The kawakawa plant has rongoā Māori (traditional Māori medicinal) properties.
The kawakawa plant has rongoā Māori (traditional Māori medicinal) properties.
What is the best way to protect taonga Māori so that they can be safely passed on to future generations?
That question is at the heart of the groundbreaking WAI 262 claim.
The claim was lodged at the Waitangi Tribunal in 1991 by six claimants on behalf of six iwi - Ngāti Kuri, Te Rarawa and Ngātiwai from Northland, Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu from the East Coast and Ngāti Koata from the top of the South Island.
WAI 262 is commonly known as the Fauna, Flora and Intellectual Property Rights claim. It seeks the protection of taonga Māori by tangata Māori.
The first taonga introduced for protection were flora and fauna like the kūmara and kererū. But others were added over time such as rongoā, whakapapa and other traditional knowledge.
Last year’s trademark case over mānuka honey, which New Zealand honey producers lost, highlights how ill-equipped our current system is at protecting taonga and mātauranga Māori.
Henare is part of a team working on putting the WAI 262 claim into action for Ngāti Kahungunu.
Many taonga Māori have potential uses that are still being understood by western science, such as the medicinal uses of kawakawa.
Henare said rather than reacting to potential advances and trying to challenge them, his group decided to focus on protecting Maori Intellectual Property (IP).
He said they are encouraging Ngāti Kahungunu people to record what they have, which can then be loaded into a database developed for the project.
“At this stage we’ve got a system that they are testing, it could be flora and fauna, or film, a song or traditional knowledge,” he said.
Whānau can load their taonga into this database, then only they would be able to access it. Other people can view what is in the database but they would need the owner’s permission to access and use it.
Henare said the plan from here is to build capability, which includes training iwi members on how to protect their taonga. He said it’s also an opportunity to turn the resources and taonga that Māori have into a benefit for the iwi.
While the claim was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal by six iwi, the benefits will be felt by all iwi. For Rangitāne o Tamaki nui-ā-Rua, the protection of our IP is critical. The value of the work by Henare, and the other claimants, to ensure our taonga are protected, is immeasurable.
Henare said the kaupapa is mainly about protection.
