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A Cultural Health Index for Streams and Waterways: A tool for nationwide use

1 Introduction

2 Development of the Cultural Health Index

3 Evolution of the Cultural Health Index for streams and rivers

4 Engagement with Māori values

5 Conclusion

Glossary

References

Acknowledgements

Appendix 1: Recording form used to assess sites in the Taieri, Kakaunui and Hakatere catchments

Appendix 2: Recording form used to assess sites in the Tukituki ctchment

Appendix 3: Table used to assign the 1-5 scores for the nmber of species present at a site

Appendix 4: Final recording form used to assess sites in any catchment

Appendix 5: Examples of site assessments completed in the four catchment studies

Appendix 6: Ministry for the Environment's Environmental Performance Indicator Programme

5 Conclusion

The Cultural Health Index (CHI) for rivers and streams is a tool that has been developed to facilitate the participation of iwi in resource management processes, specifically the management of streams and rivers. It was funded by the Ministry for the Environment as part of its Environmental Performance Indicator (EPI) Programme - a programme that has since ended. This developmental work arose in recognition by both Ngāi Tahu and the Ministry for the Environment that limited attention had been paid to the incorporation of Māori values in river management. In addition to incorporating Māori values in river management, the index provides a potentially powerful diagnostic tool which can assist in the prioritisation of remedial actions once issues of concern to iwi are identified. The data gathered from field assessments as the CHI is applied will be used to identify areas of possible concern.

Three stages were completed in the development of the CHI:

• the first stage of the work documented the association of Ngāi Tahu with the Taieri River catchment and identified a sizeable set of indicators that Ngāi Tahu use to assess the health of freshwater resources (Tipa 1999)
• in Stage 2 the indicators of cultural health and mahinga kai were refined to develop a tool and a process that could be used by kaitiaki to assess the condition of freshwater resources. This work focused on the Taieri and Kakaunui catchments (single-channel, rain-fed rivers) and involved Te Rūnanga o Moeraki and Te Rūnanga Otakou. The stream CHI was thus devised and first used in 2002 (Tipa and Teirney 2003). It has three components:
  • site status, specifically the significance of the site to Māori
  • a mahinga kai measure
  • a stream health measure.
• Stage 3 recognised the need to validate the CHI to determine whether the tool could be implemented more widely. This involved the application of the process to another river type in the rohe of Ngāi Tahu (the braided Hakatere [Ashburton] River) and also involved a river similar to the Taieri and Kakaunui (the Tukituki) but in the rohe of another iwi (Ngāti Kahungunu).

In total, four catchment studies were completed on the Taieri, Kakaunui, Hakatere (Ashburton) and Tukituki Rivers. From the data collected, a Cultural Health Index was developed that is generic in the sense that it can be used confidently by any iwi at sites in streams of any size or river type.

The index allows whānau/hapū/iwi to monitor the health of a stream or catchment of their choosing. Guidelines have been prepared that outline how to identify which areas need monitoring, how to set the programme up and how to collect data and analyse it so that changes are identified and remedial actions can be taken to restore or enhance the site. The CHI can also be used to monitor changes after restorative work has been carried out on a site.