A Changing Land, a Changing People: Māori resilience against climate change
He Whenua Hurihuri, he Tāngata Hurihuri: Te aumangea a te Māori i te āhuarangi hurihuri
Words by Rebekah Tolhopf (she/her) Ngāti Porou
Ehara i te whenua anake te mea e tāraia ana e te āhuarangi hurihuri — ko tō tātou tuakiri hoki. Pākarukaru haere ana ngā marae me ngā papa kāinga puta noa i Te Tai Rāwhiti i te waipuke, i te ngāhorohoro, i te rewanga hoki o ngā moana. Engari tē tū tekoteko nei te Māori. Nō tō tātou whakapapa te aumangea, nā whai anō, kua kōkiri ō tātou hapori. Mai i te whakahaumanutanga o ngā takutai i te whakatōnga rākau, ki ngā whakaritenga hūnuku marae, e titikaha nei te ngākau o ō tātou iwi i te pakanga āhuarangi hurihuri.
He tini hapū, he tini whānau hoki e tata nei te noho ki te moana, e hono nei ki te whenua i kumanutia ai e ō rātou tīpuna. Heoti, kua kapatauria tēnā hononga. Nā te tūnga ā-matawhenua o ngā hapori, me ngā hononga hōhonu ki ōna tāngata e uaua nei tā rātou hūnuku atu, ahakoa pea te nui haere o te mōreareatanga. Hei tā te tini kaumātua, tino kore nei e whai whakaaro ki te wehe i ngā whenua. Ina wehe ia, ka ngaro atu tētahi wāhanga ōna, tētahi wāhanga o te iwi.
Ka ngaro ana tō mātou whenua, kua ngaro hoki tētahi wāhi whakapapa. He mea kawe ngā kōrero a ngā iwi e ngā urupā, e ngā wāhi tapu, e ngā taonga hoki. Ki te ngaro ēnā, ehara i te mea he ngarohanga ōkiko anake, he ngarohanga ā-wairua hoki. Ko te taiao, ko te whenua hoki te tūāpapa o ō mātou iwi. Ā, ki te ngaro tēnā, ka mate atu mātou hei Māori, hei tāngata taketake.
Kua akiākina ētahi hapori kia hūnuku i ō rātou whānau, waihoki ō rātou marae, i te whāia o te kaupapa e mea nei ko te whakapapa te tiakina o te tangata me te whenua anō hoki. Tēra ētahi anō e whakawhanakehia nei ō rātou takutai, e whakatō ana i ngā rākau māori, e rangā nei te mātauranga Māori me te pūtaiao Tauiwi.
Tērā hoki tētahi kaupapa nāku i tērā tau i aro ki ngā rautaki urutau ki te āhuarangi mō ngā papa kāinga hakahaka me ngā marae. I whakakotahi mātou i te mātauranga Māori me te pūtaiao Tauiwi e mahi tahi ai me ngā marae kia whakarite ara, kia whakamahere hoki mō ngā pānga o nāianei, o te anamata anō hoki kei mua tonu i te aroaro. E hāpai ana ngā iwi i te mānuka, kaua noa i te tiakinga i ō rātou whenua, engari ia i te tiakinga o ngā kōrero, ngā tikanga, me ngā mātauranga e tūhono nei.
E mōhio nei te Māori ki te whenua, ki te taiao hoki, na, kua hia rau tau e whai hua ana i ēnā, e mahi tahi ana hoki. Ko ngā ara koke he mea ahu i te kaitiakitanga, i te manaaki i te taiao mō rātou e haere ake nei te take. Ko te whakaute, te mātauranga me te hononga ki a Papatūānuku hei tūāpapa mō ngā ahunga ngā iwi taketake puta noa i te ao, ā, e kore e taea ēnā e te pūnaha Tauiwi. Ko ngā tukanga urutaunga hoki a te Māori hei ara mō Aotearoa e taurite ai te ahurea, te tangata, me te taiao. Ka ārahi ana tātou, ka taurikura hoki te whenua, ō tātou whānau, me ngā moana hei tupuranga kotahi.
Aini pea tātou e tāraia ana e te āhuarangi hurihuri, engari e whai tonu ana ō tātou hapori i ngā ara e ora tonu ai te ahurea ahakoa ngā piki me ngā heke o te whenua nei. Ko tā ia ngaru, tā ia āwhā hoki he whakamahara — kua pāngia kētia tātou e te panonitanga. I urutau ō tātou tīpuna ki ngā whenua hōu, ki ngā āhuarangi hōu, ka mutu, i waiho mai ki a tātou ngā mātauranga kaitiakitanga e koke whakamua ai tātou.
Ka nekeneke ana te whenua, e kore tātou e whakarere, ka urutau kē. Kāore tātou i te ora noa nei i te panonitanga, kei te tārai kē i tō tātou anamata hei tāngata.
Climate change is not just reshaping our land — it's reshaping our identity. Flooding, erosion, and rising seas are already damaging marae and papa kāinga across Te Tairāwhiti. But Māori are not standing still. Resilience is in our whakapapa, our communities are acting. From restoring coastlines with native plantings, to planning marae relocations, our people are standing steadfast in the face of climate change.
Many hapū and whānau live close to the moana, connected to the land their tīpuna cared for. But now, that connection is under threat. The geographic location of communities as well as the deep ties the people have to the land make it hard for them to move away, even when the danger grows over time. For many kaumatua (elders), leaving the land is not a choice. To leave would be to lose a part of themselves, a part of their people.
When our whenua is lost, so too is a piece of our whakapapa. Urupā, wāhi tapu, and taonga species carry the stories of our people. Their loss is more than just physical, but spiritual. The taiao, the whenua, is the foundation of our people. And losing it removes the fatal piece of who we are as Māori, as indigenous people.
Some communities have been encouraged to relocate their whānau and marae, following the kaupapa, that whakapapa is about protecting people as well as land. Others are strengthening their coastlines, planting native species, and weaving mātauranga Māori alongside Western science.
A project I took part in last year focused on climate adaptation strategies of low-lying papa kainga and marae. We used both matauranga Māori and Western science to collaborate with marae to create solutions and plans around the current and future impacts they are facing. Iwi are taking the initiative, protecting their land but also, the stories, tikanga, and matauranga that are tied to it.
Māori know our whenua, our taiao, we’ve lived off it and worked side by side for hundreds of years. Our solutions stem from kaitiakitanga, caring for the taiao for those who will come after us. Indigenous-led approaches across the globe are grounded in respect, knowledge, and connection with the Earth that cannot be replicated by the current Western system. The methods of Māori adaptation offer a path for Aotearoa that keeps culture, tangata, and taiao in balance. When we lead, the land, our whānau, and our moana thrive together living and growing as one.
Climate change might be reshaping us, but our communities are finding ways to keep our culture alive even as our country shifts and changes. Every wave and every storm is a reminder — we have faced change before. Our tīpuna adapted to new lands, new climates, and they left us with the knowledge of kaitikatanga to carry us forward.
When the land shifts, we do not let go, we adapt. We are not just surviving change, we are reshaping our future as a people.