Gail Tewaru Tipa (born 1959) is a New Zealand resource management planner, and has worked in the environmental sector for thirty years. In 2021 Tipa was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to MÃÂori and environmental management.
Tipa is MÃÂori, and affiliates to KÃÂi Tahu. Tipa has Bachelor of Arts, and a Master's degree in resource and regional planning. She completed a PhD titled Indigenous communities and the co-management of natural resources: the case of New Zealand freshwater management at the University of Otago in 2003. She trained as a teacher initially, and then worked for the Electricity Corporation of New Zealand, and then opened an environmental research and management consultancy. Tipa worked on the KÃÂi Tahu claim and settlement in the 1990s and has been involved in KÃÂi Tahu governance. Tipa is particularly concerned with freshwater and fisheries management. Tipa has developed new tools to improve the participation of MÃÂori in freshwater management, including the Cultural Health Index and the Cultural Flow Assessment method.
Tipa is part of the NgÃÂ Pae o Te MÃÂramatanga Centre of Research Excellence, and was a member of the inaugural governance group of the New Zealand's Biological Heritage, NgÃÂ Koiora Tuku Iho National Science Challenge. Her work with NgÃÂ Pae was focused on researching the links between environmental integrity and health and wellbeing of Indigenous communities.
In the 2021 New Year Honours Tipa was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to MÃÂori and environmental management.