Terminología utilizada para la verificación del cumplimiento de los criterios auditables

This thesis examines how power structures iwi contributions to freshwater planning and decision-making. Through the use of a Bourdieusian framework, the researcher reveals that power structures these contributions in multiple ways, some of which are subtle and arbitrary and reproductive of enduring patterns of inequality. One of the aims of the research is to make these ways visible so that their reproductive power can be weakened. While power is the overarching theme explored in the research, other themes emerge from under its umbrella and are discussed across the seven chapters that follow this introduction. Principally, these themes are: the generation and reproduction of inequality; the struggles and strategies by iwi and others to effect change or defend the status quo; game-playing for stakes in the field; and resistance and transformation.

Chapter Two: Mana Wai is about the struggle for power over water between Māori, the Crown and local government, indigenous peoples and states in other countries that have also experienced colonisation, and diverse social actors engaged in multi-stakeholder collaborative groups. The chapter begins with a discussion about mana, as authority and control, and the Treaty of Waitangi.

24 The Treaty is contemplated as both: an instrument of colonisation that, in addition to the law, enabled the Crown to divest Māori of power in water and reinstate it in other institutions; and as guaranteeing rangatiratanga and, therefore, the right to participate and be represented in freshwater planning and decision-making. Māori responses to the Crown’s assumption of control and authority over water, such as Treaty of Waitangi claims and settlements, are examined. So too are other closely related changes, such as the inclusion of Māori provisions in the Resource Management Act 1991 and positive developments in planning practice. The final part of the chapter is about co- management with indigenous peoples and multi-stakeholder collaborative groups. Drawing on the voices of indigenous and non-indigenous New Zealand and international scholars, the effectiveness of these arrangements for re- calibrating power imbalances between indigenous peoples, governments and others is critically analysed.

Chapter Three: Positioning the Researcher, Doing the Research is a reflexive account of the research process. For this reason, and unlike the other chapters in this thesis, it is written in the first person. I start the chapter by positioning myself in the research as a Māori person in New Zealand, and as a Māori woman who has been studying and working in the natural resource policy field for 15 years. I share some of the formative experiences that have shaped my habitus and experience of the field as a way of explaining why I have done the research in the way that I have. These experiences are selected from my years as an undergraduate student and from the time I spent working in the field after I left university. I then describe and reflect on each stage of the research process.

25 Chapter Four: River Politics is the first of three results chapters. Drawing on documentary data, it explains the politics that are central to the future of the Manawatū River. The stresses on and state of the river are clarified and the pervasive impact of agriculture on the catchment is highlighted. The politics surrounding the regional council’s proposals to regulate farming and reduce river pollution are examined, alongside the struggles between members of the Manawatū River Leaders’ Forum to win the stakes they are playing for in the field. The provincial farming lobby and the district councils5 _{are shown to}

dominate these contests. Relevant policy developments at the national level are also analysed. The chapter ends by turning to the iwi who have ancestral connections to the river catchment. The purpose of this part of the chapter is to lay a foundation for understanding who the iwi are, how colonisation impacted on them, and some of the politics between and within the iwi that may have implications for the river.

The fifth chapter, Struggles and Strategies, presents data, mainly from the interviews with the research participants who are from or work for the iwi with mana whenua6 _{in the catchment. The chapter is an account, from the}

perspective of these participants, of the field where decisions are made about the river and other resources. Consistent with the title of the chapter, the central themes that emerge concern: the outcomes the river iwi are seeking in relation to the river; the struggles they have engaged in with others and between themselves to achieve their aims; and the many strategies, both successful and unsuccessful, they have used along the way. One of these

5 _{In this thesis, district councils refer to both district councils and city councils. District councils are}

territorial authorities, which include city and district councils and unitary authorities.

26 strategies was joining the Manawatū River Leaders’ Forum, which is the focus of Chapter Six.

In Chapter Six: Manawatū River Leaders’ Forum data about the forum are presented, primarily from the viewpoint of the officials who participate, or have participated, in the group. Consistent with the use of Bourdieu’s concept of field, the aim of this chapter is to establish the forum as a sub-field. Thus, the chapter explores who the players are, who is dominant and non-dominant and why, what the participants are playing for, and the strategies they use to realise their objectives. At the end of the chapter, some of the strengths and weaknesses of the forum as a multi-stakeholder collaborative body are identified.

The results of the study are discussed in Chapter Seven: Power. In this chapter, the threads that substantiate the central argument of the thesis are brought together. Power is shown to structure iwi contributions in the fields where decisions are made about the Manawatū River and water more generally through several factors. These factors include: historical resource dispossession, imbalances in statutory management authority, resourcing, technical expertise, representation in decision-making, land ownership, and negative attitudes towards Māori. In the face of these challenges, Māori continue to strategize and struggle for the outcomes they want for water. These outcomes reflect the concepts of mana and rangatiratanga and involve reclaiming control and authority over water, and restoring the health of water. The final part of the chapter is an analysis of how power is either being reproduced or is generating change in the Manawatū River Leaders’ Forum. Some positive change is occurring, but unequal power relationships remain.

27 Chapter Eight: Conclusions answers the research question – how does power structure iwi contributions to freshwater planning and decision-making? – and offers eight findings from the research. These findings are organised into three broad areas: how power structures iwi and other actors in the fields where decisions are made about water; collaboration; and what Bourdieu’s theories reveal in terms of understanding power in planning institutions and settings that involve indigenous peoples. Collaboration is critically analysed, and emphasis is placed on Māori strategies for transformation. One of these strategies is Treaty of Waitangi settlements, which have transformative potential for the river (and other) iwi that is yet to be realised. At the close of the thesis, three possible trajectories for future research are outlined.

28