In October this year we released our 2024 annual report, which showcased the significant impact our staff have delivered in the research, science and technology development space for the forestry, industrial biotechnology, and advanced manufacturing sectors.

We’re proud of what we’ve achieved, so we’re sharing some of those impact stories on our website over the holiday break – for your reading pleasure.

Over the year we have continued to support and work with key customers and partners from across the private sector, government, iwi/ Māori, and the science, innovation and technology sector.

We’re open for business, and our revised stakeholder engagement strategy and tools are helping sharpen our customer focus, making sure we’re working with the right people to drive innovation and economic growth for New Zealand.

Scion has a long involvement with a wide range of stakeholders in the forestry industry, from nurseries to forest owners and managers, and wood processing and manufacturing (timber and pulp and paper) companies.

Our research has underpinned the success of the industry and the sector continues to invest strongly in the work that we do. Close, mutually beneficial partnerships enable us to support the sector’s business objectives.

Ngā Hapū e Toru: Ngāti Hurungaterangi, Ngāti Taeotu me Ngāti Te Kahu

As we move forward together, the Kawenata and associated mātāpono (principles) of whakapapa, kotahitanga, rangatiratanga, manaakitanga and tiakina te mana o te whenua, provide a framework for our enduring partnership into the future. For the true essence of the Kawenata to be realised, we have sought to embed and integrate it within our organisation through our people, processes, reporting and values. To this end, we undertook several actions:

• Our Matariki celebrations in July 2023 included a series of presentations from the Hunga Whakahaere Matua (Hapū Operations Manager) about Ngā Hapū e Toru history on this whenua and within Te Arawa (iwi of Rotorua).
• In the refresh of Scion’s organisational values in 2023/24, we incorporated a new value ‘Whakamana te Kawenata’ to give recognition to the Kawenata with Ngā Hapū e Toru, while leaving space for other Kawenata that Scion may pursue with tangata whenua at Scion’s other sites (Christchurch and Wellington). This integration represents the greatest opportunity to encourage staff engagement with the Kawenata.
• We have implemented formal engagement mechanisms at different levels as required. These include annual meetings between Ngā Hapū e Toru trustees and Scion’s Board, quarterly meetings between the Hunga Whakahaere Matua and Scion’s Executive Management Team, and monthly meetings with the Chief Executive. The physical co-location of the Hunga Whakahaere Matua within Scion enables regular staff engagement with the Hapū, and provides a voice, visibility and constant presence for Ngā Hapū e Toru. This has also led to more involvement and input by the Hapū into Scion’s science projects. At Scion’s Urban Forests symposium held in Christchurch in April 2024, the Hunga Whakahaere Matua presented on a tangata whenua perspective of urban forests and how this can be incorporated.

Recognising the fundamental importance of the whenua to the Hapū, we have established processes that ensure the Hapū trustees are included in decisions regarding new developments, activities and tenants on the Rotorua campus. This also includes the appointment of a Hapū trustee to Scion’s Master Planning Committee where all decisions are taken regarding our facilities and infrastructure.

Ngā Hapū e Toru continue to provide support and leadership on the kawa (protocols) and tikanga (rules) that apply when whakatau or pōhiri are held to welcome manuhiri (visitors) to Scion’s Rotorua campus.

Together we have produced a guideline for staff and external users of our spaces to help clarify the whakatau and pōhiri process that we follow at Scion. Providing manaaki to visiting iwi, Māori partners, Indigenous groups and esteemed manuhiri strongly aligns with Scion’s organisational values.

Collaboration with Māori

Scion acknowledges Māori as essential collaborators in research, science, and innovation. This recognition extends to their roles as kaitiaki of important natural resources and mātauranga across generations, as well as their responsibilities as owners and managers of commercial assets.

We are committed to engaging with Māori from a Te Tiritibased approach. For Scion, this means engaging early, actively responding to the needs of our Māori partners, and co-designing and co-implementing research and development programmes to allow for Māori research, knowledge and development aspirations to flourish.

Producing tools, information and resources to support Māori decision-making on their whenua remains a key focus. This year, Scion, Cognitus Economic Insight and Ngā Pou a Tāne (Māori Forestry Association) began work to frame, assess and realise the Total Economic Value of Māori Forestry Interests. This framework rethinks the value of forests on Māori land to incorporate the added value of Māori principles and tikanga being practised and applied to forests (e.g. biodiversity, stewardship and bequests to future generations). With this framework, Ngā Pou a Tane intends to create market and non-market uses for Māori forestry interests to be customised to meet the purchasing requirements of niche markets and buyers, including payments for ecosystem services, climate and nature-based disclosures and solutions.

Scion’s Te Ao Māori team also supported Ngā Pou a Tāne by mapping the Māori Forestry Paradigm system – its historical context, current state, and potential future state. This contributed toward the draft National Māori Forestry Strategy Consultation Document which was launched in February 2024, and due for finalisation in December 2024.

Scion continues to support Ngā Pou a Tāne to advance forestx.io, a data management system for managing the national Māori forest inventory. As we came to the end of the National Science Challenges in June 2024, it was great to see tangible outcomes from the contributions of our Te Ao Māori researchers and wider Scion team in the Our Land and Water, Biological Heritage Challenge, Science for Technological Innovation and Resilience to Nature challenges.

In strong alignment with Scion’s objective to support and enable Māori landowners and decision-makers to have the best information possible regarding their whenua, we collaborated with Manaaki Whenua, Plant and Food, and AgResearch, Māori landowners and Māori knowledge holders, and external technical consultants to produce a number of outputs including the Data Supermarket – a data repository produced under the Whitiwhiti Ora programme that provides a broad understanding of the benefits and consequences of a wide range of land use opportunities; Matarau - regional-scale data packages and fact sheets for multiple land-use options that consider the biophysical character of the whenua, and pressures on wai and future suitability to our changing climate; Pohewa Pai Tawhiti – guidelines to help decision-making on land-use change, and ensuring these potential changes align with landowner values and aspirations; and the Matatau Whenua Guidelines, co-piloted with Waerenga East and West Incorporation, to assist whenua Māori landowners and decision-makers to gather mātauranga to inform past, present, and future land-use decisions.