This week marks 31 years since the Wai 262 claim - also known as the Fauna, Flora and Intellectual Property Rights claim - was laid against the Waitangi Tribunal.

Three decades on, this claim now forms the stepping stones for the protection of taonga Māori across Aotearoa and further abroad. And descendents of the original six claimants are engaging hapū and whānau across the motu as part of the claim’s Kanohi Ora engagement.

Mokopuna of original claimant Saana Waitai-Murray, Sheridan Waitai (Ngāti Kuri) says “In the words of my Nan - this is about taking the Wai 262 claim from activism to actionism.”

Led by those six visionaries, Wai 262 sought the protection, conservation, management, treatment, propagation, sale, dispersal, utilisation, and restriction on the use of and transmission of the knowledge of New Zealand Indigenous Flora and Fauna and their resources. More than 20 government departments and agencies are involved in the Wai 262 proceedings and the ethical framework for resolution of the issues.

Led by Te Taumata Whakapūmau - descendants of the original claimants and their six iwi are now extending the support of Wai 262 to all kaupapa Māori who also seek a tikanga led protection framework of their flora, fauna and intellectual property rights.

Kanohi Ora engagement was originally requested by Wai 262 claimants in 2007 when closing submissions were made to the Waitangi Tribunal. The intention is to hold waka-wide hui, given it was by waka that matauranga Maori arrived here in Aotearoa.

Just last week, Te Taumata Whakapumau national coordination team met with one of the claimant iwi, Ngāti Kahungunu, to bring to light the next steps in which Wai 262 is lived and embodied through their mahi and how they see to extend this kaupapa to surrounding iwi. With the four objectives of Te Mana, Te Kōrero, Te Tikanga, Te Whakawhitiwhiti, Ngahiwi Tomoana a rangatira of Te Taumata Whakapūmau says that Te Taumata Whakapumau o Wai 262 is ready.

“This is not just about protecting matauranga Māori, this is about enabling and enhancing – our own mana and our own control. We want to maintain the integrity and the whakapapa of the claimants.

“Matauranga Māori protection mechanisms are an integral part of the overall engagement and position of Wai 262 in the future of Aotearoa. This will account for the different interests of legacy holders in Wai 262 as well as the interests of Kanohi Ora and kaitiaki across Aotearoa, who seek protection of their Rangatiratanga and Mana Motuhake in their own interactions with the Crown,” says Tomoana.

Te Taumata Whakapūmau are now urgently looking for substantive and procedural outcomes of Wai 262 to be negotiated, Rangatira ki te Kāwana - based on an engagement approach that will consider whakaaro collected through Waka-wide Hui - that protects and affirms the rights and obligations of kaitiaki at a whānau, hapū and iwi basis.

To find out more about Wai 262 visit the Wai 262 Website and Wai 262 Facebook page.

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