Latest news with #NewZealandNatureFund
RNZ News
23-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Partnering to save some of New Zealand's threatened species
Photo: Supplied / NZ Nature Fund New Zealanders regularly report in surveys how much they enjoy the great outdoors. But as the Department of Conservation states on its website - nature is in trouble. It says more than 4000 native species are threatened or at risk of extinction - one of the highest proportions in the world. One of the organisations partnering with DOC to do something about this decline is the New Zealand Nature Fund. It has recently appointed a new chair to the Board of Trustees, Neil Mulholland - who previously led the US National Park Foundation and oversaw a huge increase in donors. He joins Kathryn from Blenheim to discuss increasing support for the Fund's activities and the role of philanthropy in preserving New Zealand's biodiversity.
Scoop
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Art For Aotearoa: Oceania Retirement Village Residents Create Breathtaking Art For Charity Auction
In the lead-up to World Environment Day on Thursday, 5 June 2025, Oceania is proud to announce The Art of Conservation - an online charity auction featuring original artworks created by its residents, with all proceeds going to the New Zealand Nature Fund. Oceania residents across the country have been challenged to create art in line with the theme of environmental conservation - an issue that is deeply meaningful to residents. Julia Biggs, Oceania's Resident Experience Manager has been blown away by the art entered, saying, 'the sheer talent of our residents is absolutely incredible'. Now Oceania has selected the top original works which will be auctioned online, with funds supporting either the NZ Nature Fund's general conservation efforts or one of 23 targeted projects around Aotearoa, as chosen by each artist. 'Not only does this auction give us a chance to share this talent with the wider public, it gives us a chance to support a deeply important cause,' Biggs says. The initiative also reflects Oceania's commitment to the Five Ways to Wellbeing - a framework designed to support mental and emotional health through five evidence-based actions: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give. These principles are embedded into daily life across Oceania's villages and care centres, supporting residents to stay involved, active, and socially connected — all of which contribute to better mental health and overall wellbeing. 'We're proud to be part of the Art of Conservation auction, which beautifully bridges creativity and conservation,' says Sarah Lyttle, Chief Executive of The New Zealand Nature Fund. 'The funds raised will directly support our work to protect some of Aotearoa New Zealand's most at-risk native species and habitats. It's a visceral reminder that art has the power to both reflect the natural world, and help preserve it,' Lyttle adds. NZ Nature Fund is an independent charitable trust dedicated to halting biodiversity loss and restoring ecosystems across Aotearoa New Zealand. It has supported conservation efforts for over 20 years. The Art of Conservation auction will go live at 12pm on Thursday, 5 June. Anyone can take part, bid online, and support both local artists and the future of Aotearoa's natural environment. ABOUT OCEANIA: Oceania is a leading provider of aged care living and retirement living in New Zealand with over 35 sites and 3,900 residents across the country. Our purpose is to reimagine the retirement and aged care living experience through a human-centred approach, and we constantly challenge ourselves to deliver better for our residents and teams. Striving for better is in our DNA, but it is also something shared by our incredible residents. ABOUT NZ NATURE FUND: The NZ Nature Fund (formally NZ National Parks & Conservation Foundation) has been supporting conservation projects for the last 20 years. The NZ Nature Fund raises funds for projects that halt the decline, protect and fully restore Aotearoa New Zealand's wild places, strategically and at scale – establishing wilderness full of diverse and thriving eco-systems for generations to come. An independent charitable trust, our goal is to bring together conservation donors and investors who understand the urgency and are committed to achieving this turn around.
Otago Daily Times
06-05-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Donations helping keep rare bird alive
Donations from people all over New Zealand are helping efforts to keep Southern New Zealand dotterel/pukunui on the planet. It is the world's rarest wading bird. A year ago, there were just 101 left. This year, flock counts showed a population increase of four birds bringing the total to 105. It was a small lift, but hugely significant, Department of Conservation (Doc) dotterel ranger Dan Cocker said. "Pukunui only breed on Rakiura/Stewart Island and some of them migrate to Awarua Bay in Southland to feed. "If they don't survive in these places, they'll be gone for good." Numbers have fluctuated over the past 30 years due to different predators, but especially feral cats. The population hit an all time low of 62 birds in 1992 and bounced back to 290 after intensive predator control in 2009, before rapidly declining again despite continued pest control efforts. Doc has a dedicated dotterel recovery team who work hard on bird monitoring, banding and predator control at breeding sites and surrounding areas. "We're thrilled the April flock counts showed a population increase," Mr Cocker said. "But 105 is still a perilously low number for this one-of-a-kind bird. We can't take our foot off the gas." In 2023, the New Zealand Nature Fund launched a campaign in partnership with Doc to raise funds from donors to support Doc's dotterel recovery team to protect the birds from predators. New Zealand Nature Fund chief executive Sarah Lyttle said more than 600 people had already contributed to the dotterel campaign with more than $400,000 raised to date, including $200,000 from an anonymous party and $20,000 from the Southland branch of Forest & Bird. Doc has used funds from these donations to employ additional trappers to target feral cats at nest sites, add cameras around key breeding sites to monitor feral cat numbers, buy extra feral cat kill traps, and support more helicopter flights to monitor remote nesting sites. "Enabling people to invest directly in projects that prevent extinction is our mission and it's wonderful our donors have made a very tangible difference to the pukunui this season," she said. Mr Cocker said donations "boosted our ground trapping efforts, resulting in 64 feral cats being trapped across our predator control zones. That's almost double what we caught last season". "While the extra trapping efforts have benefited pukunui, we're barely holding the line for this species. "We need to control feral cats across a much larger area where pukunui breed." Doc was considering a proposal for an aerial 1080 operation to protect nesting Southern New Zealand dotterel ahead of the 2025-26 breeding season. The goal was to increase numbers to at least 300 by 2035. "We still have a long way to go to reach this goal," Mr Cocker said. "The good news is if we work together, we can create safe havens for our taonga species by removing pests and restoring ecosystems." — APL
