This year, through the WWF-New Zealand Community Conservation Fund in partnership with the Tindall Foundation, we are proud to support Wesley Community Action’s Ngahere Korowai.
Ngahere Korowai is an ambitious project to cloak the bare hills of the area in a ngahere /forest of native trees.
The idea was sparked by the Aotearoa Pasifika Men’s Group after visiting Wellington’s wildlife sanctuary, Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne. The group wondered: “why don’t we have that in Porirua East?” and decided to make it a reality for their community.
Following that visit, the Aotearoa Pasifika Men’s group created Ngahere Korowai, which includes an extensive network of members including the Porirua City Council and local iwi, Ngāti Toa.
The project hosts a range of community activities including tree planting, water monitoring, and hopes to hold wānanga on topics such as the power of rongoā Māori.
Ngahere Korowai seeks to restore the 122 hectares within Belmont Regional Park into a living resource that reconnects communities to their traditional knowledge/Matauranga Māori and relationship with Te Taiao.
“The awesome thing about Ngahere Korowai is that we bring people together to help on planting days. Because of this work, the local community has contributed to the 237,000 plants that have gone into West Belmont Regional Park region in the 2024 winter planting season, which is a part of the bigger dream to see native species return to Porirua,” says project spokesperson, Shelby Lockwood.
Ngahere Korowai is not just about reforesting an area - it's an ecological justice initiative to rekindle a relationship between people and nature and grow our community voice to lead positive change.
"Seeing the kiwi face to face, it’s a good feeling, priceless, you can’t put money on it and it’s good for the future, for the people of New Zealand, to give back to the earth. Hopefully we see more animals and wildlife,” says Aotearoa Pasifika Mens group member Iulio Fa’auga after attending a pōwhiri at Waiwhetu Marae to welcome kiwi back to the region.
The collective is working to restore the hills and waterways surrounding Porirua East back to a rich ecosystem where community members can harvest kai and rongoā sustainably and the hills, awa and harbour are thriving with life.
To achieve this rewilding vision, the Aotearoa Pasifika Men’s group has played a key role in leading the mahi. The group recently delivered a presentation at Zealandia to the Society for Conservation Biology about the work they’re achieving in Porirua. Group members gathered a month in advance to prepare their presentation about the work they’re achieving in Porirua and this fostered a sense of confidence and leadership within the group.
Earlier this year, the group collaborated with Kainga Ora and Conservation Volunteers New Zealand to host a litter clean-up day in Cannons Creek Lakes Reserve. The team cleared space for winter planting and removed an epic 160kg of rubbish from the reserve with the help of volunteers.
Rewilding Porirua East also includes predator control as part of the mahi to protect and increase biodiversity in the area. The team has even been learning the art of trapping in their own backyards with the support of Predator Free Porirua.
At its heart, the Ngahere Korowai vision is intergenerational: 'Ngahere Korowai grows the leadership of our Porirua East community to take care of our ngahere, our water, our harbour. In 50 years, everyone in our community will be living in connection with te taiao – able to gather our kai, our rongoā, and leaving a legacy of kaitiakitanga for our mokopuna to continue, ake, ake, ake'.
The WWF-New Zealand Community Conservation Fund is open for applications once a year. The 2025 round is now open and closes on 15 September.