Alakazam! From wetland to wasteland

Tanith Wirihana Te Waitohioterangi

Opinion

Most Māori perspectives emphasise the symbiotic, interdependent relationship between humans and the environment. The dominant Eurocentric philosophies, which prioritise rationalism and self-interest, frequently neglect the qualitative, mauri and wairua values of the environment, or its ability to sustain life.

Regulatory authorities, while having the ability to mitigate wetland degradation, often lack the political resolve to enforce compliance or impose regulations on accretions in farmers’ entitlements — even when the environmental damage caused by land use intensification is beyond doubt.

The growth of the agricultural sector has come at the expense of both Māori and the aquaculture economy in general. Repo (wetlands) have cultural, spiritual, historic and economic value to Māori.

Globally, wetlands provide diverse ecosystem services and benefits, including water quality improvement, flood control, carbon management, and habitats for biodiversity. However, around half of the world’s wetlands have been lost, and those remaining are deteriorating.

New Zealand has one of the highest loss rates globally, losing over 90 percent of its wetland area in the past 150 years. This is consistent with the marginalisation and loss of Māori land ownership from almost 100 percent in 1840 to less than 5 percent today. The correlation between these two statistics is unsurprising.

Einstein’s definition of insanity was “. . . doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. This is also known as Path Dependance — where historical events or decisions can shape or influence processes and become standard operating procedures. As a result, future decisions or outcomes become increasingly influenced by past decisions, even if those events are no longer relevant or beneficial.

Although historical events may not happen again in exactly the same way, sometimes what we do notice are similar themes, patterns and outcomes.

In Tūranga one of the greatest historical examples of ecological terrorism was draining the Awapuni-moana wetland as part of the Waipaoa flood scheme. This impacts the operations of the natural flow of the Waipaoa river and has ultimately exacerbated flooding. Essentially the council of that era hired Houdini and hocus-pocus — turned the wetland into a wasteland. Then, inspired by the Evil Queen’s apple from Snow White, it poisoned the ground by turning it into the Paokahu landfill.

Modifying or straightening the course of rivers and lakes and removing wetlands can lead to inundation events when water flows are altered due to land use changes such as deforestation and urbanisation. Constructing stopbanks to prevent flooding can alter the volume and velocity of water in the rivers and lakes, potentially increasing the erosion of riverbanks. This, in turn, can have adverse effects on taunga kai and any species dependent on these ecosystems. Higher stop banks pose a greater risk; if they fail, it could lead to even more significant flooding, increasing the potential for severe consequences — including risks to human life, property and infrastructure as well as increased erosion, sedimentation and build-up.

When I said “upgrade and adapt” to the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use committee, this is not what I had in mind. At this point, if space aliens with “freaking lasers” bust down the doors of Parliament or council, they will immediately leave — being unable to find intelligent life.

But I am personally unsurprised. Decision-makers opt to make people feel safer, as opposed to solving the problem by reflooding the lagoon and minimising or eliminating the risk.

But then again, the council’s abandoned wasteland continues to poison the land.

Whether the Heinz-Wattie site, the Turanga Gardens or anything else — rather than clean up, they are tossed into the too-hard basket and forgotten about.

Mark my words — one day in the near future, when we have greater environmental impacts, you will see that this has made things much worse.