Jacinta Ruru

Listening to Papatūānuku: a call to reform water law

ABSTRACT The recent legislative recognition of the Whanganui River as its own legal entity is acknowledgement of significant positive transformation for Aotearoa New Zealands environmental laws. Enabling this new respectful engagement are modern Treaty of Waitangi reconciliation settlement statutes between the Crown and Māori. These settlements are endorsing Māori tribal visions for knowing and caring for Papatūānuku (our Earth mother) and reasserting a founding place for tikanga Māori (Māori law) to once again guide regional natural resource governance and management. This new national recognition of tikanga Māori for the environment ought to be at the forefront of any significant foreseeable review and reform of the principal national statute concerning natural resources, including water: the Resource Management Act 1991. Jacinta Ruru

Indigenous Resource Management Plans: Transporting Non-Indigenous People into the Indigenous World

Abstract The paper explores the degree to which Indigenous groups perceive that resource management plans they develop are able to help deliver outcomes they seek through formal planning systems. It does this by a case study of practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Some Indigenous groups are concerned they are being encouraged to devote considerable effort to production of major planning documents for use in interaction with environmental agencies, yet in practice, such plans can appear to have a limited role in bringing about desired change or affecting wider planning processes. The research contributes a New Zealand dimension to this international debate.