Auckland Museum Trust Board funded Research Programmes

Te mana o Rangitāhua will transform Aotearoa’s environmental leadership, executing a Ngāti Kuri-led research programme in a large, pristine and globally significant part of our EEZ. Rangitāhua hosts internationally significant terrestrial nature reserves and one of our largest marine reserves. While scientifically identified as one of the most intact marine ecosystems on Earth, the region remains poorly understood as a consequence of a severe lack of strategic science investment. The mauri of Rangitāhua is not comprehensively understood: we lack the critical knowledge required to guide evidence-based environmental management and protect Rangitāhua ecosystems in the face of future challenges.

We will identify tohu (signs) of change, undertake a stocktake of taonga species, and work with novel methods for monitoring the resilience of Rangitāhua’s ecosystems. Importantly, these methods will be designed and developed within a collaborative framework whereby iwi, as mana whenua, kaitiaki, and researchers in partnership with scientists, are at the centre of delivering on our national and international obligations around marine and terrestrial reserves, and our obligations to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

This is world-leading in research practice, intentionally building knowledge synergies between Mātauranga Māori and Science with emerging technologies to inform and increase understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, while new environmental leadership and reform will result from prioritising cultural values and insights. Re-storying ancestral islandscapes and biodiversity of Rangitāhua enables active Ngāti Kuri kaitiakitanga: scientific discoveries result in new perspectives on the connections between these islands and the wider Pacific. We will together layer our knowledge, producing Te Kupenga, a new way of understanding this ecosystem.

Te mana o Rangitāhua presents a highly ambitious, strategic investment, leading environmental research for the future benefit of Aotearoa and the Pacific.