The Endangered Species National Hui is proud to announce an exciting new addition to its 2026 programme: Te Ao Rangatahi | The Future Through a Youth Lens, a panel bringing together three inspiring young leaders already shaping the future of biodiversity restoration, community leadership and youth engagement across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Norm Hill was out paddling waka ama on the Waikato River when he noticed rubbish caught in the reeds, clothing snagged on branches, and debris drifting past with the current. Now his grassroots community group, Kaitiaki River Sweepers, works the length of the awa, from Kirikiriroa to Cambridge and north to Ngāruawāhia, cleaning and restoring mauri (life force) to a resource that sustains us all.

For more than 30 years, the Resource Management Act has been the legal shield protecting our rivers, forests, coastlines and wildlife from the activities that threaten them. The Government has now confirmed the two bills that will replace it, the Natural Environment Bill and the Planning Bill, and the changes go further than the drafts already scrutinised by the Environment Select Committee.