Nau mai, haere mai ki Te Iho Whenua. Geography is an environmental science concerned with the causes and organisation of natural and human phenomena across the globe.
Te Iho Whenua – the connection between people and the earth. Our name in te reo Māori is derived from an important tikanga (custom). The identity it suggests, speaks of the pivotal relationship between people and the earth (Papatūānuku). Traditionally, it has been common to bury or return the placenta (whenua) of a newborn child to Papatūānuku, thereby connecting the child with the land (also 'whenua'). This practice is known as iho whenua and is central to the concept of being tangata whenua (people of the land). For us as the School of Geography, the name Te Iho Whenua symbolises our focus on the interwoven human and physical processes that together constitute the environment.
The School of Geography offers programmes in:
- Environmental Management
- Human Geography
- International Development Planning
- Physical Geography
- Planning
and incorporates the Centre for Sustainability, an inter-disciplinary research centre.
