Something rare happened in Tāmaki Makaurau over the weekend. Ninety people from across our climate ecosystem - iwi, business, local government, community groups, philanthropy, researchers, activists and rangatahi - came together for three days of wānanga at the Te Mahurehure Marae in Pt Chevalier. At a time when climate conversations are increasingly fragmented and politicised, people gathered to listen, build relationships and imagine what coordinated action could look like.

We are living through accelerating climate disruption. Extreme weather events are reshaping communities across Aotearoa, while many whānau are already carrying the pressures of rising costs, housing insecurity and uncertainty about the future. Climate action cannot be separated from these realities.

Yet too often our responses remain disconnected.

From a te ao Māori perspective, fragmentation itself is part of the challenge. Our tūpuna understood that people, whenua, wai, economy and wellbeing exist in relationship with one another. The health of our communities and the health of the natural world are inseparable.

That understanding sits at the heart of Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri, Auckland’s Climate Plan, co-developed by the 19 mana whenua iwi of Tāmaki Makaurau through the Mana Whenua Kaitiaki Forum. The plan calls for a shift toward ecological and cultural relationships grounded in collective responsibility and long-term thinking.

This was the spirit behind the recent Climate Future Search Wānanga convened by Co-Aotearoa and is in fact that plan in action.

The kaupapa was anchored in a simple phrase: Ko tāua tāua. Ko Tāmaki Makaurau tātou. You and me are we. Together, we are Tāmaki Makaurau.

For three days, people who would not normally share the same space came together as equals. Mana whenua were present as kaitiaki and partners in the kaupapa, alongside rangatahi, senior business leaders, community organisers, finance representatives, researchers, policy-makers and activists.

There was no expectation that everyone would agree on everything. But there was recognition that far more connects us than divides us, and that no single organisation, community, sector or government can solve this alone.

Participants identified practical priorities for the months and years ahead: regenerative food systems, low-emissions transport, climate justice for Pacific communities, stronger community resilience, nature restoration, climate storytelling and deeper integration of mātauranga Māori across decision-making.

Just as importantly, the wānanga created something harder to measure but essential for systems change: trust that transcends our differences.

Climate change asks us to move beyond short-term thinking and individual interests. It asks us to think collectively, across generations, and to remember our responsibilities to each other and to the living systems that sustain us.

Mātauranga Māori offers important guidance here. It reminds us that we are part of nature, not separate from it. That perspective may become one of our greatest strengths as Aotearoa navigates the transition ahead.

Around the world, there is growing recognition that climate solutions require more than technology, markets and policy. They also require stronger relationships, shared narratives and collective courage.

In Aotearoa, we have an opportunity to model what that can look like: through innovation, collaboration and leadership grounded in wellbeing, reciprocity and care for future generations.

The challenges ahead are immense. But so too is our collective potential.

Ko tāua tāua.

The call to action is now.

- Johnnie Freeland, Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua

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