Kaitiaki

Kaitiaki is a New Zealand term used for the Māori concept of guardianship, for the sky, the sea, and the land. A kaitiaki is a guardian, and the process and practices of protecting and looking after the environment are referred to as kaitiakitanga

The concept and terminology have been increasingly brought into public policy on trusteeship or guardianship—in particular with the environmental and resource controls under the Resource Management Act.

The term kaitiaki is also increasingly used in New Zealand for broader roles of trusteeship or guardianship—especially in public sector organisations, as these examples demonstrate:

The long-established Māori system of environmental management is holistic. It is a system that ensures pess within the environment, providing a process of, as well as preventing intrusions that cause permanent imbalances and guards against environmental damage. Kaitiakitanga is a concept that has "roots deeply embedded in the complex code of tikanga”. Kaitiakitanga is a broad notion which includes the following ideas: guardianship, care, wise management. However, while kaitiakitanga is a proactive and preventative approach to environmental management, this traditional management system has not always had an opportunity to address large scale environmental degradation.

Traditionally all Māori trace their ancestry to the beginning of existence, the single entity that became Ranginui and Papatuanuku. Ranginui became the sky and Papatuanuku the mother earth, with their children taking the form of the various physical elements that humans eventually emerged from. This genealogy is a bond between humans and the rest of the physical world both "immutable and inseparable". Papatuanuku, embodied in the physical form of the earth continues to provide sustenance for all. Accordingly, Māori read more into the interpretation of kaitiakitanga than just the surface meaning of the words translated into English.

A number of government act provides for recognition of Treaty of Waitangi and kaitiakitanga, including the Conservation Act 1987, though perhaps most importantly is the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and its amendments. Under Section 7 of the RMA all individuals exercising functions and powers in relation to managing the use, development and protection of natural and physical resources are required to “have particular regard” to kaitiakitanga amongst others. Through the RMA the concept of kaitiakitanga has been given a statutory definition. This definition of kaitiakitanga was given within the RMA in section 2(1) as “the exercise of guardianship; and in relation to a resource, includes the ethic of stewardship based on the nature of the resource itself”. However, opposition to this definition and interpretation resulted in this being amended in the Resource Management Amendment Act 1997 to “the exercise of guardianship by the tāngata whenua of an area in accordance with tikanga Māori in relation to natural and physical resources; and includes the ethics of stewardship”. Despite this definition in RMA, it is the Papatipu Rūnanga holding manawhenua tribal authority over a particular area or resource that will be able to determine the characteristics of kaitiakitanga and how this will be expressed. In addition to the RMA, the New Zealand Fisheries Act 1996, Part 9, provides for customary fisheries management, without directly identifying this management as kaitiakitanga.

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