Te Taiawatea Moko-Painting

2021 Cohort

Pronouns: she/her/ia

Te Taiawatea works to ensure that policy, research, and legislation enable and empower Māori leadership and recognise our relational connection to the natural world in Aotearoa's environmental system.

Te Taiawatea is a Mama of Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou, Waikato and Kūki 'Āirani descent based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. Te Taiawatea is the Policy Manager at Te Tira Whakamātaki, which is a Māori Environmental Not-For-Profit. She has a background in Māori environmental policy, conservation biology, customary fishing and biosecurity, with a particular interest in food sovereignty and climate change.

She is committed to continuing the legacy of her whānau, who have dedicated their lives to education, Indigenous rights and transformative change for Indigenous peoples. Te Taiawatea is passionate about empowering Indigenous community-led environmental policy and research, centring Indigenous familial relationships with the environment while remedying the violent impacts of settler colonialism.

“My goal is to decolonise and indiginise the environmental system in Aotearoa so that it is Te Tiriti led.”

Social change work

Te Taiawatea's project focuses on empowering customary fishing practices, guided by her matriarchal lineage, as a form of self-determination and a reflection of our deep relational connection with the environment. Drawing inspiration from her ancestors' experiences, she envisions a transformative approach where whanau-led fishing practices are distinct are radically separated from the national marine management framework.