Midnight was threatening but for the group of islanders that had come to spend the weekend at Motairehe marae the discussion was still holding their interest. After all, writing a job description deserves careful attention. Especially for the position of a “spiritual guardian”, which was a role that carried much responsibility, working without direct supervision. It involves flexible working hours in outdoors locations, and requires a good communicator with the ability to travel at short notice, at least during certain seasons.

But in the end the actual roles and responsibilities of the guardian spirit that the group listed on the whiteboard, actually looked more like what conservation groups and government authorities would also promote: to communicate awareness of intrinsic values, responsible use of resources, constraint of excessive behaviour, and so on.

In this way, traditional concepts can be understood in a modern context for their meaning in sustainable land use practices. And the power of such an approach for explaining and discussing resource management practices was apparent even after a long day that had started early with the presentation and discussion of traditional Maori models of environmental knowledge. Twenty four islanders registered for the course, equally representing Katherine Bay residents as well as participants from Okiwi, Awana, Claris and Tryphena, with both tangata whenua and more recent arrivals joining in. The enrolments clearly demonstrated the interest on the island for finding relevant approaches to caring for the land and sea we inhabit.

Whitianga Peehikuru, the engaging course tutor who had come over from Whangarei, explained how this will be relevant. “This course has been run throughout the country. In particular, the successful work with participants from the Ngati Wai iwi in Northland, which had also created echoes here on the island. Backed by the iwi environmental unit in Whangarei, Whitianga had trained a number of people from different walks of life in Northland that could now support community and government projects in developing sustainable, innovative and publicly supported approaches for activities and planning that are related to environmental issues.

“Course participants walk away with a better understanding of katiakitanga, traditional Maori guardianship. This is a concept which also has become part of the Resource Management Act. If one understands the traditional approaches to the environment, it becomes clear how relevant and valuable they still are today.”

Whitianga sees the present course run by Te Wananga o Aotearoa, the University of New Zealand, as an introduction to more professional training in the form of a full degree course that will qualify participants to find positions with organisations concerned with environmental issues as communicators, educators and researchers. “Five years from now, I hope to see graduates from the island both working here on the island as well in different parts of the country.”

But before looking that far ahead, the course has already shown that the Matairehe marae is becoming a venue for community activities. The trustees that supported Whitianga when he first came over to canvas interest and support for such a course, proved to be ready to put work into preparing and running the first of eight weekend sessions. This links in with the strategic business plan backed by Auckland City Council for the marae, as part of increasing educational opportunities on the island. The course will run over the coming 8 months, with participants passing one weekend a month on the marae. “It will help participants consolidate and increase what they know about the environment, become effective communicators and gain ideas for how to take part in the community to influence plans to ensure a sustainable management of our resources. The Certificate of Iwi Environmental Management and Trusteeship aims to provide environmental practitioners with fundamental skills for managing natural resources.”

“Tahi, slap your knees– rua, clap your hands– toru, arms to the right – wha, and to the left.” That was one way to learn the Maori numbers, and to keep us awake at the same time. “rima, palms together – ono, and raise your hands.” Getting everybody up and moving their arms, sure got the blood circulating again. “whitu, right arm out – waru, left arm – iwa, swing your arms together” Accelerating the pace, one by one as the count increased, one after the other had to give up and after a while only Whitianga was left standing. , and – tekau, slap your chest.”

“Everybody awake again? Now, lets talk about how the idea of rahui was used for conservation management to - for example - seasonally restrict shell fish gathering.”

 

It is still possible to join the course if you register until the 20^th of April. Contact the Marae on 790 for more details and to obtain an application form.

 

 

792 words, Rendt Gorter, 15 Apr. 05