Caring for native wildlife key to leaving a positive mark on Aotearoa.
This opinion piece from Mike Fuge, CEO of Contact, is the sixth in a series of eight looking at improving outcomes for Aotearoa.
To the rest of the world, Aotearoa is lauded for its clean green image. It’s easy to see why. From the outside looking in, we’re a picturesque nation with incredible landscapes and a population that values our environment.
Everyone – from individuals reading this at home to large organisations like Contact – has a responsibility to ensure Aotearoa continues to uphold this reputation so it remains a good place to call home for now and years to come.
For organisations, this means constantly checking their impacts on the environment. In doing this, we can ensure we put measures in place that protect and improve the world around us.
As a company whose success relies on thriving New Zealand ecosystems, Contact has made a commitment to take care of our natural resources so that future generations of New Zealanders can enjoy them too.
One example of this is caring for our native birds and wildlife. Without intervention, the kiwi is likely to be extinct in the wild within two generations. Community involvement and engagement are essential to our national bird’s survival.
In the North Island, to support the preservation of kiwi, Contact has partnered with the Taranaki Kiwi Trust, supporting the development of its education programme. The Trust’s training and advocacy programme sees individuals trained to help eliminate predators and protect our kiwi.
We are also helping another of our native birds, the kārearea (New Zealand falcon). For two years we have supported the release of kārearea chicks, from the Wingspan National Bird of Prey Centre in Rotorua to the foot of Mt Tauhara in Taupō. In the wild, just one in four kārearea chicks make it to their first birthday so this initiative ensures more kārearea make it to adulthood.
Another example of this is how we mitigate the impact of our work on the environment. Generating renewable electricity relies on our natural resources but it can also interrupt what nature intended. For example, a hydro dam can block the natural migration path of native freshwater fish species such as tuna (eels) and kanakana (lamprey).
That’s why we run initiatives as part of our Native Fish Management Programme, like the trap and transfer programme which takes place around this time of year on the Clutha Mata-au river in the South Island.
Young tuna, referred to as elver, make their way up the purpose-built ramps at the Roxburgh dam, where we carefully relocate them above the dam throughout the upper Clutha Mata-au. We also give the adult tuna the helping hand they need to migrate out to the Pacific Ocean (often as far as Tonga).
Contact collaborates with the Department of Conservation (DoC) and NIWA (the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) to develop these passage systems making continuous improvements over time. In 2022, 198kg of elver were successfully trapped and transferred above the Roxburgh dam, over double the previous record. The start of the 2023 season is tracking well with over 150kg of elver transferred, and we believe more is yet to come.
These regional-specific initiatives are our way of ensuring we give back to the communities and environments we operate in. They are just a few examples of the work we are doing to mitigate our impact on the environment across Aotearoa.
On a wider level, Contact is doing its part to shift energy generation toward renewable resources and work toward our collective goal of net carbon zero by 2050.
While all organisations have a responsibility to think about their broader sustainability practices, honing in on the communities you impact should be a priority too.
The outcomes that emerge from how we interact with the environment and areas we operate in help ensure Aotearoa is a good place to call home – for our wildlife and our people.
Find out more about Contact’s commitments to Aotearoa here.