The iwi of Ngāi Takoto has grown significantly and come a long way since we undertook Treaty Settlement processes with the Crown in 1986. We have achieved a great deal since that time through hard work and sheer determination to succeed and now we arrive at a point in that process whereby the responsibility for managing and determining the Ngāi Takoto future and how that may be organised, is no longer the responsibility of the Crown but now up to ourselves.
The identity of Ngāi Takoto is strongly associated with our natural environment with the whenua, moana, and awa in the rohe defining us as a People, as an Iwi. They are the sources of our stories and whakatauki, and in some cases embody our Tūpuna. Over the past 176 years Ngāi Takoto’s ability to express these relationships and exercise our kaitiaki responsibilities has been drastically eroded.
Key elements of the settlement offer from the Crown to Ngāi Takoto are contained in this Environmental Strategy and Framework as a reminder to how we have gotten to this place and point in time, where we are now in a position and with structure, to manage the settlement assets of Ngāi Takoto.
With settlement we are given the opportunity to reaffirm our responsibilities over our ancestral lands & taonga, as well as receive compensation for the social, economic and cultural deprivation suffered by past generations of our Ngāi Takoto people.
The settlement also provides evidence of recognition by the Crown that validates the NgāiTakoto “right to be.”
It’s a new journey of self-awareness for our people, with the likelihood that the immediate and future Ngāi Takoto generations will discover the opportunities that our Tūpuna were denied. Instead of the weight of injustice on our backs, we will carry the excitement, hopes and aspirations of our NgāiTakoto people forward, into the future.
This Ngāi Takoto Environmental Strategy/Plan is a major step towards reshaping that environmental future. It is the immediate need and ability of us to control, manage, protect and enhance those lands and assets and enact our ongoing obligations and responsibilities ‘to live our Ngāi Takototanga.’
This is about the present generation building and preparing for the future generations, this requires us to make change from the status quo position that has not served our NgāiTakoto people well, into an Iwi organisation that will.
With the treaty settlement outcomes comes a necessity to engage with other groups/organisations who play a role within Te Hiku and the wider operational Ngāi Takoto environments. We need to continue our journey and build foundations and relationships with key stakeholders who we not only engage with, but who can ultimately assist (without hindering us), in achieving our objectives and the outcomes that we seek for our people through:
• Establishing our NgāiTakoto credibility in partnership with our Te Hiku Iwi, local communities, and other organisational bodies.
• Establishing Ngāi Takoto influence through partnership in Environmental Management, Economic Development and Social Responsibilities.
• Advancing our NgāiTakoto Organisation within sectors of Central Government and local government.
Therefore there is the need to plan, lead, and influence how regulatory requirement’s impact on our future businesses and settlement outcomes.
To strengthen the Iwi capability to engage and respond appropriately, effectively and efficiently in the management of those environs.
This environmental management plan is our first step to realising our Mana Whenua Kaitiaki responsibilities to our Ngāi Takoto environments.
Read the full version of Te Iwi o NgāiTakoto Environmental Plan here