Mate Tipu Mate Rākau

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=8IEAs3viVyE

Mate Tipu, Mate Rākau follows Department of Conservation Ranger Graeme Atkins (Ngāti Porou, Rongomaiwahine), as he reveals the rapid devastation that the airborne fungal pathogen myrtle rust is having on the East Coast. • This new documentary lays bare the distress and urgency felt by environmental kaitiaki in Aotearoa, as myrtle rust (Austropuccinia psidii) compounds an already precarious situation for threatened native species. • “In three years, all the ramarama on the East Coast is gone….” Graeme Atkins • The 9-minute documentary, produced and directed by videographer Fiona Apanui-Kupenga (Ngāti Porou) and her team at Te Amokura Productions, is one of the first creative projects commissioned by Toi Taiao Whakatairanga, a cross-disciplinary collaborative research project funded by the National Science Challenge/Ngā Rakau Taketake. The project integrates practices from the arts, science, and te ao Māori to raise awareness of biological threats to New Zealand’s ngahere, and wider ecological systems. • Over three years the project is commissioning Māori artists to develop new public artwork through creative engagement with iwi, hapū and community across areas impacted by two invasive plant pathogens: kauri dieback disease (Phytopthora agathidicida) and myrtle rust. • Myrtle rust was first observed on mainland New Zealand in May 2017 and quickly outpaced Ministry for Primary Industry-led efforts to eradicate it. Atkins has been raising a red flag about the severity of myrtle rust impacts on native species, charting the impacts of the disease by sharing observations through social media networks, since his first sightings on ramarama trees in April 2018. In the documentary he warns that the risk of local extinction is acute. • Designed as a call for urgent action, Mate Tipu, Mate Rākau hints at the potential for much wider ecological – and economic – collapse as other species are impacted. 15 species of native myrtle trees and plants (myrtaceae) in the region exhibit increasing observations of myrtle rust, including one of the most important economic crops for iwi in the region, mānuka. Other myrtles at risk as the disease spreads across the country include pōhutakawa, rata, maire and kānuka. • Toi Taiao Whakatairanga – cultivating kaitiakitanga through creative practices • Toi Taiao Whakatairanga recognises the potential and role the arts has in promoting care for, the natural environment. By tracing the dynamics of interactions between communities, artists, scientists, mana whenua and others engaged in forest kaitiakitanga, Toi Taiao Whakatairanga also aims to demonstrate how artistic practices can engage with mātauranga Māori frameworks. • Toi Taiao Whakatairanga is funded by Mobilising for Action, a social science research theme of the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge, Ngā Rākau Taketake programme, which is also funding science research to understand myrtle rust disease and its impacts in New Zealand. • Collective action to counter myrtle rust • One direct action the public can take is to record observations with a smartphone via the iNaturalist app. These reports are enabling researchers to build an increasingly detailed picture of myrtle rust spread, as well as build awareness among trampers, hunters, and other groups who are regularly out in the environment. • Localised reporting also shows how the disease is operating in different ways on different species. These observations are critical, not only to inform wider scientific and management responses, but the Toi Taiao Whakatairanga research team also suggest that localised solutions will be key to preserving and supporting native myrtaceae populations. “Iwi and hapū, with their specific mātauranga about these species and environments, and unique relationships with their whenua, are going to have a critical role in that process.” • As Graeme Atkins says, “A load shared is a load halved.” • For more information on myrtle rust visit • myrtlerust.org.nz • To follow Toi Taiao Whakatairanga: facebook.com/ToiTaiaoWhakatairanga • Information on Ngā Rakau Taketake and Mobilising for Action: • https://bioheritage.nz/research/savin...

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