This year we are proud to support two great local conservation projects with an educational focus, through the WWF-New Zealand Community Conservation Fund in partnership with the Tindall Foundation - Te Ara Taiao and Envirokids.
Sustainable Taranaki’s Te Ara Taiao programme works with student leaders across 14 schools and kura kaupapa in Taranaki with taiao connection and restoration.
This year students have collaborated on kiwi release events, a sea and shorebird advocacy project, and even contributed to a community art installation at the Govett Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth.
The installation entitled Ngā Puna Waiora (1993/2025), led by artist Dr. Maureen Lander MNZM (Ngāpuhi, Te Hikutū), celebrates tamariki reflections on connection to their local awa and whenua, weaving together māturanga Māori and contemporary practice. Ngā Puna Waiora, was first made in 1993 and has been remade this year by environmental leaders (Ngā Manu Pīkoko) from Te Pi’ipi’inga, Devon Intermediate and Omata School. Each student has expressed their aspiration for the health and well-being of their local awa by painting on ‘mauri stones’ that are integral parts of the installation.
“I am delighted that our next generations are growing the seeds that were sown thirty-two years ago in the Ngā Puna Waiora o Taranaki Maunga installation” says Maureen Lander.
“A new group of tamariki are showcasing how these ideas can be developed and translated into a visible art form that threads together their research, creativity, learning and kaitiangatanga (care) for te taiao”.
Haere mai ki Ngāmotu - come and see it!
Students have also been involved in kiwi releases around Te-Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki National Park this year. Up to 500 tamariki joined pōwhiri and hapū-led ceremonies.
“Students were able to experience the collaborative force of mana whenua, community groups, and agencies working together to help track monitored kiwi throughout the year,” says Te Ara Taiao spokesperson, Jane Bowden-Dobson.
Te Ara Taiao students have been involved in field trips and raising awareness about the threats to Ōi, Tūturiwhatu, Kororā and Matuku Moana on the Taranaki coast as part of Wild for Taranaki’s Te Whānau Toroa project. Te Whānau Toroa aims to restore seabirds and shorebirds from the coast of Taranaki to the slopes of the Mounga.
Meanwhile, in Ōtautahi, Envirokids is running a free weekly programme to inspire rangatahi to be kaitiaki of the city's natural environment. Every Saturday the team focuses on a different environmental issue.
Envirokids collaborates with a range of organisations to create engaging activities for kids with environmental messaging. Some recent activities include making seed bombs with Richmond Community Gardens, growing microgreens with Para Kore, creating an upcycled mural with Without Waste, and teaching children about taonga species and the dangers of overfishing through virtual reality and interactive games with Blake NZ.
"The Estuary Trust has found it very beneficial to be partners with the Envirokids project over the past few years. It’s the next generation who will become the guardians of our natural environment and therefore super important that we take every opportunity to instil a sense of wonder and respect for the environment to our youth through play and activities," says Tanya Jenkins of the Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust.
Envirokids was established in 2021 after identifying a need for tamariki-focussed environmental education across a broad range of topics that reflect the eco-sector in greater Christchurch.