The wetlands of the Waikato’s West Coast are alive with opportunity as the Karioi Project focuses on inspiring the next generation of environmental leaders and kaitiaki.
A Rocha Aotearoa’s Karioi Project is one of 18 initiatives WWF-New Zealand, in partnership with the Tindall Foundation, is supporting in 2025 through its Community Conservation Fund.
Central to the Project’s mission is fostering resilience in tamariki and rangatahi through hands-on, nature-based learning. Their education programmes provide pathways for young people to connect deeply with te taiao and take action to protect it.
The Project’s junior environmental education programme Manaaki Ao with Raglan Area School delivered workshops with more than 400 tamariki last year about the challenges our endangered species are facing in Aotearoa New Zealand. These workshops are an excellent way to highlight habitat loss and biodiversity decline with a focus on native birds like the matuku-hūrepo (Australasian bittern) and the wetlands they call home.
The workshops outlined how predator control and habitat restoration can safeguard these ecosystems and the species they support, sparking tamariki’s curiosity and a sense of responsibility for their environment.
As part of the matuku muster, the team monitored matuku males booming in September, October and November. Matuku were sighted and heard in numerous wetlands around the region.
The project’s landscape-scale predator control work extends across the region’s wetlands aiming to protect the matuku-hūrepo and other threatened and regionally vulnerable species. Through these efforts and community engagement initiatives, the team is working to address the root causes of biodiversity loss in the area while empowering local communities to become active caretakers of their environment.
By blending environmental education with conservation action, the Karioi Project is equipping young people with the tools, knowledge, and passion to lead the way in restoring and protecting nature.
“Together, we’re ensuring that the call of the matuku-hūrepo and the resilience of our ecosystems echo for generations to come,” says Karioi Project project manager, Kristel van Houte.