Respecting Aoraki: a Tīpuna Mauka

A kaupapa Māori research approach has brought together Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua and mountaineers to solve a very basic problem - what to do with human waste left behind on the Tōpuni of Aoraki.

Toni Torepe, research co-lead and senior lecturer at the Faculty of Education at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC), spoke to kaituhi Ila Couch about the power of pūrākau and whakapapa to change the attitudes and behaviour of recreational visitors to Aoraki and how a kaupapa Māori research model could benefit kaitiaki in Aotearoa, and around the world.

"We have a relationship with land, our cosmology, our cultural practices, and our history are all intertwined with the concept of land. There were conversations around our relationship with Aoraki and how to address ignorance, misunderstanding, and sometimes the unconscious insult that may be caused by mountaineers and their human waste practices on the mountain, and in mountainous areas. The research showed that while there are a myriad of ways Arowhenua connect to Aoraki, those relationships are reinforced by pūrākau and whakapapa.” Toni Torepe Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Huirapa. 

Toni Torepe (Ngāi Tahu, Kāti Huirapa) has been giving a lot of interviews about her mahi lately. For the past two years she has been co-lead on a research project addressing the environmental, health, and cultural impacts of mountaineering on Aoraki, specifically around the practice of leaving solid waste on the mountain.

The New Zealand Alpine Club has discovered it’s spending more airlifting toilet containers out of alpine huts than it’s receiving in hut fees. Using a kaupapa Māori approach to the project, Toni’s research addresses the need for behavioural changes in recreational users of Aoraki, who often don’t know of the mountain’s cultural significance to mana whenua.

“I wouldn’t leave my human waste in a cemetery on someone’s ancestor. I don’t think any of us would,” says Toni. “But when only eleven per cent of mountaineers we surveyed have a good understanding of tikanga and ideas of tapu, there is an opportunity through education
to support behaviour change. Aoraki is central to who we are as Kāti Huirapa.

Our pūrākau and whakapapa are illustrative of our relationship with him so the idea of someone leaving behind their human waste on him is problematic.”

The issue of appropriate human interaction with cultural sites of significance is not a unique problem for Indigenous peoples. In 2019, the Anangu peoples of Central Australia were successful in ending climbing on Uluru, a site they relate to as tjukurpa (the ancestral source of being). This year Japan, struggling with a surge in tourism and excessive waste, limited access to their sacred mountain, even blocking a ground view of Mount Fuji that drew hordes of photo-snapping, littering tourists.

The invitation to join the research team tackling the issue of human waste on Aoraki was extended to Toni by fellow UC researcher and co-lead, Associate Professor Chris North. As a founder of Leave No Trace, Chris established the national branch to promote responsible recreation. Leave No Trace has branches in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Australia and Aotearoa.

“Through this research project there are opportunities to make relationships with other indigenous and environmental researchers to think about collaborative work,” says Toni.
The first phase of their research began with mātauraka Arowhenua. Departing from a traditional Western framework of research, interviews were conducted by a whānau member from Arowhenua, which presented an opportunity to build research capabilities within the hapū.

“There is a long history of indigenous communities being ‘researched about’ and in the past the benefits and advantages of research have remained with the researcher or the research group. As researchers using a kaupapa Māori methodology, we want to research alongside people.”
Those initial interviews provided insights into how whānau perceived mountaineering activities and the potential sources of conflict arising from mountaineers on Aoraki.

“We have a relationship with land, our cosmology, our cultural practices, and our history are all intertwined with the concept of land,” says Toni. “There were conversations around our relationship with Aoraki and how to address ignorance, misunderstanding, and sometimes the unconscious insult that may be caused by mountaineers and their human waste practices on the mountain, and in mountainous areas. The research showed that while there are a myriad of ways Arowhenua connect to Aoraki, those relationships are reinforced by pūrākau and whakapapa.”

Four major themes emerged from the first phase of research: whakapapa and pūrākau, the idea of tikaka and tapu, desecration and utu, and hopes for a better future.
“In the fourth theme there was discussion around the research project having the ability to educate and enlighten the wider community around the ways we, Arowhenua whānau, view Aoraki,” says Toni. “While this study focuses particularly on Aoraki, there are other significant landscape features that we as Māori, or we as indigenous, are part of our pūrākau and whakapapa. That’s an exciting prospect that the benefits are wide-ranging, and we have that opportunity to encourage change behaviour as one of the outcomes.”

In phase two of the project, 461 New Zealand Alpine Club members responded to an online survey by two change behaviour psychologists within the research team. In addition to enquiring about their solid waste disposal practices, mountaineers were questioned about their knowledge of mana whenua, the places they climbed, and what they knew of tikaka and cultural practices.

“We wanted to know how best to design a more effective and culturally appropriate campaign with messages to promote that behaviour change,” says Toni. Survey results showed that 23 per cent of respondents did not have a good understanding of Māori culture in the area where they mountaineered, with another 32 per cent only having a slight understanding.

“If we want to move to a ‘Leave No Trace’ concept where everything is carried out, mountaineers need to understand the relationship we have with Aoraki as our ancestor. That might give them the motivation to make changes. We need to do some educating, and this is where mātauranga from Arowhenua becomes really important.”

In December 2023 a small rōpū from Arowhenua and a party of mountaineers came together for a side project, Ki uta ki tai. The group spent a week together, starting with a helicopter ride and a two-day stay at Plateau Hut.

“The four of us from Arowhenua had never had that climbing experience before, so obviously there was a lot of trust and relationship building,” says Toni. “The mountaineers were our tuakana up there and the gift they gave us was an insight into what they do. We had the most stunning weather and the opportunity to ascend to Glacier Dome.”

Research co-lead Toni Torepe during climb to Glacier Dome, December 2023. PHOTOGRAPH: supplied

The mountaineers assumed a taina role during the trek through Te Manahuna and down to Arowhenua pā. During that time whānau shared stories of seasonal and longer-term settlements, discussed mahika kai practices, went eel spearing up the river, and gave a tour of the nursery and kōrero about future planting plans.

“The mountaineers got to see how we view Aoraki as Arowhenua - our way of seeing the landscape and the world, compared to how they see the landscape in relation to what they are doing.”

The fifth day was spent in an analysis session pulling together insights from the week.
“There was a strong sense that the mountaineers didn’t climb to conquer; they came for the enjoyment, the landscape, and their own reasons. What became evident was the mountaineers wanted to do the right thing; it’s knowing what the right thing is.”

The project is now in its third phase and with the help of a master’s student within the UC’s School of Product Design, a tangible solution is being created for mountaineers to take their waste with them.

“It needs to be a product mountaineers are going to want to use – it can’t leak or have odours, and it has to be lightweight,” says Toni. “The goal is to do some testing before releasing the final product alongside an education programme with different stakeholders.”

To date, the team has had their research acknowledged and celebrated: The Faculty of Education Indigenous Research in Aotearoa and the Pacific Excellence Award 2023, and UC’s Highly Commended Award for advancing sustainability research for 2023. Invitations have been extended to the team to take their work to an international stage.

“We’ve been accepted to speak at an international conference in Colorado in October and are working with a global environmental researcher within some of the national parks in the United States. The more opportunities we have to discuss this kaupapa in different contexts the more momentum we bring to different ways of thinking, being, and knowing to create change.”

Taking time to reflect on her mahi, Toni says she is driven as a researcher to create positive change for the community, not just here in Aotearoa, but beyond.

“As a co-lead on this project I have the opportunity to work alongside my Arowhenua whānau. This study is incredibly important to us as a rūnanga, as a hapū, and also for the wider iwi – for Ngāi Tahu. So, while this study is focusing particularly on Aoraki, there are other significant landscape features that we as Māori, or we as indigenous people, share as part of our pūrākau and whakapapa.

“It’s exciting to have the opportunity to encourage behaviour change among mountaineers and for my whānau to know that Aoraki is being respected.”

“The mountaineers got to see how we view Aoraki as Arowhenua – our way of seeing the landscape and the world, compared to how they see the landscape in relation to what they are doing.”