Community Meeting – Hurunui Biodiversity Action
Waipara Memorial Hall, Wednesday 29th June
This meeting invited people to learn about and provide input into a new project: creating a resource to help landowners and community groups better manage and protect biodiversity across Hurunui. It was organised by the Hurunui Biodiversity Trust to discuss the development of a district-wide resource bringing together accessible information and outlining practical steps urgently needed to take action to protect and enhance the biodiversity that exists across the district’s varied landscapes and ecosystems.
There were three speakers who addressed the community meeting. In addition to a welcome from Trust Chair Dave Nicholls, Trustees Michael Bennett and Jamie McFadden spoke about protecting biodiversity from the dual challenges of pest species and climate change.
Dave Nicholls says the biodiversity resource could help inform people about the threats to their biodiversity so they’ll be able to make informed decisions to protect what they have on their properties.
“There’s a lot of information required to make informed decisions about biodiversity”, says Nicholls. “You need to know what you have and why it’s worth protecting. Then you need to know what the threats are, including pests such as deer and pigs and invasive weeds. And finally, but most importantly, people need to know what steps to take to protect their biodiversity and what support and funding might be available to help them.”
The second part of the meeting was a discussion followed by attendees being invited to write down their needs and ideas for the biodiversity resource. Dave Nicholls says the group discussion tapped into the challenges many people have with managing biodiversity.