Te Kura Taka Pini - Freshwater Strategy

Te Kura Taka Pini (TKTP) was established in 2019 to progress the Ngāi Tahu Rangatiratanga over Freshwater Strategy. To advance this kaupapa, TKTP is focused on supporting the Ngāi Tahu wai māori legal claim, and on leveraging the opportunities provided by the claim and the current reform and political environment to advance Ngāi Tahu rangatiratanga.

Te Kura Taka Pini is the symbol of leadership from Te Wera, the well-known Ngāi Tahu fighting chief. The battles, achievements and failures of Te Wera are the subject of many Ngāi Tahu stories. He was unflinching in his protection of his people. Te Wera meticulously planned and considered his foe then adapted his strategy to meet the challenges. His taua were able to move quickly and without restriction and were often at the forefront of any battle – hence the name Te Kura Taka Pini.

The name was given to TKTP by the late Tahu Pōtiki (Ōtākou Rūnanga Representative) to remind us to:

  • Be steadfast in our goals for freshwater
  • Be united in our movement forward
  • Possess the agility to create and respond to change

Gabrielle Huria is Te Titirei / Chief Executive of TKTP. She leads a team that has the following kaupapa at its centre:

  • Leading the Ngāi Tahu rangatiratanga over wai māori statement of claim
  • Establishing wai māori science projects
  • Supporting Papatipu Rūnanga customary marine title claims under the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011
  • Supporting Rūnanga aspirations in relation to national and regional freshwater reforms
  • Achieving our goals with regard to Water Services reform: Local Water Done Well

The Ngāi Tahu wai māori statement of claim

In 2020 Ngāi Tahu lodged a statement of claim in the High Court seeking recognition of its rangatiratanga over the freshwater in the Ngāi Tahu takiwā (area). The statement of claim is to address the ongoing degradation of awa (rivers) and moana (lakes) caused by environmental mismanagement.

Since the arrival of European settlers, Ngāi Tahu rangatiratanga over freshwater has been consistently challenged. When it came to negotiating the Ngāi Tahu Settlement, water was “off the table” and thought to be too difficult to deal with at the time.  Successive governments’ mismanagement of freshwater has led to widespread degradation of waterbodies in the takiwā.

Ngāi Tahu rangatiratanga over freshwater is the unfinished business of our generation.

The case goes to trial in the Christchurch High Court on 10 February 2025. The case is scheduled to take ten weeks, with a three week break over Easter.

The claim has been brought by 15 of our upoko, kaumātua,  rangatira, and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. The claim seeks recognition of Ngāi Tahu legal entitlements to wai māori and that the Crown should partner with Ngāi Tahu to co-design and operate a new system to govern wai māori to improve the management of our lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers for benefit of everyone.

Our legal entitlements to wai māori are derived from pūtake-mauka, the ancestral source of Ngāi Tahu rangatiratanga (authority) from the mountains, which are our tīpuna, and where water originates. 

The following video was recorded on the day the claim was lodged in the High Court in 2020.

Play Video: Video
 

Unatai e?

As part of evidence gathering for the Ngāi Tahu Freshwater Statement of Claim, Te Kura Taka Pini commissioned celebrated photographer, Anne Noble ONZM to document waterways and water bodies in the takiwā. Unutai e? (working title), an exhibition of her work, will be hosted by the Dunedin Public Art Gallery early next year. Opening Saturday 31st May, closing Sunday 12th October 2025.

“We needed an independent perspective and photographs to capture our freshwater environments and to highlight the degradation we're experiencing in our waterways and water bodies,” said Gabrielle Huria Te Titirei/Chief Executive Te Kura Taka Pini.

“Anne's powerful photographs deserve a wider audience, and we thank Ōtākou Rūnaka and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery for making that possible. Her exhibition is scheduled to open at the Gallery on Saturday 31 May 2025.”

Anne has previously worked with Ngāi Tahu, documenting the migration story through photographs for Takahanga Marae in Kaikoura.

Te Rua Mason and tamariki (from left to right: Te Whetu Marama, Te Kaihauata, Te Ngawari). Āhua o Te Wai Photographic Project for Te Kura Taka Pini. Photo Credit: Anne Noble

Photo Credit: Anne Noble.