Whenua explores contemporary Maori resource management issues from various perspectives, taking a comparative approach that draws on the experience of Maori community leaders, academics, flax root-level resource managers, policy makers and the like and Pakeha planners, farmers, lawyers and corporate representatives. The book is a collection of essays that focus on environmental resources, the management of fisheries and lands and the inter-relationships with groups of people. The author and her esteemed contributors look at how customary resource management principles are relevant today, and what forms they take: weaving traditions, conservation prohibitions over fishing areas, offering advice on council development proposals, with writing strategic plans, and obtaining legislative protection of significant sites. The purpose is to understand the breadth of issues facing non-Maori as they interpret Maori concerns. The sum total of opinion expressed in the book shows the diversity of emphasis in key issues, countering the perception that Maori resource management has only limited applications.