Landscape-scale restoration in Te Tau Ihu
Rātā Foundation, in 2022, granted The Nature Conservancy $754,007 to support the delivery of the Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance (KMTT) strategy. The grant has supported the strategy to deliver the best possible conservation outcomes for people and nature in the Te Tau Ihu region.
Acknowledging that conservation can go faster alone but further together, 15 partners formed the Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance, meaning “Collective Action for Our Nature.” It is currently the largest collaborative team working in restoration in Aotearoa, with 17 partners now involved.
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The grant has enabled TNC to support the environmental objectives of KMTT – a collaborative group of iwi, the Department of Conservation, and all councils in Te Tau Ihu and the West Coast. TNC provides strategic support such as improved planning, incentivised land-use changes, and greater coordination of community conservation projects.
“All KMTT partners are working to each other’s strengths in their region. The work of the Alliance aligns with the Rātā aim to create a world where people care for each other and the environment so future generations can thrive,” Rātā Foundation Chief Executive Leighton Evans says.
KMTT has targeted its landscape-scale work to the 3.4 million hectares across the top of the South Island, which are home to precious natives and rare and endangered species found nowhere else in the world.
“Mātauranga Māori and iwi aspirations and priorities are integral to the Alliance. The collaboration from all partners is already making a difference in tackling our challenging environmental issues,” says Ngāti Tama ki te Taihu Trust General Manager and KMTT Co-Chair Hemi Sundgren.
“Some of our early results have been phenomenal as we think big and lead the change together – iwi, councils, DOC, and TNC. We are gaining great momentum, which is needed, and others are partnering with us as they see the effectiveness of our new way of working together.”
“Iwi would like to be engaged at the earliest possible process. That allows us to front-foot any potential issues or challenges and provide continuous solutions. The co-design process enables us to input and inform, foundationally and at a very early stage, the key values that we see as essential to our environment and ecology,” says Mr Sundgren.
“Iwi has been given the opportunity to work in partnership to inform what is best for our environment across the landscape. I don’t think that can be underestimated. As an Iwi person, I’m first to put my hand up to say that partnership is key to success in respect of restoring and revitalizing our environment”.
“We are committed to Te Kotahitanga, whereby we collectively look at activities and programmes that set the foundation and legacy for future generations. I think that’s the biggest challenge. But at the same time, that is our biggest opportunity. We must work together,” he says.
“Across our iwi, council, and DOC members, we collaborate with community, business, and philanthropy to achieve outcomes for people and nature on a scale that no one entity could achieve alone,” says KMTT Co-Chair and DOC Director, Partnerships Martin Rodd.
For example, KMTT is restoring critical areas within regional catchments to build resilience to climate change, from the mountains to the sea.
“Projects of this scale require considerable planning. The strategic investment of Rātā in capacity and capability building supports us in completing this planning and investing directly in quick wins that accelerate our momentum.
“It enables us to prepare major investment-ready funding proposals that will help restore our natural world for current and future generations,” Mr Rodd says.
Rātā has focused strategic funding on initiatives that will have a landscape-scale impact on enhancing the natural environment and emphasise capacity building to strengthen the effectiveness of community organizations, Mr Evans says.
“TNC’s mahi fulfils both these efforts,” he says.
TNC, a global conservation organisation, brings considerable international expertise and capacity to drive conservation outcomes and sustainable land use as the backbone organisation for Kotahitanga mō te Taiao. It has global experience working with indigenous communities on landscape-scale conservation projects.
“The Nature Conservancy is proactively working with the KMTT iwi partners to enable meaningful leadership and participation. It has supported engagement at the first of our major wānanga/workshops. We look forward to the outcomes of our work reflecting the important values of our iwi partners as a result,” says Debs Martin, KMTT Programme Manager for The Nature Conservancy – New Zealand.
“It’s an exciting time as we really step up to what resourcing co-design and iwi-led programmes can achieve, delivering good results for the taiao across Te Tauihu/top of the South Island,” Ms. Martin adds.
Spatial mapping, community and iwi engagement, and development of Te Tauihu-wide success measures are other components of TNC’s support for KMTT, which are covered by the grant.
The crucial aspects of the project are TNC’s support for building capacity for community organisations and on-the-ground outcomes such as its significant weed control project - Restoring and Protecting Flora. Prioritising high-impact weed control programmes to protect ecologically significant sites has been identified across Te Tauihu.
To date, KMTT has been involved in 17 strategy-aligned projects across 3.4 hectares and produced the following results:
- 158,000 trees planted
- 124,000 ha of weed control
- 71,600 predators controlled
To learn more about their projects and where they are situated, please visit the Alliance’s Project Dashboard here.
