Iwi tribe leaders gathered during Waitangi celebrations to discuss issues relating to climate change as Māori communities across coastal areas battle against severe weather conditions on New Zealand/Aotearoa's North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui).
The National Iwi Chairs Forum, representing more than 70 iwi groups, set priorities for the year on Friday over the increasing frequency and severity of destructive weather events as a growing concern.
Taane Aruka Te Aho, one of the rangatahi leaders of Te Kāhu Pōkere - the Māori rōpū (group), which travelled to Brazil late last year for the 30th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), was concerned that recent weather events across the motu (country) have become a repeating pattern.
"The data shows us that these climate catastrophes are going to keep coming, more frequent, more severe," Mr Aruka Te Aho told Radio New Zealand on Waitangi Day, the national holiday of Aotearoa that marks the anniversary of the Indigenous Māori chiefs signing the Treaty of Waitangi agreement in 1840 with representatives of the British crown.
"We've seen that in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland region), in Tauranga Moana (the seas of Tauranga), in Te Araroa (the 'long pathway')."
On behalf of Te Pou Take Āhuarangi, the climate change arm of the National Iwi Chairs Forum, Te Kāhu Pōkere were the first iwi-mandated rangatahi Māori delegation to attend a global COP.
The rōpū presented its findings at the forum on what can be taken back to the iwi (people), the hapū (sub-tribe) and the hapori (community).
"One of the key learnings for me was the importance of data sovereignty and data strategies, harnessing environmental data to help us in our climate-based decision-making," Mr Te Aho said.
In the wake of flooding and storms in the north and east of the country across historic Ngāti Porou Māori land, dozens of marae (the courtyard of a Māori meeting house) were forced to open their doors to displace whānau (extended Māori family) to provide shelter.
Mr Te Aho said that kind of response showed the strength of Māori-led systems of care.
"It's paramount that we acknowledge our whānau, but also fund our whānau to keep resourcing because they are the ones opening up their doors," he said.
"To ensure not only our mokopuna (descendants) are thriving, but to ensure our people of today can go back to work, that they're looked after."
The New Zealand government recently announced a $1 million Marae Emergency Response Fund to reimburse marae for welfare support amid severe weather events that will allow the Māori to "replenish resources and build resilience".
Māori Development Minister, Tama Potaka, said recently that the fund "ensures marae are not left carrying the costs of that mahi".
The critical response of the marae also drew praise from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
"Marae have been quite exceptional in the way they have stepped up to help their communities providing shelter, food and care to people in need," Mr Luxon said.
Pou Tangata chairperson Rahui Papa welcomed government support for Marae, but said long-term planning was needed.
"Back in Cyclone Gabriel, they talked about a 100-year weather event," Mr Papa said.
"It's come up three or four times within the last few years - and I'm picking that with my weather crystal ball...it's going to happen time and time again.
"So comprehensive responses have to be employed.
"Emergency centres at marae have been just absolutely wonderful.
"I take my hat off to those communities and those marae that have worked together to really find a way to look after the community."
Members of the National Iwi Chairs Forum at the gathering unanimously backed a legal challenge by Hauraki iwi Ngāti Manuhiri, which is taking on the government to the High Court over recent amendments to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act.
The changes, made last year, raised the threshold for iwi seeking customary marine title.
