Planning sediment trap at Rotongata
New Zealand Landcare Trust chief executive Nick Edgar has been elected chair of Global Landcare.
Global Landcare is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2020 to support global efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change, enhance biodiversity and improve food security.
Landcare is an international movement to encourage communities to collaborate and adopt environmentally sustainable land and water management practices.
It is founded on an ethos of grass roots, local, community-led approaches to solving difficult environmental management issues.
“It’s super exciting to be elected by my colleagues to lead this organisation,” said Dr Edgar who moved to Mystery Creek near Te Awamutu from Hamilton eight years ago.
“The landcare approach is working in over 30 countries, from Africa to Asia, from the Caribbean to the Pacific, from Iceland to Bhutan, and from Europe to the Americas. It is a truly global effort.”
The NZ Landcare Trust, headquartered in Hamilton, has worked for 30 years with iwi, farmers, and local communities on a wide range of environmental projects nationally.
Projects include working with farmers to improve water quality in the Waipā peat lakes, building new wetlands, and supporting predator-free initiatives at Mystery Creek and Te Awamutu. More recently the trust has managed the Taiea to Taiao project, building a wildlife corridor to connect the Maungatautari and Pirongia maunga.
“The plan is to plant trees and reduce pests, creating stepping stones along the corridor to allow for the safe dispersal of native birds from the mountain sanctuary at Maungatautari to the Mt Pirongia volcano and beyond,” Edgar said.
This includes fencing off farmland and planting hundreds of thousands of trees in the last couple of years working in partnership with iwi, local landowners, and agency staff from Waipā District Council, Waikato Regional Council, and the Waikato River Authority.
“My vision is to take the kinds of innovative approaches, knowledge and skills that we have developed in New Zealand and apply them in other countries,” Edgar said.
“We have an exciting opportunity to take some of the best examples of Kiwi ingenuity and intellectual property related to sustainable agricultural practices and environmental conservation and export it to the rest of the world.”
Landcare is not a heavy handed top-down approach being foistered on developing countries.
“That approach does not work with communities in New Zealand, and it will not work anywhere else,” Edgar said.
“We must be respectful of local communities in other countries, let them design local solutions, based on their local and indigenous knowledge.
“We are simply there to support them with training, new technologies, and funding.
“Planting trees also helps to protect local streams from eroding sediment and nutrient enrichment, with their precious taonga of native aquatic plants, invertebrates, and fish.
“It is a genuine partnership approach that can function as a model for what can be achieved when local people take ownership of environmental management.”
Global Landare will emphasise knowledge exchange and provide training in other countries.
Oceania will be a hot spot for Global Landcare efforts over the next couple of years.
“We are developing partnerships between Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, and Rarotonga.
The aim is to support local landowners and communities in the Pacific to address climate resilience, flooding, and water resource protection, and to assist with the conservation of engendered terrestrial and marine species.
“The work is already underway, and we hope to scale it up in partnership with our Pacific cousins,” Edgar said.
