Aroha Te Pareake Mead

About Aroha

Aroha has worked at local, national, regional and international levels for over 40 years on indigenous rights, with a particular focus on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property issues including biocultural heritage, conservation, indigenous knowledge and indigenous data governance . She currently serves on Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa (tribal governance) as well as on the New Zealand Conservation Authority Current members: NZCA - New Zealand Conservation Authority (doc.govt.nz) and the Repatriation Advisory Panel of Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of NZ Repatriation Advisory Panel, Te Papa.
 
Recent projects have included:  

* Reviewing the taxonomic collections of Manaaki Whenua Landcare Crown Research Institute From collect to connect – rebalancing our collections and databases » Manaaki Whenua (landcareresearch.co.nz)

* Lead author 'When the Crown Controls Māturanga (Indigenous Knowledge)' When the Crown controls mātauranga – Biological Heritage NZ (bioheritage.nz);

* Strategic Oversight Group for the review of the Wildlife Act Review of the Wildlife Act 1953: Modernising conservation legislation (doc.govt.nz);

* Māori Data Governance Model Report, Te Kāhui Raraunga;

* Taketake a Tāne Wakatū's Te Tau Ihu Indigenous Organisms Programme, Koekoeā - the magazine for Wakatū - issue #3 Ngāhuru 2021 by Wakatū - Issuu;

Valuing Nature's Contributions to People: the IPBES approach, Valuing nature’s contributions to people: the IPBES approach - ScienceDirect, and

* Genetic Frontiers for conservation: an assessment of synthetic biology and biodiversity conservation: synthesis and key messages 2019-012-En.pdf (iucn.org).
 
Aroha served four terms, (16 years) on the Council of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) including two terms (8 years) as the Chair of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP). She continues involvement in IUCN as Chair Emeritus of IUCN CEESP., member of IUCN's Editorial Board and on IUCN delegations to plenary sessions the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services (IPBES) annually since 2016. She is also a member of Nia Tero's Advisory Council.