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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This September, leaders at the forefront of taiao restoration will gather in Kirikiriroa Hamilton for the first ever Endangered Species National Hui.

For Conservation Week, ESF General Manager Natalie Jessup was guest editor of the Sustainable Future newsletter from Newsroom Aotearoa.

The Endangered Species National Hui 2026 is inviting iwi, rangatahi, scientists and community leaders to Kirikiriroa Hamilton this September, and Co-Chair Tāwera Nikau says the timing is critical.

A national hui bringing together iwi, communities, scientists, creatives and advocates will take place in Kirikiriroa this September, responding to the accelerating crisis facing Aotearoa’s most endangered taonga species and their habitats. The Endangered Species National Hui 2026, hosted by Tāngaro Tuia te Ora – Endangered Species Foundation (ESF), will be held on 2–3 September at Wintec, Hamilton, and is focused on moving from collaboration and kōrero, through to collecti