The summit, held in Napier, brought together environmental experts and scientists from different organisations to help bring understanding to what happened as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle in February and offer insight into how emergency management policies could adapt and better work with the environment and Ngāti Kahungunu values.
Barber says Tāngoio and Mōteo were the iwi’s worst-affected marae from the cyclone. “And because their lands are now classed as category 3 the law states they can’t rebuild, or replace those whare for their people.”
Making flooding room for their rivers where possible and the many benefits associated with the potential of contemporary river management approaches were also discussed.
“They are encouraging the regional councils to widen the river banks so the river can flow and so, in case that it does flood, the overflow of water has somewhere to go,” Barber says.
Representatives from Te Wairoa, Te Whanganui-A-Orotu, Heretaunga, Tamatea, Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua, and Wairarapa gave heart-warming updates about their rohe.