Welcome
Welcome to the ‘Mobilising for Action’ website.
We welcome you to our website, where we, the Mobilising For Action team, share our research, our stories and our learnings. As social researchers we see it is important to share our work on a public platform so others can learn from the work that is being undertaken. However, we also share respectfully and abide by ethical considerations that guide our work.
Mobilising for Action (MFA), is one of seven research themes of the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge Ngā Rākau Taketake programme. It focuses on researching the human dimensions of forest well-being, and specifically kauri dieback and myrtle rust. It engages in research that explores the connections between people and the ngahere (forest) specifically, and people and te taiao (the environment) more generally. This is because in biosecurity and biodiversity people matter.
The protection of the ngahere requires people to understand, engage and act. While science may provide technical solutions and understandings about forest diseases, and their ecological impacts that are devastating the ngahere, it is people who play a central role in the management of myrtle rust and kauri dieback. MFA seeks to understand and support those already engaged in efforts to protect the ngahere, while understanding, engaging and empowering others to act in ways that enhance the mana of the ngahere.
Our ultimate goal is to save taonga species, ngahere and te taiao, and the social, cultural and spiritual well-being that is derived from them. The themes for our three research years reflect Tā, Sir Mason Durie’s three key phases of whānau well-being and are:
Year 1: Whakamārama | Understanding
Year 2: Whakapiri | Engaging
Year 3: Whakamana | Empowering.
Our projects draw from both western science and kaupapa Māori approaches to research to provide a rich and deep understanding of people’s engagement with the ngahere from different knowledge systems. Mātauranga and western science exist side-by side, as we respect the relative strengths of each and draw on the potential for each to create new knowledge where neither is subsumed under the other.
Over the coming months our teams will share their research and their stories. We encourage you to come back to this site from time to time to follow our research as it develops. You can also subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with our work and we welcome your feedback either through blog post comments or directly through our Contacts page.
We hope you enjoy your journey through our website.
