Cyclone Gabrielle recovery front of mind for Ngāti Kahungunu

Wairoa flooded in February. Photo / Wairoa District Council

Cyclone recovery and restoring the health of waterways in Hawke’s Bay were the focus of the Ngāti Kahungunu annual iwi hui.

Iwi members attending the 12th Fish Hook Summit discussed improving the environment within the tribe’s area, which stretches from Wairoa to Wairarapa.

Ngāti Kahungunu chairman Bayden Barber hopes the tribe’s views lead to progress across the entire rohe.

“It’s the beginning of what is the biggest hurdle in gaining more support from local regional councils. They have the funding and the resources and the workforce to rectify our rivers so they return to what they were before.”

The summit, held in Napier, brought together environmental experts and scientists from different organisations to help bring understanding to what happened as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle in February and offer insight into how emergency management policies could adapt and better work with the environment and Ngāti Kahungunu values.

Barber says Tāngoio and Mōteo were the iwi’s worst-affected marae from the cyclone. “And because their lands are now classed as category 3 the law states they can’t rebuild, or replace those whare for their people.”

Making flooding room for their rivers where possible and the many benefits associated with the potential of contemporary river management approaches were also discussed.

“They are encouraging the regional councils to widen the river banks so the river can flow and so, in case that it does flood, the overflow of water has somewhere to go,” Barber says.

Representatives from Te Wairoa, Te Whanganui-A-Orotu, Heretaunga, Tamatea, Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua, and Wairarapa gave heart-warming updates about their rohe.