Researcher(s):
Lu’ukia Nakanelua
ENVS course(s): 400 Initiated: September 2012 Completed: May 2013 Go to project site
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Rivers are iconic landscapes of flux, unity, and conflict. Often they are places where cohesive relationships are created and fortified through the trade of goods as well as “discursive frames” or knowledge systems. On the other hand, such sites are also painted by the struggle for power and protest. This timeless paradox embodies the international concern for water wars, which Doremus et al. (2003) coined as “culture wars”. Along the ancestral Whanganui River, hostility between stakeholders arises from the dominance of one discursive community over the other. Ngāti Rangi and Genesis Energy fought for ten years under the Resource Management Act of 1991 (RMA) yet, were able to negotiate an out of court settlement in 2010. So what triggered this engagement and what frames were most apparent on the legal landscape? This thesis explores the nature of water governance against the changing background of discursive frames and to examine the interface between philosophy, practice, and policy in terms of litigation, especially as exemplified by tribal entity Ngāti Rangi and state-owned hydroelectric company Genesis Energy. In an effort to examine influential frames during the trial, I applied a frame analysis. I analyzed how the RMA defined “sustainable management” as well as their three primary principles: matters of national importance, decision preferences, and the Treaty of Waitangi. Then, I examined each stakeholders' legal submission to the Environment Court and their annual reports to inform each stakeholder’s philosophy and practice. I was able to conclude which frames were most dominant in the trial by analyzing the judicial verdict and the settlement agreement based on the terms above. Negotiations between formal law and cultural norms serve as a crucible for change in water governance frameworks, though in practice they are mutually exclusive. Despite imbalances in water resource practices, litigation avails a pathway towards the reconciliation of discursive clash and hegemonic improprieties.