News

If the future of te taiao was placed in the hands of rangatahi, what would it look like? That was the question at the heart of Te Ao Rangatahi | The Future Through a Youth Lens, a panel at the first-ever Endangered Species National Hui bringing together three inspiring young leaders already shaping biodiversity restoration, community leadership and youth engagement across Aotearoa.

Riki Parata's (Ngāi Tahu, Te Āti Awa ki Whakarongotai) mahi with Hokonui Rūnanga is dedicated to learning more about and protecting an ancient taonga that remains poorly understood: kanakana, also known as piharau or lamprey.

Breeding season is underway for tara iti, our most endangered bird, and as population numbers slowly climb, the Department of Conservation (DOC) is assessing where these tiny taonga could nest next.

At the Endangered Species National Hui, freshwater fisheries scientist and University of Waikato PhD candidate Siobhan Nuri took the audience on a journey through the lives of one of our most remarkable but declining freshwater taonga: tuna.

Over 40 advocates have gathered at the Hamilton electorate office of Minister of Conservation and Hamilton West MP Tama Potaka, calling for urgent action to protect the critically endangered Māui | Poopoto dolphin.

If Day One of the Endangered Species National Hui left me thinking deeply about connection, Day Two showed me what can happen when that connection turns into action.

This piece was written by guest contributor Sarah Churchouse, from Restore Rodney East, reflecting on her experience at Day One of the Endangered Species National Hui in Kirikiriroa Hamilton.

Right from the start this hui felt different. Opened and held by Māori pou, leaders and innovators in the taiao space, and supported by Tāngata Tīriti. This was a hui for the people, by the people.

More than 14,000 people have signed a petition opposing McCallum Bros Ltd's proposed seabed sand mine in Te Akau Bream Bay.

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.

The LUSH store at The Base in Kirikiriroa | Hamilton was filled with passionate people coming together for one purpose: to help protect one of the world's rarest dolphins.

Join LUSH staff, representatives from Ngāti te Wehi, ESF Co-Chair Tāwera Nikau, and General Manager Natalie Jessup at the Hamilton LUSH Māui Dolphin Event on July 14th, The Base, Hamilton.

New in-store displays and a limited-edition Māui dolphin soap from LUSH Cosmetics are shining a spotlight on the threats facing critically endangered Māui dolphins, as part of a nationwide campaign delivered in partnership with Tāngaro Tuia te Ora, the Endangered Species Foundation.

On Saturday, Tāngaro Tuia te Ora, the Endangered Species Foundation, joined forces with LUSH, Moana Rāhui o Aotea and Māui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders at Kohimaramara, Mission Bay, to take a stand for the critically endangered Māui dolphins.

A new partnership between LUSH Cosmetics and Tāngaro Tuia te Ora, the Endangered Species Foundation, is bringing the fight to protect Māui dolphins into shopping centres and homes across the motu.

Tāngata Tuia te Ora, the Endangered Species Foundation, has submitted in opposition to the Conservation Amendment Bill, calling on the Environment Select Committee to recommend that it not proceed. The Bill would make up to 60% of public conservation land eligible for disposal or exchange, putting the taonga species that rely on those ecosystems at serious risk.

Fewer than a thousand matuku-hūrepo | Australasian bittern remain in Aotearoa. Ninety percent of their wetland habitat is gone. Now, a proposed four-lane highway threatens Doctors Hill wetland in Northland, one of the last places these taonga birds can call home.