Conservation Comment: Get with the flow

Waterways: Nurturing natural treasures like the Whanganui River is essential.

AS we approached the top of the extinct volcano we couldn't understand where all the water was coming from.

Every raised surface was dripping into crystal clear ponds and exuberant waterfalls took up the plunge downward.

How could there be such abundance from a small summit area where there hadn't been any rain for days?

My son and I discussed this aqueous bounty as we sat near the top of Hauhungatahi, the fourth-highest and oldest volcano in Tongariro National Park. We were seeing the power of mosses, lichens and small alpine herbs to gather and store rainfall and then release it slowly, so we relaxed and enjoyed the water features along with the birds and busy insects.

E rere kau mai te Awa nui- mai I te Kāhui Maunga ... Each drip that joined the flow was about to take the journey well worn over the millennia along the ancestral river we choose to live by, the Whanganui Awa, the person/legal entity, the spiritual and physical reality, the river that defines a region.

Many of us have been inspired by the Awa Tupua legislation passed last year. Parliament united to give long-overdue recognition of mistakes made by the Crown in taking ownership of aspects of the river bit by bit. Over the years it was sliced and diced with mid-river boundaries, separate rock and mineral rights, navigation authorities, and riparian rights.

The story could have continued as a fight over the pieces but in the world-leading visionary solution enacted we have a much brighter vision, one that weaves together the four aspects of sustainability; environmental, cultural, social and economic. One that should weave together people, as we see our common interest in a healthier river based on a healthy catchment.

We can only admire the dignified, peaceful but persistent campaign conducted by Whanganui iwi for that which was most precious to them. It took generations but the intertwined mana of the people and the river has re-emerged powerfully.

Tears flowed for those who did not live to see the day but who kept up the struggle.
It is a victory we should all celebrate. Certainly it was one that drew international praise because around the world there is a growing recognition that our relationship with the environment has been out of balance. We have accepted the legal personhood and rights of companies while treating forests and rivers as exploitable non-entities. It had to change.

This century is our last chance to find sustainability and locally we know it must include a good relationship with our whole river catchment.

We need to give back to the mother that sustains us. We need to invest in conserving soils and replanting forests, providing jobs to support our social development.

In the alpine gardens of the headwaters the potential of a cleaner river lives on. In blossoming manuka healing the steep, stripped hills, and in the energy of day-old whio ducklings diving into white water for their first feed, and in the wise old eyes of people who always felt it, the spirit of our Awa lives on. Join the flow.