The paper argues that by the time of European contact southern Māori had developed a regime of sustainable practices for the management of natural resources. Some of these practices are described. As traditional society in the south is located in a rather different cultural milieu than that occupied by Māori who lived in areas where kūmera harvests were reliable, an attempt is made to position southern Ngāi Tahu in relation to the dominant anthropological paradigms.

This paper explores the interface between mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and a model used to describe knowledge systems known as the Data- Information- Knowledge- Wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy. By considering how DIKW describes a non- Western knowledge system, we reveal ways that the DIKW pyramid concept may be expanded. We fi rst explore the practices that mātauranga Māori draws upon to establish relationships between data, information and knowledge, considering particularly how the concept of whakapapa interfaces with the DIKW pyramid model.

Interviews with 22 kaitiaki (environmental guardians) from 14 tribes spread throughout the North Island of New Zealand revealed a common concern that the abundance and diversity of sea foods have declined along much of the coastline over the past 30–50 years. While Western conservationists have tended to emphasise ecological impacts, kaitiaki are concerned at both ecological and cultural consequences of the losses. Cultural consequences include severance of links between people and the food species, reduced connections between people in the community, erosion of ways that kinship is maintained, severed transmission of cultural knowledge, and impaired health and tribal development.

Hua Parakore is an indigenous verification and validation system for mahinga kai (food and product production) that is initiated and driven by Te Waka Kai Ora (National Māori Organics Authority of Aotearoa). It is the realisation of a community driven kaupapa Māori research project located at the flaxroots with Te Waka Kai Ora regional communities. This paper presents Hua Parakore, a kaupapa Māori programme for defining a pure product, such as food, meat, wool and traditional medicines.

This article explores some of the infl uences shaping early childhood Māori language education in Aotearoa New Zealand. By drawing on Garcia’s socio- historical stages of language orientation it parallels Māori language socio- historical developments and the linguistic conditions within which Māori language regeneration efforts reside. Also drawing on Waitangi Tribunal fi ndings these are juxtaposed as developments in Māori language education. In the New Zealand context, public policy has been slow to keep up with the pace of change, much less support or work with these fl ax- roots movements.