Recipient says indigenous community shares honour
THE ORDER OF
NEW ZEALAND (ONZM)
GAIL TIPA
Dunedin
For services to Maori and environmental management
Gail Tipa has paid tribute to Maori women across the South Island who she says are the real recipients of her New Year’s Honour.
The Dunedin woman has been named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Maori and environmental management.
‘‘Even though you give the honour to an individual, you don’t do work as individuals . . . there are Ngai Tahu women from Kaikoura to Bluff working for the same outcomes and this represents all of our work.’’
Dr Tipa has worked in the environmental sector for nearly 30 years, focused on delivering outcomes, advocating for Maori, the environment, and the intrinsic connection between the two.
Starting her career with the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand, since then she has contributed to retaining the character and biodiversity in a range of waterways.
She has been part of working groups to develop and implement customary fisheries mechanisms, to develop restoration projects and works with a variety of resource users.
She has managed her own consultancy for 25 years, focusing specifically on environmental research and management.
Her work in improving the interface between indigenous cultures and environmental decisionmaking has been adopted internationally.
Published widely in the field, she has worked on developing new methodologies and tools, such as the Cultural Health Index and the cultural flow assessment method, to enhance indigenous participation in freshwater management.
She was an environmental working group whanau member who worked on the Ngai Tahu claim and settlement in the 1990s and has held several governance roles within Ngai Tahu organisations.
Dr Tipa was also member of the inaugural Bioheritage National Science Challenge Governance Group.