Dr Hinemoa Elder

For Dr Hinemoa Elder, sustainability isn’t a strategy - it’s whakapapa. “He uri nō Taumata Māhoe tēnei,” she says - a descendant of a mountain known for the proliferation of māhoe trees, where women gathered to share stories and care for one another. Those small, fragrant flowers bloom twice in a season, weaving their patterns around the forest, nurturing insects, birds, and mokomoko alike. “They don’t grow alone,” she reflects. “They are part of a vast, interconnected system of reciprocity and communication.”

That understanding - of interconnection and care - threads through all of Hinemoa’s work. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, author, and Kaiārahi Oranga Hinengaro at Te Hiku Hauora, she brings Māori wisdom into the heart of wellbeing. Her words and writings - from Aroha to Ara - remind readers that harmony with our planet begins in our relationships with one another.

“When our Māmā passed away,” she shares, “I felt myself moving up a generation - and needed to take responsibility to discover what that meant.” Her mother left her clues: to listen to the winds of Tāwhirimātea and to honour her roots as a descendent of Muriwhenua. That experience reshaped her path - deepening her sense of kaitiakitanga as both duty and healing.

One of her greatest calls is to shift how we think about mental health and sustainability - to see them not as separate domains, but as intertwined. “Our wellbeing improves when we recognise and action our role as kaitiaki,” she says. “We are not apart from Papatūānuku - we are her descendants.”

Hinemoa also challenges how mainstream frameworks like ESG are applied. “Indigenous thinking and actions predate ESG. Our approaches must lead the way, not be added on as an afterthought.” Her message is clear: decolonise, reindigenise, and let Māori design the solutions that shape our collective future.

When asked what nurtures her vision, she smiles and recites her guiding words: Me aro koe ki te hā o Hineahuone - respect the dignity of women. Her advice to the next generation is equally grounded: “Hoki atu ki tō maunga, kia purea ai koe e ngā hau o Tāwhirimātea - return home to your mountain and be cleansed by the winds.”

To her, Aotearoa’s greatest superpower is simple: “Aotearoa’s superpower is Māori.”

Her call to action is as gentle as it is profound: talk to your whānau about the world you want to leave behind. Share your stories. Design a plan that can travel across generations. “From there,” she says, “put it into action.”

Read Dr Hinemoa Elder’s answers to BLOOMING Sustainability - and be reminded that true sustainability is whakapapa in motion: a living relationship with the winds, the forest, and each other.

BLOOMING  Sustainability Questionnaire

Name: Dr Hinemoa Elder

Company & Title: Author, Connector, Speaker

Website & LinkedIn Profile: https://hinemoaelder.com/ 

* Guiding Values | Kaupapa

If sustainability were a flower blooming in your life, what would it look like? What nurtures it?

He uri nō Taumata Māhoe tēnei. I am a descendent of a mountain named for the proliferation of Māhoe trees. A place known for bringing wāhine together to share stories and to take care of each other. The flowers of the Māhoe are small and pale creamy green. Their sweet cup-like florets are fragrant, especially at night, nurturing the many insects and creatures of the te wao tapu nui o Tāne, the sacred forest of Tāne. The flowers generously weave their intricate patterns around the branches, lasting all the way through Koanga, Spring into Raumati, summer, sometimes even having a second flowering. Then they transform into succulent bluish berries providing more sustenance for the birds and mokomoko, local lizards. These putiputi and their rākau grow within the whānau of the ngaere, this sacred forest, they do not grow alone. They are part of a vast, interconnected system of reciprocity and communication.

A quote, personal motto or whakataukī that reflects your vision:

Me aro koe ki te hā o Hineahuone. Respect the dignity of women.

If you could mentor a rising change-maker in Aotearoa, what advice would you share?

Hoki atu ki tō maunga, kia purea ai koe e ngā hau o Tāwhirimātea. Return home to your mountain and be cleansed by the winds of Tāwhirimātea.

* Leading Change | Arataki

A key moment in your journey that shaped your path:

When our Māmā passed away I could feel I was moving up a generation and so I needed to take responsibility to discover what they meant. She left me clues to navigate my path as her daughter, a descendent of Muriwhenua.

What’s the main challenge you face in driving sustainability within your sector?

One key challenge is to change the way we think about how connected we are to the natural world and to shift the way we perceive our roles based on that. Demonstrating the way our mental health and wellbeing improves when we recognise and action our kaitiakitanga, our guardianship role is central to this essential change.

An area you need more support with:

I need our people to be in charge of the changes required, to design and deliver what is most meaningful for us, and for others to get out of the way and let us get on with these most impactful changes.

An Indigenous perspective you admire and want people to be mindful of:

We know, feel, see, sense and experience our relationship with Papatūānuku, we are her descendants.

Your best approach for engaging stakeholders in meaningful dialogue about ESG:

Environmental, Social and Governance or ESG is an established approach with limitations for indigenous peoples and for ensuring that an indigenous way of approaching these issues is the fundamental basis of change. Indigenous thinking and actions precede and predate ESG and so indigenous approaches need to lead the way, rather than being added to an existing framework.

What do you think is Aotearoa’s superpower in creating a sustainable future?

Aotearoa’s superpower is Māori.

* Surfing the Green Wave | Kakariki

Books, podcasts, courses or other resources that profoundly shaped your approach to sustainability:

What shapes my approach is my contact with people in my community. In Te Hiku o te Ika we have a range of activities, ways we communicate that have the most profound impact on how I think about what changes are needed. Te Hiku Media also has a range of resources that are particularly useful.

Events in Aotearoa or globally that you think are must-attend:

I am a great believer in local first, based on my own lived experience and practice-based evidence. When locally impactful events and activities happen these are the ones that also seem to resonate most profoundly around the world. My books are just one example.

A sustainable initiative or project in Aotearoa that deserves more attention:

Te Hiku Hauora is a health service ecosystem that continues to build “sustainability” in fostering local capacity building, local belief in our own solutions.

If your work could plant one seed of change for the future, what would it be?

Decolonise and reindigenise your way of being in the world.

The leader(s) you endorse for a future edition of Blooming Sustainability:

Peter-Lucas Jones

* One actionable takeaway for our readers to make a change today for a brighter tomorrow:

Talk to your whānau, extended family about your life, share your stories, about the planet you want to leave behind. From there design a feasible plan and put it into action, working intergenerationally. Make a plan of action that can continue to be passed on, to make those dreams a reality.

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