Iwi calls on community to help clean lakes 26.12.2004 http://www.dailypost.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3617909&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection= By INGRID TIRIANA in Rotorua
Te Arawa is calling on the Rotorua community to come together as its focus turns to the state of the district's ailing lakes. Following the historic signing of Te Arawa's Rotorua lakes claim settlement, giving it ownership of 13 lakebeds, the tribe is setting its sights on cleaning up the lakes. And Te Arawa Maori Trust Board chairman Anaru Rangiheuea is calling on the community to join forces to ensure the lakes remain a viable asset for the benefit of all. "We are looking forward to working hard with all concerned to clean up the lakes. It needs to be an ongoing priority and the work has already started but we need to stay well focused." Mr Rangiheuea said much of the uneasiness felt by parts of the community over the lakes issue had been the result of misinterpretation, ill-informed advice and scaremongering on the part of a minority of people. He said he hoped any ill feelings would remain in the past and that in the coming year the community would come together to work on improving the condition of the lakes. "We want to move forward now and work as a community at large, for the benefit of the whole Rotorua district, to clean up our lakes," said Mr Rangiheuea. "We need to stay well focused - it's very important we clean up the lakes and that we give each lake equal priority." While lakes like Rotoiti had been named as being more affected than others, it was important not to lose touch with developments in other lakes such as Rotoma, Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and Tarawera to ensure they did not deteriorate, he said. Any success in cleaning up the lakes would depend on the amount of funding the community was able to get to support the work being done. Pressure needed to be put on the Government to come up with more funding for the clean-up, said Mr Rangiheuea. "Locally we can do it but it means putting pressure on the ratepayers and it shouldn't happen that way. Ratepayers are already overloaded ... it's a community problem and the Government has to come to the party. The lakes are important to the whole country," he said, citing the amount of money Rotorua contributed to the national coffers through tourism and the running of events, many of which involved the use of the lakes. "We need the whole community to be involved and the Crown to be supportive." Mr Rangiheuea said the mood after the signing of the lakes claim settlement by Te Arawa and Government officials on December 18 was generally positive, with the majority of Te Arawa happy about the settlement. In the New Year Te Arawa would be arranging a series of hui to consult its wider hapu about the establishment of a new entity which would receive and manage the settlement assets, he said. A decision about whether that new entity would replace the existing Te Arawa Maori Trust Board or run alongside it, would be based on what the hapu wanted. The deed of settlement agreed between Te Arawa and the Government, as well as title to 13 lakebeds, included an apology for past breaches of the Crown's obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi, cultural redress in recognition of the tribe's traditional, cultural and spiritual connection with the lakes, financial redress of $2.7 million and annuity redress totalling $7.3 million. Legislation will be formed making the Rotorua Lakes Strategy Group - currently known as the Rotorua Lakes Strategy Joint Committee - permanent and Te Arawa's membership as of right, to promote sustainable management of the lakes and their catchments for the enjoyment and use of future generations of New Zealanders. Environment Bay of Plenty will be encouraged to allow, in regional plans, the cultural harvesting by Te Arawa of indigenous plants and paru (pigmented mud). "The signing of the settlement was the biggest event for Te Arawa since the royal visit. People waited many, many years and the younger people are now realising there is something to smile about, to be happy about," said Mr Rangiheuea. "We now want to move forward and do the best we can for our people. =========+========= FEEDBACK? http://nativenewsonline.org/Guestbook/guestbook.cgi GIVE FOOD: THE HUNGERSITE http://www.thehungersite.com/ Reprinted under Fair Use http://nativenewsonline.org/fairuse.htm =========+========= Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Native News Online a Service of Barefoot Connection ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/1dTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nat-International/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
