Community gardens will be created at Matatina Marae in Waipoua Forest – part of $600,000 of climate resilience funding from Northland Regional Council.
Community gardens will be created at Matatina Marae in Waipoua Forest – part of $600,000 of climate resilience funding from Northland Regional Council.
Far North projects have received the bulk of $600,000 of ratepayer funding to help build climate resilience throughout the region.
Twenty-two projects are getting a share of $600,000 of Northland Regional Council funding, with more than $300,000 going on 12 Far North-specific projects. Also, some of the funding is going to region-wide projects that may include the Far North.
Council deputy chairwoman Tui Shortland said during the council’s long-term plan 2024-34 consultation, the region’s communities emphasised the importance they placed on the council taking a leading role in helping to build that resilience.
Shortland said the council had received a huge level of interest from communities throughout Northland, expressing their ideas and aspirations for a climate-resilient future for the region.
Several Northland organisations have received funding from Northland Regional Council to install solar power systems to help build climate resilience.
In this first round the council had an overwhelming response, with 96 applications, including 48 in the Far North, seeking $3.2 million.
Shortland said deciding how to allocate the $600,000 available had been extremely difficult, but 22 projects that met the fund criteria and aimed to build community capacity and strengthen connections to build community resilience would receive a portion.
“Six of the projects directly focus on building kai resilience for the region. These include on-the-ground, community-led mahi that aims to educate and empower communities to grow their own kai and projects that identify and strengthen food support networks and develop a strategy for how the region can become self-sufficient in food production and distribution,” she said.
Four projects supported water supply investigations to future-proof water resilience and water tanks in vulnerable communities.
Three rural marae will receive funding to support the installation of solar panels, improving energy resilience and benefiting the wider community in times of need. Funding will also support four projects that look to nature-based solutions to build resilience to the changing climate, recognising how restoring wetlands, river margins and coastal dune systems can enhance protection from weather events, increase carbon sequestration and support indigenous biodiversity.
Three other projects aim to build resilience across multiple impact areas looking holistically at how our resilience could be improved as the climate changes. Two planning projects have been funded that will help the respective communities understand how climate change could affect them and to formulate specific plans to reduce these impacts.
Ratepayer climate resilience funding will help install water tanks in isolated Northland communities.
The successful projects
Far North:
Hokianga Community Educational Trust – He Kete Kai o Hokianga – Future Proofing our Hokianga Food Systems ($36,786.39)
Matatina Marae Trust – Matatina Kai Whenua – community garden at marae for self-sufficiency ($22,476)
Morehu Marae Committee – water tank replacement at marae ($7127.66)
Ngai Tupoto Trustees Marae – solar system ($35,000)
Oromāhoe 18R2B2B2 Trust – Te Wai Ora, Te Whenua Ora: Oromāhoe Water Feasibility Study ($25,000)
Pakanae 5A Trust – Cultural and Nature-Based Resilience Programme ($30,000)
