Te Ara Oranga Taiao
The Pathway to Wellbeing with Nature
Where it began…
For years, people across Aotearoa have been working at the meeting point of people and the natural world — outdoor educators, therapists, conservation kaimahi, kaupapa Māori practitioners, public health workers, teachers, youth workers, researchers, volunteers. Much of that mahi has happened in isolation from the rest: different sectors, different funding, different language, and little idea of who else was out there.
In 2025, ĀTA (Adventure Therapy Aotearoa) secured a strategic investment from Ihi Aotearoa, Sport New Zealand to find out what would happen if those people were came together. AUT came alongside as a research partner. The project was named Te Ara Oranga Taiao — the pathway to wellbeing with nature.
Phase One: We listened (2025–2026)
We held fourteen regional hui from Whangārei to Ōtepoti, plus two online hui, and connected with over 470 people. We asked what people were doing, what was getting in the way, and what they wished existed.
The same things came up everywhere: isolation, burnout, duplicated effort, no shared language, no way to find each other, difficulty funding the work, and difficulty proving what everyone in the room already knew — that this mahi changes lives, and that the wellbeing of people and the wellbeing of te taiao are not two separate problems.
Alongside that, a set of shared understandings emerged across very different worldviews and practices. That humans are part of nature rather than separate from it, that te ao Māori profoundly shapes how this relationship is understood in Aotearoa, that nature is for everyone and every generation. Those understandings are set out in full on Te Kaupapa.
Read the full report from Phase One here
Ngā Puna Oranga Taiao: We committed (30 April – 3 May 2026)
Fifty people gathered at Motu Moana in Tāmaki Makaurau for a four-day wānanga. The name — Ngā Puna Oranga Taiao, many springs — describes what was in the room.
The first days were spent responding to what Phase One had found and working through the questions any new collective has to answer: what is our vision, who is this for, what shape should it take, how does Te Tiriti lead, how does it survive.
On the Saturday morning the group was asked directly: are we doing this? People were invited to physically place themselves in a circle to show where they stood. Everyone stepped in.
What the wānanga decided:
● We are doing this. The group committed to building something lasting together.
● A name, for now. Te Ara Oranga Taiao stays, with the word "Collective" to describe what we are. An ohu may yet explore a name that better carries our focus on kinship, several people said they wanted a name that sits more fully in te reo Māori.
● A Te Tiriti-led foundation. The Collective will be built as a waka hourua, a double-hulled waka. A group of tāngata whenua offered to form a kāhui rangahau to support Taina McClutchie in his role as Pou Whirinaki.
● An ohu-based structure. Not a hierarchy and not a board with a membership underneath it, but working groups woven together.
● People stepped up. Participants named the ohu they wanted to start and the regions they would hold. Regional contacts were identified across seven regions.
The summary of ‘Ngā Puna Oranga Taiao’ Wānanga can be read here.
What we ruled out
People were clear that this should not be another hierarchy, should not recreate a colonial or top-down system, should not compete with the organisations already doing good work, and should not be a networking club with no purpose. The phrase that came up again and again: work smarter, not harder. Whatever we build has to add to the mahi already happening through connection.
Where we are now (2026–2027)
Ihi Aotearoa has confirmed a second year of investment through to June 2027. This year is about foundations rather than a finished structure.
● A design ohu is drafting the Incorporated Society application — purpose, structure, membership, governance.
● A second round of regional hui takes that draft out to the motu for challenge and input.
● A formalising noho in March 2027 settles the constitution.
● In April 2027 we register Te Ara Oranga Taiao as a manatōpū — an incorporated society — with charitable registration to follow.
These are the questions the Collective is deliberating this year in the Design Ohu. None are settled, and the answers will come from the ohu, the regional hui and the founding noho. For a more indepth description of these topics and to have your input before the design wānanga - Contribute here.
● Our name
● Our purpose and vision
● How Te Tiriti leads
● Our membership model
● Governance and leadership
● Structure and ohu
● Money and legacy
If you have a contribution on any or all of these, we want it! And don’t forget to join us