TE ŌHANGA MAURI #141 - STOPPING THE LEAKS: BUILDING AN ECONOMY THAT FEEDS THE NORTH
Tēnā koutou e te whānau. I am circling back to recreate the Te Ōhanga Mauri series with a fresh focus. As I continue to learn and grow in this mahi, I want to make sure the message is as clear, grounded, and practical as possible. This series is an updated look at how we can design an economy in the North that actually looks after our people and our land.
What is Te Ōhanga Mauri?
In our research, we define Te Ōhanga Mauri as the "Lifeforce Economy." While the current system focuses on making money for the sake of money, Te Ōhanga Mauri focuses on the health and life force of our people and our land. It is about moving from an extractive system to a regenerative one.
Priority #1: Stopping the Leaks
Right now, our economy in the North is like a Leaky Bucket. We grow incredible forests, but we ship about 61% of our trees overseas as raw logs. These trees represent decades of sunlight and soil nutrients, what we call "embodied energy."
We send them away for the lowest price, and the money we get back immediately "leaks" out of the region to pay for imported goods and interest to big banks. We are left with the "disorder": damaged roads, silt in our harbours, and hillsides covered in "slash" debris. This is a "Mauri Mate" activity because it drains the life from our home.
What We Are Exploring
This series is a 10-part journey to map out how we can fix the soil of our region. Over the next ten posts, we will cover:
Stopping the Leaks: Building an Economy That Feeds the North
Homes for Families: Putting People Before Profit
Beyond Prisons: Healing Hearts by Reconnecting Our Whānau
Energy Sovereignty: Powering Ourselves with Renewable Electricity
Turning Potential Into Action: Training our Rangatahi as Future Leaders
Food Sovereignty: Feeding Our People First
Data Sovereignty: Protecting Our Stories and Owning Our Digital Future
Heal the Taiao: Restoring Our Forests and Oceans
Healthy Homes, Healthy Hearts: Fixing Sickness at the Root
Standing in Truth: Knowing Our Real Story
The Proposal: Building the Economic Pā
To stop the leaks, we are proposing a strategy to build an Economic Pā - a vision for a circular system that would keep wealth and energy circulating within our own borders. This model suggests using our own geothermal heat at Ngāwhā to process our timber right here, which could create high-tech jobs and build strong homes for our own people. Our research shows that we don't actually have to ship our future away, we just need a collective plan to plug the holes in our bucket.
This series is based on Research Report #230 - A Unified Ontology for the Operationalisation of Te Ōhanga Mauri and the Realisation of Te Whenua Taurikura. If you would like to read the full report, please contact the author via the contact us page.
