The knowledge, leadership, and lived experience of Māori communities are essential to strengthening disaster resilience in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Māori communities have long demonstrated resilience in the face of hazard and environmental change. Across Aotearoa, iwi, hapū and whānau lead local response efforts, support recovery, protect whenua and wāhi tapu, and make decisions grounded in intergenerational responsibility.
These experiences offer important lessons for the wider resilience system, about preparedness, collective action, cultural integrity, and care for people and place.
Te Rautaki Māori mō te Manawaroa (the Platform’s Māori Strategy) recognises that the Platform’s role is not to direct this leadership, but to strengthen it.
The Strategy sets out how the Resilience Platform will support Māori aspirations for disaster resilience. It focuses on growing Māori research and practitioner capability, enabling enduring partnerships, strengthening hazard and risk knowledge relevant to Māori realities, and ensuring that lessons from events are captured and shared.
It sits alongside the approved Platform Plan and contributes directly to the Platform’s Outcomes Framework and Key Performance Indicators. More importantly, it represents a shared commitment to building a resilience system that is inclusive, adaptive, and grounded in partnership.