In the Kaimai Mamuku ranges iwi-led conservation projects are tackling pests, removing weeds and planting natives to restore their whenua. Ngāti Hinerangi’s Wairere Mahi project has been trapping around the Wairere falls, and restoring a nearby system of lakes. The projects were born from the Jobs for Nature fund established by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic. But with that fund now finished where will the money to support future conservation work come from? The Manaaki Kaimai Mamuku Trust supporting these projects has some ideas.

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• Jobs for Nature also supported an iwi-led wetland restoration project just outside Dunedin.
• In 2024 The Detail spoke to a number of Jobs for Nature supported projects that were nearing the end of their funding.
• The Turning Point video series followed some of the kaimahi working on different Jobs for Nature projects across Aotearoa.
• Country Life’s Dollars for Nature episode covered the government announcement about voluntary nature credits market.

Guests:

• Louise Saunders, CEO of Manaaki Kaimai Mamuku Trust
• Mohi Korohina, Wairere Mahi project manager
• Hera Denton, GoEco

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A native species is taking over a jewel-in-the crown marine reserve. But what can be done? Centrostephanus, the long-spined urchin, is munching it’s way through the world-renowned rock walls and kelp beds of the Poor Knights Islands. DOC, University of Auckland scientists and a local hapū are running removal trials to investigate whether this might be a way to manage it’s march.

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• Listen to the Voice of Tangaroa podcast, focusing on marine issues around New Zealand. Kina-nomics asks if we can eat our way out of the kina barren problem.
• For more about rock wall communities, dive into the murky depths of Fiordland, to learn about the sponges, sea squirts and black corals clinging to the undersea cliffs.
• Kelp is an important part of the underwater ecosystem, habitat and food for many organisms. Here how a team in Wellington are trying to restore lost kelp beds there.

Guests:

• Dr Nick Shears, University of Auckland, Rocky Reef Lab Instagram
• Dr Arie Spyksma, University of Auckland
• Dr Celia Balemi, University of Auckland
• Dr Sarah Meadows, Department of Conservation
• Dr Monique Ladds, Department of Conservation
• Sandra Hawken, Te Whānau a Rangiwhakaahu

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New Zealand is third in the world for the number of orbital rocket launches from our shores, sitting just behind the US and China. Phil Vine discovers some of the challenges raised by our push into the unknown and how it is changing the final frontier.

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• Through a science experiment on the ISS, New Zealand researchers have been taking advantage of the unique conditions in low earth orbit to investigate commercial opportunities.
• While New Zealand is well known as a place from which to launch rockets, we do not have a lot of our own hardware in space (the University of Auckland does have TPA-1 CubeSat). But that might be about to change.
• Tech bros turned space bros like Elon Musk are making big waves out in orbit. The latest news is that Musk is hoping to harness the sun through satellites to power AI data centres.
• The New Zealand government's biggest investment in an international space mission ended in failure last year after MethaneSAT, a satellite built to detect methane emissions around the world, lost contact.
• While there are challenges inherent in humans and their technology being in space, that’s not all that is going on. Scientists are keeping a close eye on an active black hole and bright lights have Northland locals turning their eyes to the skies.

Guests:

• Mark Rocket, CEO Kea Aerospace
• Dr Priyanka Dhopade, senior lecturer in mechanical and mechatronics engineering, University of Auckland
• Dr Tuana Yazici, space law expert

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details