Te Ara Oranga Taiao
The Pathway to Wellbeing with Nature
What this Project is trying to achieve
Our ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goal’ is to bring together all the people, systems, iwi, organisations, government departments and collectively work together in some organised way to help achieve a shared vision for nature and health in Aotearoa!
To get there - Phase one of this project is about Research and Relationships. Reaching out to people through regional and online hui, and doing some desk based research. We want to know:
What does the research tell us about the trends in Aotearoa New Zealand in regards to the relationship and connection between people and nature?
Who is active in this space? What are they doing and why are they doing it?
What are the shared values, commonalities, beliefs and understandings?
What are the hopes and barriers people face in this area of mahi?
What is the potential if we all came together in an organized way?
Once the answers to these pātai are clear, collectively we as a community and the project team, can develop a clear vision and identify what research and action can be taken to move us towards that vision!
Our Shared Foundational Understandings
Across the motu we can recognize these commonalities amongst the ideas expressed at the hui:
Connection to nature is fundamental to being human—we are part of nature, bound in a reciprocal relationship.
Throughout history, humans have understood their connection to nature in diverse ways, shaped by time, place, culture, religion, and lived experience. Indigenous peoples have preserved ways of living in reciprocal relationship with nature, though these ways were, and still are, disrupted by colonisation. Today, many Indigenous communities are re-Indigenising and reclaiming these understandings and practices.
Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Ao Māori is a beautiful illustration of an Indigenous worldview grounded in reciprocal relationship with the natural world. For those who whakapapa Māori, connection to the land is uniquely held through bloodlines and expressed through whānau, hapū, and iwi. We acknowledge the special and unique ways Māori connect with nature, and the lens this offers to non-Māori living in this land.This relationship is both for the health and wellbeing of the person and the natural environment
We acknowledge and embrace that there is a wide variety of aspects, practices, policies and approaches that all come together to achieve health across the population.
By going outside it naturally invites us to move our bodies, connect with other people, look after the environment and a range of other benefits.
That nature has something to offer when included in all aspects of society from policy to practice, and from individuals to the full population.
That to care for the environment (not just in a physical/practical way, but in a nourishing spiritual or emotional way), nurtures both nature and ourselves.
The Project so far..
This project is bringing together people who share in the kaupapa of connecting humans with the natural world for for the wellbeing of both people and te taiao.
In the second half of 2025 we have:
Connected with over 460 people via hui or online contact
Facilitated 14 Regional in person hui
Facilitated 2 online hui
What we are learning
Over the course of the hui, when people shared their hopes and barriers, they tended to think across three levels:
Their direct mahi
Their local community
The nation – society and the everyday whānau of Aotearoa
When imagining the vision and opportunities ahead, aspirations covered the short, medium and long term.
And when considering how this growing kaupapa whānau might organise itself, we heard several themes:
The value of connecting people aligned with this kaupapa in different ways
Different ways we might structure and organise ourselves to meet our shared aspirations
Challenges we need to be mindful of so we avoid certain pitfalls
Important considerations as we co-design how to move forward together
If you would like to contribute your ideas to this kaupapa , please add them here
What’s next?
We are doing the hard mahi of pulling together all of the amazing ideas shared in the hui into some kind of comprehensible report! We plan to have this ready for sharing at the start of March 2026.
We are also looking ahead to the wānanga ‘Ngā Puna Oranga Taiao’ 30 April – 3 May 2026.
This wānanga will bring together a representative group to consider the insights from the hui and explore:
How do we move towards these collective ambitions as a group united by this kaupapa?
What might the next 1 year, 10 years, and 100 years look like?
What shape might our ongoing collaboration take?
The name of this event speaks to the coming together of many springs for the health of both tāngata and taiao. They carry diverse ideas, practices, perspectives, wisdom, and experience, from both the past and the present. As they join, a renewed energy emerges — a shared vision and plan for shaping this kaupapa as it moves forward