Ngai Tahu has joined forces with oil giant Chevron to produce biofuels from marginal Maori land.
In April, the runanga, on behalf of Maori landowners, was approached by Lincoln University researchers to participate in a biofuels research bid to develop biofuel technologies, project leader John Reid, of Ngai Tahu, said.
Government funding from the Foundation for Research Science and Technology was secured for the project, with global fuel company Chevron joining as an industry partner.
"This project enhances the opportunity for Ngai Tahu to invest in an entirely new and sustainable industry and opens up opportunities for grass-roots Maori landowners in Te Waipounamu (South Island)," Mr Reid said.
Work has begun on the $4 million research project, with a selection process under way to determine which plants might be used.
Ngai Tahu kaiwhakahaere (chairman) Mark Solomon hoped the research would enable owners of Maori communal tenure land to develop skills in the "emergent biofuels industry".
"Our people face various challenges that other farming communities are not subject to, such as the inability to obtain loan finance and the challenges of communal tenure decision making."
The runanga is providing support for the research as part of the He Whenua Whakatipu project, which has been operating for five years.
The projects aims to unlock the potential of Maori communal tenure land.
"There is also a possibility that we may financially invest with the landowners if the biofuels research proves to develop commercially viable technologies," Mr Solomon said.
The six-year project would be co-ordinated from the Bio-Protection Research Centre at Lincoln University and be carried out on land north of Oxford, Canterbury.
The research team would use non-genetically modified biotechnology with the aim of producing affordable, low impact fuels that were ethically sound, Lincoln University ecology professor Steve Wratten said.
Last Thursday, Parliament passed legislation requiring oil companies to supply fuel with a fixed percentage of biofuel.
From October 1, companies will have to supply 0.5% of biofuels, rising to 2.5% by 2012.
Chevron New Zealand chairman Nick Hannan said the company, which markets the Caltex-brand in New Zealand, supported the introduction of a sustainable biofuel supply and had waived any rights to the research results.
