Conservation Comment: An inspiring environmental future?

Support funding recognises the excellent work of Progress Castlecliff's Coast Care. Photo / Paul Brooks

Whanganui is a great little city, however, folk who are busy in our arts and craft, music, sport and heritage and cultural fields must work hard to bring in funding from outside our city to ensure success.

Being active in the environmental field, I have noticed lots of local groups being recognised for their excellent work, which results in them successfully drawing in funding from outside the region.

Our Progress Castlecliff's Coast Care group is fortunate to have received support funding for the next three years from trustees of the Tai Shan Foundation via The Gift Trust, and I know the Gift Trust was also a source of funding for the Learning Environment's establishment costs.

These external funds add greatly to those provided by local trusts and territorial authorities such as Horizon Regional Council's Kanorau Koiora Taketake - Indigenous Biodiversity Community grant, and WDC's community contract.

A new Whanganui initiative, Kai Hub has also been successful in attracting funds from a range of non-territorial authority sources. Government funding came from both the ministries of Environment and Social Development, plus Countdown supermarket contributed.

Operating initially under the umbrella of Sustainable Whanganui Trust, the Kai Hub has already diverted more than 20 tonnes of food from landfill to empty stomachs.

Another source of funding attracted to Whanganui this year is from the Ministry of Environment's (MfE) funding for Environment Hubs.

Since October 2020 Environmental Hubs Aotearoa (EHA) has been responsible for administering MfE's Community Environment Funding.

This fund has been in existence for several years, but was ringfenced to the original group of 12 environmental centres. During the recent Labour/Green Government the size of the fund was substantially increased, and EHA is tasked with expanding the group of hubs receiving funding support.

In the latest EHA annual report, 16 hubs have had huge positive impacts. Run by 14,000 volunteers, they had overall 308,200 visitors, provided educational sessions to 104 schools, ran 46 school holiday programmes and 3200 external community events. The full report is on the EHA website, https://www.environmenthubs.nz/

Here are four examples demonstrating hub activities: Sustainable Trust Wellington, have established a strong focus on healthy homes, installing insulation and running a curtain bank.

Sustainable Taranaki runs an annual "Backyard trail" where people can visit eco-friendly gardens and backyard units, during the more famous traditional garden tours in October. While Tairawhiti Environment Centre has its own educational garden.

Eco-Centre Timaru is just getting set up within their former sports club building, which was gifted for $1, now relocated to an old landfill site. Having successfully raised more than a million dollars to reshape and outfit the building and site, they are excited to finally provide their community with a purpose-designed community Hub.

Sustainable Whanganui Trust joined EHA earlier this year and through submitting a detailed application has received funding to cover operational costs for an expanded hub.

I'm hopeful many of these inspiring ideas, gleaned from other hubs, can be adapted to suit Whanganui and be incorporated alongside our own unique situations.

Living alongside the wild and dynamic west coast beaches, by the awa that stretches from the mountains to the sea, we must be able to form a truly unique and special environmental hub that can service all of Whanganui.

Graham Pearson is actively involved in Progress Castlecliff's Coast Care and the Sustainable Whanganui Trust. He takes a keen interest in other local environmental initiatives.