Manning, K. (2023, February). Optimisation of organisational relationships as a method to enhance the ecological and cultural health of Te Ihutai and Inclusion of Te Ihutai in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Site Network: What are the obligations of CCC and the Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust. Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust.

Funded by the Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust as a 2022-2023 summer scholarship project, this report is presented in two parts. The first part concentrated on the optimisation of organisational relationships as a method to enhance the health of Te Ihutai. To achieve this, it examined the main organisational relationships connected to the estuary and evaluated them against the ‘people-place-knowledge-values’ loop to assess whether tino ranagatiratanga rights were being upheld within the relationships. Overall, a set of sub-optimal relationships were exposed during the study, providing several opportunities for improvement which could be categorized as ‘aligned’, ‘connected’, or ‘open’. In response, the author developed an ‘organisational relationships self-reflection tool’ to enable non-Māori organisations to reflect on their own relationships and highlight areas for improvement. When applied to the Estuary Trust, the tool found that the Trust’s role regarding Te Tiriti relationships between Crown delegates and Mana Whenua needs clarifying with Christchurch City Council (CCC) and Environment Canterbury (ECan).

The second part of this report investigated the obligations of CCC and the Estuary Trust regarding Te Ihutai’s 2018 inclusion in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Site Network. Overall, no specific commitments were identified in association with the Flyway Site Network status as the Flyway Partnership is an informal and involuntary means to protect migratory birds and focused on information sharing and community support. However, the report recommended clarifying organisational roles and responsibilities, increasing public awareness, and facilitating information exchange between like-minded organisations. It also recommended that Mana Whenua support should be obtained before applying for other statuses based on their takiwā