A new partnership between New Zealand and China is boosting the use of renewable energy among the indigenous Maori communities of New Zealand, helping power tribal farmlands while mapping out a pathway to a more sustainable future.
A recent executive training program held in collaboration with Chinese technology companies gathered the next generation of young leaders from Maori tribes, preparing them for the development of renewable energy projects in New Zealand's North Island.
Maori participants say they not only want to see Chinese solar technology being installed, but also hope to take ownership of these projects with a view to long-term development.
"It just makes sense that in the next once-in-a-generation transformation and investment in renewable energy globally, that we're not just participants and receivers of that, that we're innovators, drivers, thinkers, investors, owners," said Aroha Armstrong, CEO of the TupuToa Leadership Program, an initiative designed to empower Maori and Pacific leaders.
Locals engaged in the agriculture sector see using solar power to support Maori farming operations as an effective way to unlock the economic gains of renewable energy.
"Potentially they're going into solar vehicles, vehicles on farms, also powering cowsheds, powering maybe irrigation and things like that," said Jason Parkinson, a member of the Tuwharetoa Tribe.
For others from more remote areas, developing a solar farm will ensure greater self-sufficiency while also benefiting other associated sectors.
"Its primary, I suppose, purpose is to not only provide some resiliency for the community here, but also feed the growing enterprises there in aquaculture and irrigation," said Ruka Te Moana, a member of the Te Whanau-a-Apanui Tribe.
The study program included a visit to Motic, the global high-tech industrial company, which has formed a partnership with Maori tribes to co-invest in future developments.
"People are a very, very important part of that investment. Workforce development and meaningful jobs, and high-value jobs, is very much a part of what our tribes need for our people," said Armstrong.
New Zealand's Maori communities empowered by green energy collaboration with China
