I NTERNATIONAL I NSTITUTE FOR I NDIGENOUS R ESOURCE M ANAGEMENT R OUNDTABLE ON THE R OLE OF A MERICAN I NDIAN AND OTHER I NDIGENOUS S PIRITUAL L EADERS AND H EALERS IN P ROTECTING AND P RESERVING B IODIVERSITY AND S ACRED L ANDSCAPES 28 -30 August 2002 Lakewood, Colorado Protecting Biodiversity and Sacred Landscapes: A Maori Case Study Morris Te Whiti Love, Director, Waitangi Tribunal Te Atiawa, Aotearoa/New Zealand I NTRODUCTION Aotearoa/New Zealand developed in a very long period of isolation after having .separated from the other parts of Gondwanaland some 65 million years ago. This unique set of islands measuring some 270,500 square miles was free of terrestrial mammals -a forested raft of birds, reptiles (including dinosaurs), frogs, and invertebrates. Evolution took an unusual course developing a very high percentage of endemic species that were not found anywhere else in the world. 1 Among the species that developed were the world's heaviest insect (the giant weta- punga); snails that have a life-span of up to fifty-five years (and may grow as long as a human forearm), and reptilian lizards that number more per thousand hectares than in any other temperate country. In addition New Zealand is home to the world's only flightless parrot (kakapo), and another flightless bird with nostrils at the end of its beak (the kiwi), while in its waters are found the world's smallest marine dolphin (Hector's). Tikanga or practices developed by Maori prior to colonisation were not adequate to cope with the onslaught of mass land clearance practice, which came with the arrival of relatively large numbers of Pakeha (European) in the middle of the nineteenth century in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Maori practice was based on maintaining ecosystems largely intact to provide gathering areas of ngahere (forest) in the hinterlands with relatively small areas cleared for cultivation of crops. English pastoral farming required massive forest clearance to allow conversion to grassland pastures to allow the grazing of stock -mostly sheep and cattle. Maori hunting and gathering practices quickly became restricted to the more remote areas. The purpose on maintaining biodiversity and ecosystems for Maori was to maintain a diverse source of food (mahinga kai), medicinal material (rongoa) and textiles (taonga raranga) for all seasons of the year. Local shortages were controlled by mechanisms or practices, which were particularly effective for managing short- term scarcity. The modem circumstances where much of the biodiversity has disappeared and the dependence on the ecosystem to supply food, medicines and textiles has also all but disappeared. However lessons can be learned from practices of the past even in the much-depleted situation today.
S ETTING THE SCENE WITH TIKANGA ( PRACTICES ) WHICH CAN HAVE APPLICATION TODAY Rahui Tikanga were often applied to situations on land (whenua) in the forest (wao) or in lakes (roto), rivers (awa) and the sea (moana). One of these practices is the rahui, which was temporary ban from use as a result of local scarcity or some event that might cause the resource not to be used. An example of this is where a drowning has occurred of a member of the kin group in the area in a fishing ground -fishing would cease for a period to ensure the mana of the group is not defiled by, in essence “eating your own.” Rahui would be used for a variety of reasons, one of those being to preserve a stock where it is being threatened by overuse. This can includes stocks that are used for medicinal purposes, for gathering materials for weavings and making clothing or food sources. Tapu Where a permanent restriction was required the area could have a tapu placed on it, which prevented any use until at a much later date that tapu or restrictions was lifted. The effect of a tapu was to make something beyond everyday use -some translate the term as sacred as opposed to profane (noa). The use of tapu as with rahui were broad on so areas where people had been killed in battle, where people were buried and so on became wahi tapu (sacred places). From these area food could not be gathered and there was restriction even on the gathering of firewood for the cooking fires. Breaches of these restrictions was often severe to the point where a serious breach might see a person and their family banished and forced to start another settlement well away from the kainga (village). Tohunga The tohunga (people able to set a rahui or tapu) had considerable power and they often had a great deal of knowledge about the natural resources with which they were dealing. Many resented the power of the tohunga and with the arrival of Christianity their power was much reduced. Their power was further reduced by the passage of the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907. This Act was ostensibly to stop 'quackery' and the medicinal practices of the tohunga. Many Maori chose to see the tohunga and not the European doctors. The tohunga were often the natural scientists that had great knowledge of the use and management of natural resources and passed that knowledge onto selected recipients. Because of that knowledge he held a lot of power in a tribe, often as much as a Chief who stayed in place at the will of the people. Much of the knowledge and the practices that persist today came from the tohunga. Unfortunately much knowledge from the tohunga was also lost. Matauranga Maori (Maori Knowledge Systems) The demise of the tohunga also served to severely reduce the knowledge systems build up over a long period, which had advised Maori about flora and fauna in particular. The knowledge system
had detailed accounts of the management of even the most seemingly unimportant creature or plant. These were often put into a tribal context. Aperahama Taonui described a Ngati Whatua practice of making an offering to Hine Kui, the original possessor of the land, who manifests in the hump-backed tiger beetle grub (Neocicindela tuberculata): 'that grass is sacred because it is food which is taken [to Hine Kui]. That is the true chief of this land. 2 In the 1980s children of Tai Tokerau still 'fished' for Hine Kui by poking grass straws down the burrows of tiger beetle grubs. The issue of bio-prospecting and Maori knowledge systems particularly over rongoa (medicines prepared from plants and animals) have been a cause of issues related to intellectual property rights. One school of thought is that the knowledge is the property of a tribal group (Iwi or Hapu) whereas others have seen these matters held by families and passed exclusively from generation to generation. In the 1980's, among rural Tai Tokerau in Northland, kuia (women elders) with knowledge of rongoa treated members of their whanau (extended families). However, the great repositories of knowledge of rongoa are the tohunga. Healing practices are passed down lines of teacher-practitioners, so that each tohunga practices and develops a particular inherited tradition. These knowledge-traditions are not necessarily lines of direct genealogical descent, but tohunga are usually politically aligned with their hapu and iwi. 3 Nga Ringa Whakahaere 0 Te Iwi Maori, The National Body of Traditional Healers states: Maori traditional healers are the guardians and gatekeepers of the intellectual properties of Maori traditional healing pertaining to rongoa rakau (healing plants), rakau rongoa (medicines derived from these plants), and tikanga rongoa (the customs and practices associated with healing in traditional terms). The control of all these taonga is inherently with each iwi whose voices are heard through the national body, Nga Ringa Whakahare 0 Te Iwi Maori. 4 Kaitiakitanga Kaitiakitanga is a word that may not have existed in traditional times, however the practice certainly did. The work is made up of the root 'tiaki' to guard or to keep. Add the prefix 'kai' it becomes kaitiaki -a guardian. Add the suffix 'tanga' and it becomes 'kaitiakitanga' or the exercise of guardianship. In tradition kaitiaki or guardians were often from the resource itself. For example in an eel (tuna) fishery there were kaitiaki, which had to be preserved. These were the older eels (and larger and often 30 years old or more) and in the eel migration to the ocean at breeding time (a very specific time of year), the old eels, migrate last and tend to travel with their heads out of the water. This was the sign to the fishermen who had reaped the bounteous harvest to stop fishing. The kaitiaki could not be taken. Scientists have found these older eels' contribution to the returning glass eel and elver population is much higher than their younger counterparts. Maintaining the kaitiaki function in relation to a resource is an exercise of kaitiakitanga that maintains the resource's stock, which in turn maintains the people.
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