8 Mar 2025
Why water engineer L’Rey Renata is working to increase the incorporation of Māori values and principles into modern environmental practices.
When L’Rey Renata was 15, she was inspired by a humanitarian engineer on YouTube who took technology and innovation back to their village in India to improve the lives of their community.
“I realised that’s what I wanted to do, to serve people with innovation, strive to make things better,” says the Emerging Professional Member of Engineering New Zealand. “None of my family had been to university at the time. I wondered, what would it take to become that, and what was the pathway.”
Now a water engineer at GHD, she says she realised at university that there was very little recognition of Te Ao Māori.
“There are dedicated papers in law, medicine and education regarding Māoritanga and Treaty obligations, but it’s absent in engineering studies.”
In an effort to right this, she’s completing a PhD in reevaluating engineering best practice through an indigenous Te Ao Māori lens.
“My focus is to create synergy and cultural capability across university accreditation and ultimately, within the industry itself. When I began working in engineering, it really hit home – we’re providing these solutions as an industry, but they often lack consideration of the values and cultural systems I’m so familiar with.”
Photo: Tim Hamilton/VisionWorks Photography
L’Rey says she loves the holism of indigenous knowledge in the sense that it doesn’t look at parts in isolation.
“It doesn’t look at a single puzzle piece and wonder how it’s going to create a picture from it. It’s the reverse: it gathers all the pieces of the puzzle together with the understanding that you can’t just bring one point of the value chain forward, you have to bring them all.”
In her role at GHD she attends meetings with mana whenua and the technical team, acting as a bridge between the two.
“At times, it seems like they are speaking different languages to each other but in actuality there is so much common ground that we could build on.”
In Te Ao Māori, the prioritisation is the water. If the water’s good, it feeds the land. If the land is good, then the people are good. In terms of hierarchy, people come last in the value chain.
She continues: “Indigenous knowledge is completely whole in the sense that it provides the total sum of each interconnected part, weaving context, intentions and purpose into solutions for longevity, contrary to the short-sighted solutions often suggested that serve the purpose in the moment.”
L’Rey says there are “blatant” cultural gaps in understanding in engineering “… but that’s not out of malice or ill-feeling... It’s just about not knowing”.
“We engineers often operate within strict physical constraints, which can make our approach seem quite black and white,” she explains. “However, Te Ao Māori encourages a holistic perspective in our work. This approach allows us to consider broader impacts, including whakapapa (intergenerational, interconnectedness), wairuatanga (the spiritual or unseen aspects), te Taiao (the environment), and tikanga (cultural practices and protocols).”
L’Rey says the “ideal end-state” would involve a cultural and environmental revitalisation through engineering solutions.
“In Te Ao Māori, the prioritisation is the water. If the water’s good, it feeds the land. If the land is good, then the people are good. In terms of hierarchy, people come last in the value chain.”
L’Rey is also involved in a range of waste management activities, including as an advisory board member for the Right to Repair Network Aotearoa; recycling textile organisation UsedFULLY and sustainability research and innovation centre CIRCUIT. She was also part of the steering group of The Packaging Forum, which recently made a submission to government around plastic product stewardship.
A keynote speaker at the International Congress on Sustainability Science and Engineering in February and a panellist at the 2024 Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council, L’Rey is good at communicating complex ideas as actionable insights.
“A kaumatua once shared with me that waiora transcends the mere concepts of wellbeing or health. It embodies the essence of reflection. In the mirror of water and our surroundings, we glimpse our true selves. With that in mind we can then ask ourselves, does this reflection align with our aspirations, or can we do better?”
This article was first published in the March 2025 issue of EG magazine.
