Media Release

20 October 2026

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What will our whenua look like in 50 years? TRONP says Ngāti Porou must help shape the answer.

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Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou (TRONP), the post-settlement governance entity for Ngāti Porou, says the region cannot keep cleaning up after disasters while leaving the bigger question unanswered — what should Ngāti Porou land look like in 30, 50 or 100 years?

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TRONP Interim Chief Executive Henare Walker says decades of government policy, forestry decisions and regulation have helped shape the land-use system the region is dealing with today.

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“We cannot keep putting bandages on the same wound,” Walker says.

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“Forestry will continue to have a place here, but we need to be talking about the right tree, on the right land, for the right reasons — and Ngāti Porou needs to be part of those decisions from the beginning.”

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Walker says responsibility across Tairāwhiti is complex because landowners, forest owners, lessees and forestry operators may all be different parties.

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TRONP is not the same as any of them, but as the post-settlement governance entity for Ngāti Porou, it has a key role in the bigger conversation about the future of the region.

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He says many of the current land-use settings were shaped over decades by government policy and intervention, so the Crown also has a role in helping create the pathway forward.

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“If Government policy helped shape the system we have today, then Government needs to be part of changing it.”

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TRONP is calling for a coordinated, long-term approach covering land-use transition, restoration, infrastructure and economic development, with the Crown, Council, hapū and landowners working together.

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“We do not want decisions about our future made somewhere else and brought back to us afterwards.

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“The future of Ngāti Porou whenua must be shaped with us — and led by the people who will live with those decisions for generations.”

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For further information contact

Dean Cook: Head of Marketing and Communications: dcook@tronp.org.nz

Mob: 021 240 8948

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Read Henare Walker’s full opinion piece: Full Opinion Piece ....The future of Ngati Porou whenua cannot be decided without us.‍

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