Take action for nature this Conservation Week
Conservation Week is here! This year it runs from 5 - 11 September and is all about taking a moment to act for nature.
The team at DoC frame why this matters beautifully with this quote:
"Taking action not only benefits nature, but also our personal wellbeing. Ka ora te whenua, ka ora te tangata – when the land is well, the people are well. When Papatūānuku thrives, we thrive."
If you’re inspired by the arrival of Spring and want to get into action for nature, here are a few ideas to get your started.
Inspiration for how you can act for nature this week - and beyond!
If you want to get hands on, there are literally hundreds of community groups up and down the country who need an extra pair of hands to help with pest control, beach clean ups and plantings. Find one in your region here.
To get ahead of the game (to help avoid future generations having to even think about beach clean ups!), you could act for nature by reducing the amount of plastic in your life. Plastic free July means there are loads of ideas around with simple, everyday swaps you can try.
If you’re really time-poor, or a self proclaimed lazy conservationist, acting with your wallet is a powerful way to support what you care about. By choosing to support businesses making a positive difference for the environment and the climate, collectively we can influence bigger change.
This is an idea that really resonated with us and was what started us on our journey with Native. The ‘lightbulb’ moment for us was when we learned that, globally, people spend US$1.5 trillion on alcohol. And that, while many adults know the importance of living within a healthy and thriving natural environment, few of us are actively taking action. Life gets busy which can leave us with good intentions, but not action.
We saw a cool opportunity to help improve biodiversity, while keeping things really simple for people. Think: saving the world with Friday night drinks.
And, voila, the Native and the 100 Club were hatched!
Native’s 100 Club
The 100 Club is how we directly support the native species of Aotearoa survive and thrive. Our goal is to grow 100 individual species from their tentative hatch, to being released into the wild.
As more and more folk join us on our journey, we’re keen for everyone to know Pūmanawa, Piari, Noël and Rehu - the first four of the special native characters we’ve helped.
Pūmanawa and Piari are two North Island brown kiwi at Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre that have had some Native love. We were privileged to be there on the day Pūmanawa was released in 2020. Did you know that once a kiwi clocks 1.2kg they’re pretty capable of defending themselves against pests like stoats? We’re super proud to have played a role in giving a couple more of our national icons a fighting chance.
Further North, on Tiritiri Matangi, Noël and Rehu - a kōkako pair we have supported - have been getting busy again. This ‘middle aged’ couple have fledged 12 chicks while they’ve been together! Two of them while we’ve been supporting them. In 2021, Sunny arrived on the scene. Now that she’s all grown up, Sunny has moved out of her parent’s territory and into her own, although we’re told she’s still looking for love. And in early 2022, Noël and Rehu welcomed a new chick into the world! The team at Tiritiri Matangi named this latest addition to the island, Miro.
This is just the beginning. Our goal is to support many more species to thrive.
Which native species in your corner of Aotearoa do you reckon need a hand? We’d love to hear.
