Kaupapa Māori Freshwater Assessments

Kaupapa Māori Freshwater Assessments was written at the request of regional councils and territorial authorities across Aotearoa. Recent changes to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) now require that councils include mātauranga Māori in their monitoring plans. Councils sought information that would aid them in meeting this requirement, and wanted to understand the range of tools available and the matters that iwi and hapū considered important around the freshwater environment. It is hoped that the report will not only be of assistance to councils, but will be a useful summary for iwi authorities, tangata tiaki and iwi environmental staff as well.

The purpose of the report is to:

• provide an overview of kaupapa Māori tools, frameworks and methods available to assess and evaluate aspects of freshwater 
• provide information on the range of indicators used across these tools, frameworks and methods, and
• provide an overview of which tools are used in which areas of Aotearoa.