educational contexts, by drawing on the reflective narratives of three participants who held a range of different roles—and, hence, perspectives within the change process. Interpretations and implications are discussed using the lens of the Inclusive Framework, to illustrate personal, professional, and political elements. Our overall aim is to add to current understandings of change within the higher education sector. However, this is a study of our own experiences and we are not making claims that we are in the possession of “truth”, but, rather, we seek to identify aspects that may have relevance in other contexts. We conclude that navigating the next phase of transformative change in our context will involve seeking resolutions to key emerging questions. This includes exploring notions of multiple innovators, creating agile development environments in education and exploring the concept of time as multifaceted.

In this article we discuss the potential of experimental film as an extended method of ethnographic enquiry within anthropology and ethnomusicology. Taking a point of departure in Aotearoa/New Zealand, with Māori carvers, composers, and musicians in and around the discourse of ngā taonga pūoro (traditional New Zealand Māori musical instruments), we examine how anthropologists, through the medium of film, may get closer to understanding alternative approaches to music-making within the discourse of the contemporary taonga pūoro tradition. Drawing inspiration from ethnographic film we explore the possibilities and also representational implications regarding the use of experimental film-making as a research tool within the canon of anthropological and ethnomusicological scholarship. We argue that there is space for experimental film in the anthropological discipline, especially when exploring multi-sensorial phenomena, such as music.

Coastal hazard risk, compounded by climate change, is escalating. Efforts to address this challenge are fraught and ‘success’ is elusive. We focus on this impasse and recommend ways to improve understanding, reduce risk and enable adaptation. Two Aotearoa New Zealand coastal communities, Mercury Bay and Kennedy Bay, on the Coromandel Peninsula, serve as case studies. Ethnographic fieldwork underpins this analysis. Despite close proximity, local perceptions are ‘worlds apart’. Poor understanding of climate change, and preoccupation with everyday issues, is commonplace. Moreover, there are countervailing community narratives. In Kennedy Bay, which is undeveloped and Māori, climate change is not a manifest concern. Local narratives are rooted in Māori culture and under the shadow of colonization, which shapes contemporary perceptions, practices and prospects. In Mercury Bay, a rapidly developing resort town, seashore property owners demand protection works—ignoring sea-level rise and privileging short-term private interests. Despite laudable regulatory provisions, static responses to dynamic risks prevail and proactive adaptation is absent. Recommendations are made to improve understanding about local cultural-social-ecological characteristics, climate change and adaption. Enabling leadership and capability-building are needed to institutionalize proactive adaptation. Strengthening Māori self-determination (rangatiratanga) and guardianship (kaitiakitanga), and local democracy, are key to mobilizing and sustaining community-based adaptation governance.

Indigenous knowledge (IK) is now recognized as being critical to the development of effective, equitable and meaningful strategies to address socio-ecological crises. However efforts to integrate IK and Western science frequently encounter difficulties due to different systems of knowledge production and underlying worldviews. New approaches are needed so that sustainability can progress on the terms that matter the most for the people involved. In this paper we discuss a case study from Aotearoa New Zealand where an indigenous community is in the process of renegotiating and enacting new indigenous-led approaches to address coupled socio-ecological crises. We reflect on novel methodological approaches that highlight the ways in which projects/knowledge are co-produced by a multiplicity of human and non-human actors. To this end we draw on conceptualizations of environmental ethics offered by indigenous scholars and propose alternative bodies of thought, methods, and practices that can support the wider sustainability agenda.

Review of Narrating Indigenous Modernities: Transcultural Dimensions in Contemporary Maori Literature by Michaela Moura-Kocoglu