Let the Rivers Speak: thinking about waterways in Aotearoa New Zealand

This article explores deep underlying assumptions about relationships between people and the planet, and how these translate into very different ways of relating to waterways in Aotearoa New Zealand. In te ao Mäori – ancestral Mäori ways of living – rivers and lakes are the tears of Ranginui, the sky father, mourning his separation from Papatüänuku, the earth mother, and people are their descendants, joined in complex whakapapa that link all forms of life together. In modern ways of thinking, on the other hand, ideas such as private property, resource management and ecosystem services can be traced back to the Genesis story of God’s gift of ‘dominion’ to Adam and Eve over fish, birds, plants and the earth itself, including waterways, in which all other life forms are created for human purposes. In successive Waitangi Tribunal claims, iwi have disputed these assumptions in relation to fisheries, tribal lands and rivers, and, in worldleading legislation, the Whanganui River has been declared a legal person with its own rights. In this article, the authors discuss different ways in which the rights of rivers as rivers might be understood in scientific terms, investigating the ‘geomorphic rights’ of the Whanganui River, for instance, and how rivers as living communities of land, water, plants, animals and people might be understood through ‘river ethnography’, an approach that aligns a wide range of natural and social sciences with mätauranga taiao – ancestral knowledge of other living systems. They also consider how current policy discussions might be informed by such framings, so that river communities across Aotearoa New Zealand may be restored to a state of ora – life, health, abundance and prosperity

Managing at source and at scale: The use of geomorphic river stories to support rehabilitation of Anthropocene riverscapes in the East Coast Region of Aotearoa New Zealand

Recently uplifted, highly erodible rocks, and recurrent high intensity storms, generate exceedingly high erosion and sedimentation rates in the East Coast Region (Tairāwhiti) of Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite the recent nature of the Anthropocene record in global terms (∼650 years since Māori arrival, 250 years of colonial impacts), human disturbance has profoundly altered evolutionary trajectories of river systems across the region. Here we document catchment-by-catchment variability in anthropogenic signature as geomorphic river stories for five catchments (Waiapu, Hikuwai, Waimatā, Waipaoa, Mōtū). We show how targeted, fit-for-purpose process-based rehabilitation programmes that manage at source and at scale are required to facilitate river recovery in each of these catchments. The largest rivers in the region, Waiapu and Waipaoa, comprise steep, highly dissected terrains that are subject to recurrent hillslope failures, including systemic shallow landslides, occasional deep-seated rotational slumps and earthflows. Localised sediment input from large (>10 ha) gully mass movement complexes overwhelms valley floors. Targeted revegetation programmes are required to reduce extreme sediment inputs from these sources. Although there are fewer gully complexes in the Hikuwai, multiple landslips supply vast volumes of fine-grained sediment that aggrade and are recurrently reworked along channel margins in lowland reaches. Waimatā has no gully complexes and a smaller number of landslips, but large areas are subject to sediment input from earthflows. The terrace-constrained flume-like nature of this system efficiently flushes materials ‘from the mountains to the sea’, recurrently reworking materials along channel banks in a similar manner to the lower Hikuwai. Systematic reforestation in the middle-upper catchment and revegetation of riparian corridors is required to reduce sedimentation rates in these catchments. In contrast, terraces buffer sediment delivery from hillslopes in the upper Mōtū catchment, where a bedrock gorge separates large sediment stores along upper reaches from the lower catchment. As reworking of valley floor sediments in response to bed incision and reworking (expansion) of channel margins is the primary contemporary sediment source in this system, bed control structures and revegetation of riparian corridors are required as part of targeted sediment management plans. We contend that geomorphic river stories provide a coherent platform for Anthropocene rehabilitation strategies that work with the character, behaviour and evolutionary trajectories of river systems. Although this generic lens can be applied anywhere in the world, we highlight particular meanings and implications in Aotearoa New Zealand where such thinking aligns directly with Māori values that respect the mana (authority), mauri (lifeforce) and ora (wellbeing) of each and every river

Re-Imagining Wild Rivers in Aotearoa New Zealand

If wilderness is dead, do wild rivers exist and if so, in what form and in whose construction? This reflective article reviews perspectives on rivers in Aotearoa New Zealand as wild or tamed entities. A historical overview of the socio-cultural and institutional relationships with rivers examines the meanings of rivers in Aotearoa New Zealand through multiple lenses. This includes indigenous Māori knowledge, command-and-control mentalities of a settler society that assert human authority over rivers, the emergence of the environmental movement and associated legislation with a sustainability focus (the Resource Management Act), and recent movement towards co-governance arrangements that incorporate the original intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840). It is contended that management practices have disconnected society from rivers, and vice versa, creating a sense of environmental loss (solastalgia), especially for Māori. Using rivers in the Greater Wellington Region as examples, prospects to accommodate wild river behaviour in Aotearoa New Zealand are explored. Recognising that re-wilding is no longer a feasible option in most instances, further attempts to tame rivers are also considered to be unrealistic, especially in light of climate change and accentuated flood risk. Reconnecting with indigenous knowledge offers prospects to re-imagine wild rivers in Aotearoa, living generatively with rivers as dynamic and emergent entities

Restoring socio-cultural relationships with rivers: Experiments in fluvial pluralism from Aotearoa New Zealand

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