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Carrying Out, Effectiveness and
Achievement of the Principal
Function of the Authority
Carrying out the principal function
The function of the Authority is threefold:
• set the primary direction through the
Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River/
Te Ture Whaimana o Te Awa o Waikato
(‘the Vision and Strategy’) to achieve the
restoration and protection of the health
and wellbeing of the Waikato River for
future generations;
• promote an integrated, holistic,
and coordinated approach to the
implementation of the Vision and
Strategy and the management of the
Waikato River;
• fund rehabilitation initiatives for the
Waikato River in its role as trustee for the
Waikato River Clean-up Trust.
The Authority is an independent co-
governing organisation involving both the
Crown and iwi focused on restoring and
protecting the health and wellbeing of the
Waikato River and its catchment for
future generations.
The Authority’s vision is: “for a future where
a healthy Waikato River sustains abundant
life and prosperous communities who, in
turn, are all responsible for restoring and
protecting the health and wellbeing of
the Waikato River, and all it embraces, for
generations to come.”
The Authority represents a new approach to
Crown and iwi relationships. It is the first of
its kind in establishing co-governance for
management of a water body. In contrast to
the Waikato Regional Council, the Authority
has a single focus – the health and wellbeing
of the Waikato and Waipa Rivers and their
tributaries.
The building blocks of the Authority have
been well established in its first five years.
The Guardians Establishment Committee
was the trailblazer for the work to be
undertaken by the Authority. The Waikato
River Independent Scoping Study (WRISS)
was a foundation document providing an
assessment of the health of the Waikato
River and its catchment.
The Waikato River Clean Up Fund has been
well established. Over the next 25 years the
Authority will administer more than $250
million in projects to help achieve a healthier
Waikato River. In the past five years the
Authority has allocated more than $27m to
169 clean-up projects.
The Authority, at its creation, was faced
with an enormous challenge – to reverse
the degradation of the Waikato River that
has occurred over the last 100-150 years,
and make substantial progress in restoring
the Waikato River within the next 25 years
and to protect it from further degradation.
Even at the end of that 25 years the job will
not be finished. Management of our natural
and physical resources has been, and will
continue to be, a complex and contentious
cross-sector, multigenerational issue.
Because of its small size the Authority
needs to influence others, to undertake
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Waikato River Authority
Five Year Report
2015