Māori Value Report: Kaitiakitanga

Ensure sustainable futures: Intergenerational reciprocity

Kaitiakitanga is expressed as guardianship to ensure a sustainable future for all. This value focuses on those areas that are important to ensure that the distinctive identity of Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau is sustained and enhanced, and that Māori are able to live as Māori.

There is no ‘one’ Māori view on how Kaitiakitanga is expressed. But there are many common concepts and values of Te Ao Māori, such as mana, whakapapa of people to the environment, knowledge (mātauranga), spiritual beliefs, customary practices, and use of resources in a sustainable way. These world views and practices maintain and support the wellbeing of the environment and the wellbeing of Iwi, hapū and whānau.

Key Indicators

Cultural

Kaitiakitanga, in an arts and cultural context, is a way of caring for objects and cultural heritage in a manner deemed appropriate and correct from the standpoint of Māori. It also includes ensuring that te reo Māori is future-proofed.

  • Māori-medium schooling

Social

For the social pou, Kaitiakitanga focuses on the sustainability of whānau wellbeing – the way that whānau are being cared for. Māori wellbeing is whānau wellbeing.

  • Whānau wellbeing

Environmental

Māori believe that there is a deep, reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world. All life is connected. Ensuring that the environment is thriving in a sustainable way is at the core of Kaitiakitanga.

  • Iwi and hāpū environmental planning or decision making

Economic

Kaitiakitanga is often used in relation to efforts to protect the environment, however Kaitiakitanga also means an intergenerational responsibility to protect, maintain and enhance the spiritual, material and economic wellbeing of taonga, people and land.

  • Māori apprenticeships

In the Kaitiakitanga Report, we discuss how Kaitiakitanga can be applied to the economy and economic approaches by incorporating an intergenerational responsibility to protect, maintain and enhance the spiritual, material and economic wellbeing of taonga.