About

Te Weu Tairāwhiti is a collective of local researchers focused on the future risks and opportunities for Tairāwhiti. We all have something to offer and invite you to join us.

Our region, like the rest of the world, faces some big challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, erosion and soil conservation, sustainable employment and economic opportunities. We need to understand these issues, and what is currently helping or hurting our chances of leaving a healthy environment and economy for future generations.

Te Weu Tairāwhiti has been researching the impacts of carbon farming in the region, looking at climate change risk assessments and planning at the land block, village and neighbourhood level. We work with local authorities and central government but we can’t rely on them to solve local or global problems – we all need to be involved.

We’ve developed some resources including an online dynamic dashboard for modelling various land use scenarios in Tairāwhiti and the impacts those would have on jobs, income for landowners and biodiversity in the region. We’ve identified six possible land use scenarios for the region and created lists of the pros, cons and risks associated with each. We’ve also created a set of short discussion starter videos on topics such as: the history of land use in Tairāwhiti; what the science says about climate change impacts in the region; an introduction to carbon farming and its impacts; and possible sustainable land use options for Tairāwhiti.

All the resources we’ve developed are available on this website and we hope whānau, hapū, marae, iwi, schools, clubs, businesses, faith communities, public services and anyone in the region find them useful discussion starters to help us think through where we’ve come from, where are at and where we want to go as a region.

Please get in touch if you would like to help us or need help with something connected to our efforts.

We’ve had great support from the Deep South National Science Challenge – check out some of the other research projects here.