Hawke’s Bay Biodiversity Forum a great success

Interesting speakers, an engaged audience, and lively workshop discussions all demonstrate that the Hawke’s Bay Biodiversity Forum held in early March was a success. The event, utilising the teaching spaces at EIT’s Te Ūranga Waka, attracted around 70 people who are actively involved in biodiversity and conservation projects in the region.

The Forum was designed to showcase the biodiversity gains that can be achieved through sustained effort and community buy-in, and to champion collaboration as a way of achieving greater outcomes.

Plenary Speaker Danielle Shanahan, Chief Executive at Zealandia in Wellington, provided a short history of the Zealandia complex before discussing its impacts – the increasing presence of native bird species across Wellington City. She emphasised the need for a long-term vision and the ability to think big – both were necessary to work through the many issues when the sanctuary was developed during the 1990s. Back then, a 2.2m high, 8.6km long predator-proof fence in the middle of Wellington was considered pretty crazy! However, the work has been well-rewarded, with 18 species of native wildlife reintroduced into the area, some of which were previously absent from mainland New Zealand for over 100 years.

Napier is lucky enough to have a similarly ambitious project on its doorstep – the Ahuriri Regional Park. Comprising the area of farmland south of the Hawke’s Bay Airport runway and including parts of the Ahuriri Estuary, the Park is expected to fulfil multiple outcomes including biodiversity gains, water quality and flow improvements, and recreation amenity. Annette Brosnan (Napier City Council) and Hinewai Ormsby (HBRC) outlined their vison and plans for establishing the Park, which is a joint project with Mana Ahuriri. While all council expenditure is being carefully thought through, Ahuriri Regional Park remains a priority for the project partners, and we look forward to seeing how it develops into the future.

Three workshops completed the morning: Lenore Winterburn from Ground Truth Ltd covered project management using the Trap.nz tool and accessing funding, HBRC Terrestrial Scientist Annabel Beattie shared options for outcome monitoring, and Plant Hawke’s Bay’s founder Marie Taylor made recommendations on plant selection for local projects. All three sessions were well attended, with many participants saying that they’d have liked the opportunity to attend more than one session.

A key objective of the event was to build connections between the many people and groups who are working to protect and enhance biodiversity in our region. Participants were encouraged to indicate their project locations on a large regional map, and Belinda Sleight, Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay’s Community Facilitator, gave a short outline of the support available for local projects. Biodiversity HB staff will be in contact with participants soon to gain further information about each project, so that this can be added to the online Project Portal, a key resource for anyone who wants to know of biodiversity-related projects happening in the region.

Based on comments on the day and feedback received since, we intend this event to become an annual one, held in March each year. The organising entities – Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay, HBRC, NZ Landcare Trust and EIT – are keen to build on the initial event, making it bigger and better in future years. They are also keen to hear from like-minded organisations which may wish to work with them to support this development.

The Forum finished with a Subway Sandwiches lunch, thanks to support from Productivity People. Many people took this opportunity to get to know others in the room, and to enjoy the attractive outdoor area at Te Ūranga Waka.

Keen to join us in organising or providing sponsorship for the 2025 Forum? Want to know more about the Project Portal? Get in touch….

Belinda, Community Facilitator – Community@biodiversityhb.nz

Louisa, Admin Manager – Info@biodiversityhb.nz

22 March 2024

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