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Click here for English translation Ki te ora te whenua ka ora te tangata. E koropupu ana te wai ora, e koropupu ana te mauriora o te tangata. Ki te tukinongia te whenua me te wai ka pirorehe te tangata. Ko te whakaaro matua tenei kai te ngakau o te matanga putaiao a Alison Dewes.
Koia te rangatira hautu o Tipuwhenua katahi nei ratau ka oti i te mataitai whenua me te moana i Waihi, tetehi wahi kua tukingongia rawatia i nga tau kua pahemo. Kai nga whaitua huhua o te motu e mauiui ana te whenua me nga hopua wai a Tipuwhenua.
E ai ki a Alison, "Ko te nuinga o a matau mahi kai te takiwa Waiariki me te moana o Toitehuatahi". Kai etehi taima ka mahi tahi matau me Te Arawa Lakes Trust ki te whakarauora i te taiao, ki te whakato rakau Maori ki Hamurana, a, hai etehi taima e mahi tahi ana me nga tangata pamu huri noa i nga whira o Te Waiariki.
Ko te taha ki te whakato rakau, ka awhinatia matau e te rangatahi. Ki te takiwa o Te Moana o Toi Te Huatahi ko ta te titiro matua o One Health ko te riaria whenua me te wai tuturu ko te whainga tiketike ko te tiaki i nga hua o enei kainga e rua, kia tupu matomato ai, kia tupu rearea hoki nga hua kia kaua tatau te tangata e mauiui.
"Ko te whakaaro matua o One Health he ngawari noa, mena kai te ora te whenua me te wai, kai te ora hoki te iwi".
E mea ana tenei matanga. Na te mea kua aua noa atu nga tau e tukinongia ana a Waihi kaore e tika ana taua wahi ki te hao kai.
E hoki ana nga maumaharatanga noku e itiiti ai ka tae ki Maketu ki tua ko Waihi ka kotahi atu matau nga tamariki me nga pakeke ki te kai pipi ki te kohi tuangi me nga hua o te moana kIhai i arikarika. I enei rangi e wauna hoki.
Hei ta Alison, na te mea he papaku noa nga puna wai hei whangai ki te marea kua kaha te tupu o te pakawa ota.
Tena, kai tetehi poraka e toru tekau ma wha mano heketea te rahi timatangia i nga tahataha o Te Rotoiti me Te Rotoehu kai te toru rau e rima tekau mita ki runga iho o te papa moana, haerehia i nga awa o Pongakawa o Wharere me Kaikokopu puta katoa aua awa ki Waihi.
Kua whaia rawatia te tupu o tenei wahi e Tipuwhenua, kua hopukina a whakaahua e kite ai i nga whakahuringa o te whenua me nga pamu kua whakatupuria ki te rakau.
"Kai te awhinangia matau e Tim Firkin he matanga ki te waihanga pakipumeka, whaihoki no Aotearoa ia. Kai a ia nga ringaringa mohio e tika te whakaatu ai i a matau mahi whakaora whenua ki te ao.
"Ko te manaaki whenua me te wai ta matau kaupapa matua. E mea nei matau kia tika ta matau whakatu papuni ki nga wahi e tika ana. E ata rere ai te wai, e rere tataku ai te wai mai i nga maunga , wheoi ano i tena wa, mai i nga roto moana atu ki te moana nui o Toitehuatahi. Kia kaua e horo nga pari, kia kaua hoki e horo nga pinaki, he tiaki hoki i nga hopua itiiti kia kaua hoki ratau e paru i te pakawa ota".
Kua rima tau a Tipuwhenua e mahi tahi ana me etehi kamupene nui o Aotearoa ki te whakato rakau ki te rohe o Te Waiariki. Ko nga kaupapa whakarauora whenua, whakaora wai, whakatakoto rautaki a pamu e kawea ana e Tipuwhenua kai te kaha kitea i nga takiwa katoa o Aotearoa, na reira e piki ano ai te mana o te whakaaro o One Health me te whakahonohono o enei peka katoa kia kotahi mai.
Atu i tena mahi kai te awhinatia nga tangata pamu i Rotorua nei me Reporoa ki te whakata tika i te whenua kia mama ai nga takahitanga. Na reira kua tahuri tatau ki nga kaupapa whakato rakau Maori ki a aro hoki mai nga ohu whakato rakau ki a whai take ai a ratau mahi, kia kaua e whakato rakau pokanoa iho, na reira e mana ano ai te whenua me te taiao'. Wheoi ano. Kai te tepu kotahi a Tipuwhenua me nga tangata mahi pamu, ko te titiro pae tawhiti, ko te oranga tonutanga o te taiao.
"Ma te mahi tahi, a takiwa nei, a whenua nei, a ao whanui nei e ngangahu ai ano te mauri o nga tangata, nga kararehe me te taiao. Ki te whakakaha matau i te hunga pamu, te hunga akoako, nga amarara me nga rangatira whakahaere whenua e mahi tahi ana me nga rangatira pamu ki te whakahuri o ratou whakaaro me a ratou mahi ki a hangai penei ki nga tahuhu matauranga tiaki taiao, katahi na ka puta tatau i te korokoro o te parata".
He kaupapa e kawea nei e te ohu Tipuwhenua, kai te arahina hoki ratau e Takuta Paora Tapihana me Peter Fraser, no nga rangi tata iho nei ka whakahope a Te Kapunga Dewes me ana pukenga nui ki nga take o te nehenehe ki tenei kahui.
Engari ra tenei ao, he ao panekeneke, he ao panukunuku, na nga whakawhiu o te hunga torangapu e pehi kaha nei ki te ao ahuwhenua, ara ko te whakatahuri i nga pepa e pa ana ki nga wai Maori, ko te pire hauha kore, ko te huringa ahuarangi me aua kaupapa huhua hoki.
Ka nui hoki a matau panuitanga whakahou mo nga hoa pakihi engari a taumata rautaki nei ki a aro tonu atu ai matau ki nga matanga akoako pamu me te hunga akoako nehenehe, me te mea hoki, na tenei rautaki e tika ai te taha ki te moni a pamu me te hoko rakau Maori ka whakatokia e nga ohu whakato rakau. Ko te mea ke kai te whakapau werawera matau ki te whakarauora i te taiao e whai whenua ai nga whakatupuranga.
— Na Raimona Inia i whakamaori.
Alison Dewes is passionate about the environment and has native tree plantings from Scion at her Hamurana property. Photo / Supplied
Problems created by our lifestyle show up all over the country.
If the land is well, humankind will thrive. If the water is well, so too is humankind. If the land and water become degraded then mankind is in real trouble.
That's the One Health principle that drives the work of scientists like Alison Dewes.
Some recent work of her company Tipuwhenua has been focused in the Little Waihi catchment — one of the most degraded estuaries in New Zealand. Tipuwhenua works all around the motu, where water and land need protection, and lighter footprint farm systems.
"A lot of our work has been based around Lake Rotorua, and the Coastal bay of Plenty," Alison said.
In some of the restoration programmes Te Arawa Lakes Trust teams have been partners with Alison, on restoration of native plantations on her land at Hamurana and along with farmers right around the Bay Of Plenty.
Much of the planting involves rangatahi.
In the Bay of Plenty One Health is focussed on protection of land and water for the ultimate goal of ensuring safe food gathering, drinking water and contact recreation in our shared water bodies.
"One Health is a principle that is underpinned by the principles the health of the whenua, the wai, — when the land and water are well – the people will be well."
Alison said Little Waihi estuary had become so degraded it has been unsafe to gather kai from there for many years.
"Which is really sad because I remember going to Maketu and over the hill to Little Waihi as a child and adult to pick a feed of delicious pipi or tuangi. It was quick and easy and the kai was plentiful."
Alison said shallow wells, which provided drinking water, are showing signs of nitrate enrichment.
A 34,000 ha catchment starts at the edges of Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoehu, 350m + above sea level. Through the Pongakawa, Wharere, and Kaikokopu rivers the water drains into the Little Waihi estuary.
Tipuwhenua has a record on film of the change to the landscape on leading farms who have done mass planting.
"This is being done with our association with Tim Firkin who is a New Zealand born, Maori documentary filmaker, and assisting us turn our stories into visual narratives, to be able to showcase the good work being done with restoration.
"Our guiding principle is that everything is connected, meaning that we need to have buffers and protection of vulnerable land, and protect our soils, from erosion and compaction, protect our shallow aquifers from enrichment, while also protecting our river margins and wetlands, in an effort to allow a slower flow of water from the mountains (in this case the lakes) to the sea."
The company has been working with planting teams for five years in Bay of Plenty. "Programmes of of restoration, farm planning and and looking after the land led by Tipuwhenua has been working all around New Zealand, escalating the principles of One Health and the connectivity of systems.
"As part of that we have been active in helping farmers around Rotorua, Reporoa, and in the Coastal Bay of Plenty catchments to retire land, and lighten their footprints. As part of this, we have engaged in large planting programmes with forestry teams, to ensure natives are planted on the land but where broader scale change is required we work with forestry advisors to assist planning and execution of land use change."
Tipuwhenua works with farmers to become resilient, to restore the whenua, and be prepared for climate change by developing integrated landscapes, away from monocultures.
"We work together locally, nationally and globally to achieve optimal health for people, animals and the environment. We look for whole of catchment solutions.
"Our goal is to empower farmers, consultants, agencies and land managers who work with farmers who end up guiding the regulatory framework to effectively adapt to environmental and economic change using cutting-edge cross-disciplinary knowledge to solve problems and implement solutions."
The land use change planning is done by the Tipuwhenua team, and Maori Cultural Advisory has come from Dr Paora Tapsell and Peter Fraser, and more recently, assistance from Te Kapunga Dewes on forestry matters.
This space is continually changing, due to the immense amount of policy changes bearing down on agriculture (freshwater reforms, zero carbon bill, climate change, nitrogen caps etc)
"We have updates for all our associates at a strategic level for the farm advisors and forestry advisors, but also this guides how we spend money at the farm level and what sort of trees are planted by the forestry teams, and how this is managed and funded."
