Waikato River Clean-up Trust: Funding Strategy 2013/14 - page 4

TheWaikato River
and its catchment
The Waikato River and its region has been populated for at
least the past 700 to 800 years. The river provided physical and
spiritual sustenance for large populations of Maaori living along its
catchment. Throughout that time it was a source of food, including
eels, fish and plants. It was also an important waka route.
A well-known saying about the Waikato River uses taniwha as a metaphor for chiefs: ‘Waikato
taniwha rau, he piko he taniwha, he piko he taniwha’. (Waikato of a hundred chiefs, on every bend
a chief). This saying attributes the power and prestige of the Waikato tribes to that of the river.
With the arrival of European settlers in the 1840s and 1850s the Waikato River was the main
access route inland for traders and missionaries.
The last hundred years have seen sweeping changes to the region’s landscapes and where
people have settled, used and created resources.
Over time, the human activities along the Waikato River and the increasingly intensive land uses
through its catchments have degraded the Waikato River and reduced the relationships and
aspirations of communities who identify with the Waikato River.
This degradation of the Waikato River and its catchment has severely compromised Waikato
River Iwi in their ability to exercise kaitiakitanga or conduct their tikanga and kawa.
In 1987 Sir Robert Mahuta and others filed a claim over the Waikato River with the Waitangi
Tribunal. This was in order to redress the confiscation of Waikato lands and the consequences of
raupatu which impact on the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River and the relationship of
Waikato-Tainui with the Waikato River.
Through the Treaty Settlement process between Waikato-Tainui and the Crown the Guardians
Establishment Committee was formed with the support of other Waikato River Iwi. In 2009 the
Guardians Establishment Committee finalised its Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River.
That Vision and Strategy, “to restore and protect the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River”,
has been incorporated in the settlement legislation for the Waikato River Raupatu Claim - the
legislation under which The Waikato River Authority is constituted. The Authority assumed
guardianship of the Vision and Strategy at the time of its formation in 2010.
The Vision and Strategy incorporates the objectives sought by Waikato-Tainui and other
objectives that reflect the interests of Waikato River Iwi and of all New Zealanders. In 2012 the
Nga Wai o Maniapoto legislation was enacted to include the upper catchment of the Waipa River
through to its junction with the Waikato River. The Vision and Strategy now applies to the whole
of the Waipa River catchment.
These objectives encompass all people of the Waikato River and their relationships with
it - through their communities, industries, recreation, social and cultural pursuits. It will take
commitment and time to restore and protect the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River.
Only by us all working together collaboratively and cooperatively will the Vision be realised.
Restoring and protecting the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River
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