Decolonising Blue Spaces in the Anthropocene : : Freshwater Management in Aotearoa New Zealand.

• Superior document: Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management
• Author: Parsons, Meg.
• TeilnehmendeR: Fisher, Karen.; Crease, Roa Petra.
• Place / Publishing House: Cham : : Springer International Publishing AG,, 2021.; ©2021.
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Palgrave Studies in Natural Resource Management
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (505 pages)

This open access book crosses disciplinary boundaries to connect theories of environmental justice with Indigenous people’s experiences of freshwater management and governance. It traces the history of one freshwater crisis – the degradation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Waipā River– to the settler-colonial acts of ecological dispossession resulting in intergenerational injustices for Indigenous Māori iwi (tribes). The authors draw on a rich empirical base to document the negative consequences of imposing Western knowledge, worldviews, laws, governance and management approaches onto Māori and their ancestral landscapes and waterscapes. Importantly, this book demonstrates how degraded freshwater systems can and are being addressed by Māori seeking to reassert their knowledge, authority, and practices of kaitiakitanga (environmental guardianship). Co-governance and co-management agreements between iwi and the New Zealand Government, over the Waipā River, highlight how Māori are envisioning and enacting more sustainable freshwater management and governance, thus seeking to achieve Indigenous environmental justice (IEJ). The book provides an accessible way for readers coming from a diversity of different backgrounds, be they academics, students, practitioners or decision-makers, to develop an understanding of IEJ and its applicability to freshwater management and governance in the context of changing socio-economic, political, and environmental conditions that characterise the Anthropocene.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- 1: Introduction -- Settler-Colonialism -- Indigenous Environmental Justice -- The Organisation of the Book -- References -- 2: Environmental Justice and Indigenous Environmental Justice -- EJ: Distributive Justice -- Procedural Justice -- Recognition Justice -- Critique of Recognition -- Beyond Recognition: Indigenous Ontologies and Epistemologies -- Conclusion -- References -- 3: 'The past is always in front of us': Locating Historical Māori Waterscapes at the Centre of Discussions of Current and Future Freshwater Management -- Te Ao Māori (The Māori World) -- Knowledge, Values and Guiding Principles -- Waterscapes of the Waipā -- Waste and Water: The Two Should Never Mix -- Te Ao Māori at the Time of European Contact -- Divergent Understandings of Land: Rights Versus Ownership -- Lead up to Colonisation: 1830s -- Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) -- Historical Context: The Invasion, Raupatu (Confiscation) and Alienation of Whenua 1863-1885 -- Conclusion -- References -- 4: Remaking Muddy Blue Spaces: Histories of Human-Wetlands Interactions in the Waipa¯ River and the Creation of Environmental Injustices -- Settler Imaginative Geographies of the Waipa¯: 1850s-1860s -- Post-Invasion Realities: Life on/in the Wetlands -- Māori Engagements with Wetlands and the Settler-Colonial State -- Government Responses -- Te Kawa Wetlands and the Operations of the Kawa Drainage Board -- Conclusion -- References -- 5: A History of the Settler-Colonial Freshwater Impure-Ment: Water Pollution and the Creation of Multiple Environmental Injustices Along the Waipaˉ River -- Water Pollution: An Unacknowledged Problem -- Consequences of Pollution on Health -- Disposal of Waste -- The Resource Management Act and the Limits of Recognition.

Procedural and Recognition Environmental (In)Justices: Continuity and Change -- Conclusion -- References -- 6: Legal and Ontological Pluralism: Recognising Rivers as More- Than-Human Entities -- Indigenous Knowledge, Laws, and Worldviews -- Tikanga Māori: The First Legal Order of Aotearoa -- Limited Recognition: Indigenous Legal Traditions with Settler Legal Order -- Decolonising Freshwater Governance: (Mis)Recognition of the Treaty and Tikanga -- Treaty Settlement: Ngā wai o Maniapoto (Waipā River) Act and the Waiwaia Accord -- Treaty Settlement: Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River) -- Complexities of Enacting Legal Pluralism -- Conclusion -- References -- 7: Transforming River Governance: The Co-Governance Arrangements in the Waikato and Waipaˉ Rivers -- Water 'Rights' and 'Responsibilities': Water Co-Governance and Justice -- Treaty Settlements and Reconciliation -- Treaty Settlements, Legislation, and Co-Governing and Co-Managing the Waikato and Waipa¯ Rivers -- Vision and Strategy (V&amp -- S) for the Waikato River/Te Ture Whaimana o te Awa o Waikato -- Waikato River Authority (WRA) -- Assessing the Implementation of Co-Governance Arrangements -- Distributional (In)Justices: Lack of Resources and Capacities -- Procedural and Recognitional (In)Justices: Iwi Involvement in Planning Processes -- Procedural and Recognitional (In)Justices: Critiques of the WRA -- Recognitional (In)Justice: Ngāti Maniapoto Ontologies and Epistemologies -- Conclusion -- References -- 8: Co-Management in Theory and Practice: Co-Managing the Waipaˉ River -- Indigenous Co-Management of Freshwater -- The Resource Management Act: Recognition of Māori Interests -- Giving Effect to Co-Management of the Waipā River -- Principles for Co-Management of the Waipa River -- Operationalising co-Management Arrangements -- River Objectives -- Crown-Iwi Accords -- Regulations.

Iwi Management Plans -- Joint Management Agreements -- Integrated Management Plan -- Not Trickling Down to Flax-Roots-Level -- Co-Management Strengthening Procedural Inclusion and Recognition -- Conclusion -- References -- 9: Decolonising River Restoration: Restoration as Acts of Healing and Expression of Rangatiratanga -- The Emergence of Ecological Restoration as a Field of Study and Practice -- Critiques of Ecological Restoration -- Co-management and Restoration Planning -- Constraints on Restoration Efforts -- Getting the Values Right -- Defining Restoration -- Iwi-Led Restoration Projects: Enacting Kaitiakitanga -- Grief and Hope -- Conclusion -- References -- 10: Rethinking Freshwater Management in the Context of Climate Change: Planning for Different Times, Climates, and Generations -- Indigenous Critiques of Climate Change: Indigenising Intergenerational Climate Justice -- Framing Climate Change in Aotearoa as an Economic and Technical Problem -- Kaitiakitanga and Climate Justice for the Waipa¯ River -- Tuna and Climate Change -- Conclusion -- References -- 11: Conclusion: Spiralling Forwards, Backwards, and Together to Decolonise Freshwater -- Distributive Justice -- Procedural Justice -- Recognition as Justice -- Interweaving and Layering of Justice: Pluralistic Accounts of IEJ -- Beyond Recognition to Encompass Indigenous Ontologies and Responsibilities -- References -- Appendix: Table of Interview Participants -- Glossary of Te Reo Ma¯ori Terms -- Index.