Native Trade Protocols Key to Landmark Geothermal Deal

It’s a common story that many indigenous peoples have endured; a tale that starts with a ‘big idea’ in the name of development, then ends with a powerful multinational corporation driving traditional owners off their lands in order to exploit their natural resources.

The local hapü (Sub-tribe) a kawerau are no stranger to this narrative. Landowners of Kawerau A8D know intimately the impacts of bad development and equally bad deals. In the 1950s local hapü members signed a lease with Tasman Pulp and Paper, a company that built New Zealand’s biggest pulp and paper plant to process logs from the nearby Kaingaroa forest. Today, the hapü has been left with an intergenerational legacy of chemical pollution; their lands plagued with toxic contamination caused by the use of wood treatments such as Pentachlorophenol (PCP).

Smoking chimneys suffocate the air emitting a damp putrid smell that engulfs the entire valley. The land is scarred, habitats lie in ruin and the sacred springs of old can no longer sustain the area’s once plentiful wildlife. This is the face of an unsustainable form of development that has left many families of Tüwharetoa-ki-Kawerau with a bitter taste for commerce.

But times, they are a changing…

Half a world a way in Hilo, Hawaii, the swirling steam of Pele, the goddess who dwells upon Mt Kilauea sweeps through the volcanic surrounds. Here the toxic fumes of industry have yet to engulf the domain of this deity who has been a focal point of local spiritual beliefs for millennia.

But long-time indigenous rights advocate Mililani Trask isn’t one to rest on her laurels. She knows there are plenty of energy companies mulling over how to bypass indigenous environmental and spiritual concerns in order to exploit the area’s highly active geothermal fields.

Talking from her home near the sacred mountain, Trask says she is well aware of the fact that the colonial history of her people mirrors that of her Mäori cousins in Kawerau over four and a half thousand miles away. Over the past two years, Trask has teamed up with native Hawaiian-owned company “Innovations Development Group” (IDG) to assist the Trustees of Kawerau A8D to structure a new economic venture to develop valuable geothermal resources.

A small Mäori land trust in the central North Island Kawerau A8D Trust has emerged with a victory that is set to change the face of power not only in Aotearoa, but also through out the pacific The Kawerau geothermal field which sits under Kawerau A8D land and covers an area of between 19 to 35 sq km, will soon be part of the world’s first Native to Native Trade deal.

If negotiations fare well, the landowners hope to build a new 50MW geothermal plant by 2012. While details of the terms of the joint venture are confidential, the proposed budget is estimated to be NZD$200mn with projections of fair market returns over the lifespan of the project.

But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. “What the Crown gives us in one hand, they take back with the others,” says Kawerau A8D Trust representative Colleen Skerrett-White.

Trustees of Kawerau A8D believe that those with competing geothermal interests, who currently hold a monopoly over the greater part of the Kawerau geothermal field, have used their power to shut down previous deals that have landed on the negotiating table. “We’ve spoken to about 17 prospective companies, it’s hard because government policy only allows certain companies to be in certain area’s,” says Skerrett-White.

Robbie Cabral, Founder and Chairperson of IDG, says that the situation in Aotearoa is not unlike other regions in the world.

“Mäori are land and resource rich but capital poor. The big geothermal players have been getting away with a model where Mäori lease their lands and receive pennies as royalty payments.”

As an advocate for sustainable economic, cultural and social development, Cabral is working internationally with Trask to protect indigenous communities from economic ventures that deliberately weaken or violate protections for human rights, in order for those indigenous communities to attract capital and gain access to their own resources.

“Even in our recent negotiations on geothermal sites in New Zeeland we find that often negotiators on the other side of the table aren’t even aware of the prejudices and assumptions that inform their proposals; it is just business as usual,” says cabral.

Trask says it’s time for change and that Aotearoa could play a key role in promoting a indigenous-friendly approach to business called Native-to-Native Trade (N2N).

“I see a big problem in the pacific where indigenous peoples want to develop their lands and resources, but lack the financial capacity and skill sets to engage on a level playing field with the transnational and state forces of globalisation.

It’s been the common struggles of indigenous peoples against exploitative development that has inspired both Trask and Cabral to become architects of a pan-pacific economic initiative with a focus in renewable energy called Native-to-Native Trade (N2N) Trask, who is a former diplomat with the UN permanent forum on indigenous Issues, describes Native-to-Native Trade (N2N) as a human rights-based approach to commerce that is built on the principles of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples. The Declaration says that Mäori have a human right to development that is culturally appropriate, environmentally sustainable and economically responsible.

But it’s the traditional Hawaiian principle of Pono or justice and honour which provides the foundation and the wellspring that has guided IDG’s business partnership with landowners of of Kawerau A8D. Trask, an international legal expert and attorney, provides strategic direction and advice to the IDG team for projects with indigenous landowners seeking to develop their land and resource assets.

Cabral describes Trask as the “foundation” of Native-to-Native Trade and IDG as the “infrastructure.” Trask headed a team of experts, primarily native Hawaiians, who were brought together to procure a development transaction for the landowners of Kawerau A8D. They used a business model that secures and optimises the Trust’s intrinsic and indigenous values in what is already being hailed as a landmark geothermal development deal.

Thus far, IDG has invested about US$2m for exclusive development rights for the project and to bring in geologists, engineers, legal counsel, econometrics and other consultants to help the Trust to determine the true value of their geothermal resources.

After calling for expressions of-interest, the
Trustees of Kawerau A8D say they decided to bring IDG on as a development partner because they wanted to secure a greater equity stake and more control of their resources.

“Co-development between indigenous peoples is the way to go. Native-to-Native Trade recognises that indigenous peoples as resource owners, hold the key to development.”

Skerrett-White also says it was the shared understanding of traditional norms and the impacts of colonisation on indigenous peoples that was an important factor.

“We decided that we didn’t want to enter a typical royalty-based agreement that many other Maori landowners are pursuing. The project we are now looking at gives a substantial equity stake and more control over access to our land and our geothermal resources.”

The Trust faced capital constraints and had little knowledge of how to leverage their natural assets With the neip of the IDO team, Kawerau A8D Trust has put in place the appropriate fisca, architecture needed to ensure they are not experted by other more sophisticated geothermal companies or investors.

Tomairangi Fox, the trust Chairman says that: the Kawerau 480 estate provides a auspicious site, to launch the world’s fist Native-to-Native trade deal “Our lands are culturally significant because it was here on our maunga, Tirotirowhetu, that our revered chieftainess, Hine-te-Ariki, would observe the position of the stars to ascertain important planting and fishing dates for the tribe. So it is very appropriate that this site
has been chosen.”

The lands of Kawerau A8D Trust fall within the boundaries of Te Kete Poutama which is a 40 hectare block that was the ancestral home of Hine-te-Ariki, the grandmother of eponymous ancestor Tüwharetoa.
It is a landscape that is literally dotted with sacred sites including the ancient pa called Waitahanui and the sacred spring Te Wai U o Tuwharetca.

The Trustees take their responsibilities as guardians of the estate very seriously and fully support the Native-to-Native Trade protocols put in place by IDC to provide a safety net and ensure that the Trust can engage on an equal footing with prospective bio-generation companies.

Skerrett-White believes the geothermal deal will provide hope to landowners and a road map for other indigenous peoples who wish to pursue a development path that is environmentally culturally and socially
responsible. She says through Native-to. Native Trade, the rust has beer elven an opportunity 10 tum back the toxic tide of Their recent history.

“We are kaitiaki of the block and it’s our role to make sure the taonga (treasures) and tikanga (lore) passed down to us remain uncompromised and benefit future generations.”

Trask agrees and affectionately recalls the first time Mãori walked into her life at the United Nations, almost two decades ago, to draft the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples She says that in the mid 1990s it became apparent that nation states were opposing the right to indigenous self-determination because they wanted to continue their control. of indigenous lands, territories and resources. “Mãori played a key role in drafting the Declaration and I am just so glad that our work on the Declaration has come full circle and that this Geothermal deal has happened here is Aotearoa.”

It was Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu who requested that she and Cabral work with Mãori in 2000, when the IDG team came to Aotearoa for a Mãori – Kanaka Maoli Economic Summit which was hosted by the Kingatanga and Ngäti Tuwharetoa.

With IDG’s significant investment in the project to date, the Kawerau ABD deal will represent the first truly ‘authentic Native-to-Native Trade deal.

The company has also assisted landowners of Taheke 80 to enter into a landmark geothermal joint venture with Contact Energy in February-

Chairperson Tawhiri Morehu describes that deal as, innovative and ground breaking.” He also says that. “t meets our goals and principles and ensures that as kaitiaki we remain in control of our lands and their use.”

Trask expects that once Maori are aware of Native-to-Native Trade, the game commerce as we know it will inevitably transform. And she is also confident that the IDG team can also assist other landowners throughout the Pacific to develop renewable energy initiatives.

“Co-development between indigenous peoples is the way to go. Native-to-Native Trade recognises that indigenous peoples as resource owners, note the key to development.” adds Tasks.

“All Indigenous cultures have some concept of pono which is not based on a contract but the traditional knowledge passed to us from our kapuna (ancestors). We have always asked ourselves are we doing a development that’s right for the earth, for our culture and for future generation.”