Kotahi Sites & Areas of Significance to Māori

Archaeological sites, and sites of significance to Māori have often not been well protected. This has resulted in them being destroyed or damaged by economic development, land use practices, erosion, and natural progression.  

Many places remain as just a marker of association of a place that once formed a pattern of migration and settlement of pre-indigenous Māori. This is partly due to a lack of publicly available information about these sites, where what is not known cannot be protected. There is potential in how these resources are identified and managed.  

Recognising and providing for the relationship of Māori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, water, sites, wāhitapu and other taonga, is a matter of national importance under the Resource Management Act. It is now considered appropriate to give recognition to the particular significance and meaning that taonga – including areas, places, landscapes and resources – can have to tangata whenua. The relationship of tangata whenua with their ancestral rohe should be maintained or enhanced through the protection, maintenance or enhancement of Māori cultural landscapes. 

As referenced in the Historic and Cultural Values, Natural Character, Natural Features and Landscapes fact sheet, there are known issues around intellectual property rights, public use of information and identification of sites of cultural value for iwi/Māori, management of information, tikanga and kawa.