Kāhui Taiao Tūroa Symposium

Kāhui Taiao Tūroa Symposium

Co-hosted by Save the Kiwi and Raukūmara Pae Maunga

29^th September – October 1^st, 2025.

The three-day symposium held by Raukūmara Pae Maunga, with support from Save the Kiwi, was attended by iwi practitioners, rangatahi, and experts across the taiao sector including specialists in aerial 1080 operations, ungulate management, pest-trapping networks, biodiversity monitoring, mātauranga Māori, and climate advocacy.

The Kāhui Taiao Tūroa Symposium was more than a gathering. It brought together iwi-led conservation projects, taiao leaders, and community champions under one kaupapa: Tirohanga whānui, tūmanako nui, a broad vision and great hope.

Held in Te Kaha, Eastern Bay of Plenty, the symposium created a space for deep kōrero, connection, and collaboration across the many threads of taiao restoration.

Environmental projects gathered from the top of the North Island right down to the bottom of the South. There was representation of hapū and iwi from every corner of Aotearoa.

This wānanga is grounded in the values of whakapapa, kaitiakitanga, and rangatiratanga, where stories from across the motu were shared, strategies were explored, and partnerships were reaffirmed. Through presentations, panel discussions, and kōrero tuku iho, the symposium became a living example of what Kāhui Taiao Tūroa truly means, a connected network of guardians, all working in harmony with the natural world.

At the heart of the symposium, Minister Potaka announced a government investment of $6 million over the next three years into the Raukūmara Pae Maunga Restoration Project, that’s circa $2 million each year. The Beehive

This funding will support iwi-led conservation efforts across the Raukūmara Range, including large-scale pest-control, native forest regeneration, youth and community engagement and the protection of our native and endemic taonga species.

The symposium reminded us that though the work of repair can feel isolating, we are not alone. We are, in truth, the living expression of our ancestors’ dreams. And in our small but deliberate acts of restoration, we are resisting. We are holding on. We are embodying the vision of an Aotearoa hou one that does not belong to parties or parliamentary policy, but to the people.

It lives in ngā uri o Ngāmanawa, working quietly beneath the maru of their tūpuna kauri, tending to its whakapapa with care. It lives in Waitaha, where one whānau spanning three generations are using eDNA and digital monitoring to heal their awa, Te Raparapa a Hoe.

In the far north, Ngāti Kuri are weaving Pupuri Mauhanga into their mahi a framework that strengthens people, confidence, and connection across the many fields of conservation.

And in Te Tara o te Ika a Māui, Laura, Bongo, and Moon are planting pūriri and putaputa wētā, ensuring that whakapapa takes root both in the soil and in living memory.

These are not isolated acts of care. They are a constellation a living network of hands and hearts moving together. Everywhere, descendants of those first voyagers are still tending the dream, still carrying the light of that ancient vision across generations.

There is great power in that togetherness. Though we may be scattered, our hands are busy with the same sacred work the work of remembering, restoring, and returning. Each act, no matter how small, is a declaration that the dream is not lost to us, and that the courage which once filled the sails of our ancestors still moves within us.

Let us lift our gaze once more so that we may remember what our ancestors always knew: that hope is not a destination, but a direction, and that we must keep working together to steady ourselves in these tides of uncertainty. This is what it means to be Māori to keep moving toward what is good and right, to carry the dreams of those who came before us, and to leave behind a horizon bright enough for those yet to come.

The Kāhui Taiao Tūroa Symposium was a powerful reminder that restoring the balance of our taiao is not only possible, it’s already happening, driven by the hands, hearts, and knowledge of our people.

From every corner of Aotearoa, this is the collective movement delivering meaningful impact across the whenua, the moana, and the species that connect us all.

Ki te kotahi te kākaho ka whati, ki te kāpuia e kore e whati.

If there is but one reed it will break, but when bound together it will not.

Haumi e, hui e, tāiki e.