Māori Climate Platform

Reports identify that climate change is affecting Māori in many unique and serious ways. The devastating impacts of climate change threaten the wellbeing of Māori identity and will disproportionately impact future generations.

For Māori these impacts include loss of:

• culturally significant structures and places.
• access to equitable resources (forestry, primary sectors, seafood).
• cultural practises.
• native taonga species.

Climate change also impacts the ability to pass down mātauranga Māori to future generations and enact cultural processes such as manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and kaitiakitanga.

Empowering Māori is one of the five key principles in Aotearoa’s emissions reduction plan and the national adaption plan recognises the importance of embedding Te Tiriti across the climate response. The Māori Climate Platform is a way of enabling this.

There are two phases to the platform’s development - a design phase and an implementation phase.

A Ministerial Advisory Committee has been appointed to engage with Māori and lead the design phase of the platform.

• The design phase creates the time for a broad engagement process, both within Māori communities and between Māori and the Crown, to design proposals for Cabinet to consider later in 2023. The proposals will provide direction for how to embed Te Tiriti through the climate response and will include a framework that supports the allocation of funding at-place to enable Māori climate action. The proposals aim to support and complement what exists already, recognising the importance of the relationships and knowledge of Māori who are already leading in this space.
• The implementation phase will involve the delivery of the agreed proposals. The scope of this phase will be determined once the Ministerial Advisory Committee has been officially appointed and proposals have been agreed.

The platform’s funding approach aims to support the foundations for climate action – like capacity, capability, and knowledge – required to activate kaupapa Māori solutions and embed te ao Māori through Aotearoa New Zealand’s climate response.

• The Government worked with the National Iwi Chairs Forum and Pou Take Āhuarangi to inform the approach to establishing the Ministerial Advisory Committee.
• This led to the establishment of an independent Māori nominating panel with access to the wider Māori community to support the first step of the nomination process.
• The independent nominating panel:
  • sought expressions of interest for a role in the committee
  • interviewed candidates
  • then provided their recommendations to the Minister of Climate Change and Māori Caucus Ministers specifically the Minister for Māori Crown Relations, Minister and Associate Minister for Māori Development and Associate Minister for the Environment (Rights and Interests).
• Ministers accepted the proposed co-chairs and five members.
• A second, targeted nomination round was held to expand the committee size and address gaps identified in the first round. This was specifically regarding the representation of urban Māori, Māori communities in areas of greatest risk from the impacts of climate change, and for practical grassroots experience with connections across different aspects of Māoridom. Māori Ministers and officials provided leadership in this part of the process.

Key responsibilities of the Ministerial Advisory Committee

These include:

• providing collaborative leadership to develop proposals for a permanent Māori Climate Platform
• engaging with a wide range of Māori perspectives to inform their proposals
• reflecting diversity regarding urban and rural representation, gender balance and inclusion of rangatahi voice in the development of proposals. 

The Ministerial Advisory Committee was appointed based on:

• the diversity of skills, experience and relationships members bring
• commitment to taking an approach that centres te taiao in their decision-making.

The Ministerial Advisory Committee’s advice is not intended to replace direct engagement between the Crown, iwi, hapū and Māori through the climate policy response.

Terms of reference

Terms of reference for the Ministerial Advisory Committee [PDF, 296 KB]

Members appointed to the Ministerial Advisory Committee are:

Dayle Takitimu, Co-Chair — Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau ā Apanui

Based in Whakatāne, Dayle has worked more than twenty years as a legal advisor and strategist in indigenous and environmental rights, mātauranga Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi, with specialist expertise in climate change.

Dayle is the Lead Technical Advisory to the National Iwi Chairs Forum climate change programme, and a foundation member of Ihirangi, the iwi climate change think tank that is guided by experts and exponents of mātauranga Māori. She has led climate action forums at a whānau, hapū, iwi, national and international level including the United Nations. 

Mike Smith, Co-Chair — Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu

Mike is from Te Tai Tokerau and is Co-Chair of Pou Take Āhuarangi, the climate pou for the National Iwi Chairs Forum, as well as Director of Ihirangi. Ihirangi provides strategic leadership to support climate priorities for te aō Māori as well as operational support for the Pou Take Āhuarangi relationship with the Crown (including the Ministry for the Environment).

Mike has more than thirty years involvement in climate education, strategy, organisation, and action both in Aotearoa and internationally. 

David Perenara-O’Connell — Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe, Waitaha

From Ōtautahi Christchurch, David is a Director at Environment Canterbury and is recognised for his skills and expertise in Māori governance, central and local government, policy, climate change and mātauranga and Māori science.

David has been actively rebuilding mātauranga and intergenerational knowledge and is an active mahinga kai practitioner. David has over 30 years experience working in policy and iwi and community development. 

Jacqui Forbes — Ngāruahine

Based in Whaingaroa Raglan, Jacqui is Kaihautū Matua at Para Kore Marae Incorporated and is recognised for her skills and expertise in the Māori economy and grass roots community engagement.

Her experience working at a community resource recovery centre in Whaingaroa, and her background in kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa Māori teaching, led to the establishment of Para Kore – a Māori, not-for-profit organisation that has grown into an innovative kaupapa Māori, zero waste education movement across Aotearoa. Jacqui has provided advice on the Waste Minimisation Act and is a member of the Waste Advisory Board. 

Lani Kereopa — Te Arawa

Lani is Climate Change Coordinator for Te Arawa Lakes Trust (TALT) in Rotorua and is recognised for her relevant skills and expertise in climate change and grassroots community engagement.

She was a foundation member of Te Urunga o Kea: Te Arawa Climate Change Working Group and iwi researcher in partnership with TALT and SCION to develop Te Ara ki Kōpū: Te Arawa Climate Change Strategy. Launched in 2021, the strategy provides a framework and plan of action to shift Te Arawa from being reactive to proactive. It centres whānau and hapū narratives and uses evidence and mātauranga to inform and guide future decision-making as part of a collective. 

Michael J. Stevens — Kāi Tahu Whānui

Dividing his time between Dunedin and his hometown of Bluff, Michael Stevens is a historian with a deep understanding of mātauranga Māori, especially in relation to the mahinga kai traditions of his iwi.

His active and lifelong participation in he mahi pōhā and the seasonal tītī harvest gives him first-hand experience of how climate change negatively impacts a suite of natural resources such as harakeke, and heritage sites, including urupā. He and his whānau, as with others in southern Murihiku, have begun consciously adapting their cultural practices in response to this changing environment. 

Nedine Thatcher-Swann — Ngāti Porou

Nedine has extensive knowledge of Te Tairāwhiti and the impacts of climate change there on Māori land, homes, businesses, and culture. Chief Executive of Gisborne District Council since 2017, she has a strong understanding of central government policy and its implications at regional and community levels.

Nedine is skilled at balancing different values related to tikanga Māori, environmental protection, and social and economic development, and brings an inter-generational lens to her assessment of policy costs and benefits, evidence, and to strategy design and implementation. 

Nicola MacDonald — Ngāti Rehua, Ngāti Wai, Te Rarawa, Te Ātiawa

Nicola is based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and is the Acting Chief Executive of the Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust and was a negotiator during the Ngāti Rehua Treaty Settlement process.

Nicola is the Te Pou Taiao Chair for the Tāmaki Makaurau Mana Whenua Forum: the collective group that represents 19 mana whenua and sits alongside Auckland Council to respond on regional matters. Nicola is Chair of the Tāmaki Makaurau – Auckland Conservation Board and has worked with many iwi and community groups. 

Teina Boasa-Dean — Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Toki ki Ātiu

Based in Rūātoki, Teina is well-regarded across Aotearoa for her expertise in the revitalisation of te reo rangatira, Tūhoe histories, tikanga and mātauranga Māori. She has an education, environment and science background and has worked in the areas of tribal development and climate change for many years.

She continues her work with her iwi and hapū collectives and has a strong focus on hapū resilience built on the principles of Mana Motuhake. Teina is experienced at supporting her community to design, lead and make practical changes that are realistic and achievable and is a member of the Waste Advisory Board.

Veronica Baldwin-Smith — Kāi Tahu

Veronica is from Te Tai Poutini, and currently resides in Ōtautahi Christchurch. She is a managing director of an environmental and conservation consultancy, which provides strategic advice to her iwi, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and hapū, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae.

She is recognised for her skills and expertise in Māori governance, collaboration with central and local government, community engagement, policy development and implementation, and parliamentary processes. Veronica is an experienced resource management and environmental policy professional and has extensive experience in working for her iwi and hapū, and with central and local government.

This page will be updated with further information as the Ministerial Advisory Committee works through the design and development phase.  

Email MaoriClimatePlatformMAG@mfe.govt.nz with ‘Subscribe’ in the subject line to receive updates on the progress of the Māori Climate Platform.  

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