Conservation Comment: Care, kōrero and connection

Beautiful awa: The Whanganui River just below Taumarunui. Photo/Whanganui Regional Museum

HE pūkenga wai, he nohoanga tāngata, he nohoanga tāngata, he putanga kōrero. Where there is a body of water, people settle and where people settle, stories unfold.

In the recent election the state of New Zealand's waterways came into the political spotlight. Globally, rivers are extremely important to people. The places we choose to live are often around and along waterways. New Zealand's fertile river plains and valleys have been places of human habitation since our arrival hundreds of years ago.

The strong connection of people to their local river is reflected in the well-known Whanganui saying: E rere kau mai te awa nui mai i te kāhui maunga ki Tangaroa, ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au. The mighty river flows from the mountains to the sea, I am the river and the river is me.

In 2006 the late Helen Ngāpō, a teacher at Aramoho School, suggested we begin holding a River Week to learn about rivers and promote public awareness. The celebration of Seaweek had been long established around New Zealand, and Helen felt that it was time we started celebrating our rivers.

In 2009 the local organising team for Seaweek, an enthusiastic group of conservation-minded people led by the Department of Conservation, got together to initiate a River Week event in Whanganui with three major aspects: care, kōrero and connection.

Our collective vision for River Week was to celebrate the Whanganui River in all its facets and to reconnect people with the river, getting them in, on and around the river. We wanted people to learn about the river's history and to care for the river. We hoped that River Week would encourage the whole community to connect with the wonderful Whanganui.

Since 2009 the celebration has ebbed and flowed, sometimes with a great rush of events and sometimes with just a trickle. Public engagement with the celebration has been similarly fluid. This year, we have even more reasons to celebrate the river. World-leading legislation has granted the Whanganui River legal status as an entity in its own right with the name Te Awa Tupua, which reflects its significance and meaning to Whanganui iwi.

Margie Beautrais

Other communities around the world are now looking to New Zealand and to Whanganui as an example. Inspired by the New Zealand legislation, two rivers considered sacred in India, the Ganges and its main tributary, the Yamuna, were granted legal status in August this year. In the US a lawsuit has recently been filed on behalf of the Colorado River asking for the river to be granted legal rights as an entity.

Our commonly held reverence for rivers, however, is not always reflected in the ways we look after them. The Māori concept of kaitiakitanga (responsible guardianship) and the Whanganui example of Te Awa Tupua may provide a useful model for care of rivers worldwide.

Following an inauguration ceremony at Ngāpūwaiwaha Marae in Taumarunui this week, Dame Tāriana Tūria, and Tūrama Hāwira, as New Zealand's first Te Pou Tupua, will jointly present the human face and voice of Te Awa Tupua for the next three years. In this unique role they will work to ensure the health and wellbeing of the river is upheld.

To celebrate our community connection with Te Awa Tupua, the Whanganui River, this year Whanganui River Week will run from Friday, November 10, to Saturday, November 18. Events range from public talks to opportunities to get out on the river and have fun.

The unifying threads running through all these events are the three kaupapa of care, kōrero and connection.