Regenerative Communities Supporters
Me te mihi nui mo a koutou manaakitanga. We are grateful to have support from Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke, Rapaki , St Martins Primary School, St Martins Scouts, Opawaho Heathcote River Network and Christchurch City Council Rangers. The Kumara Awards are hosted by Placemaking Aotearoa.
This project is funded by Lotteries Community Research and Christchurch City Council.
Pilot Project Final Report
Please find the full report here (115pp & Full Colour):
We will be providing a summary soon.
Regenerative Communities Process
Through regular mahi sessions - including monthly Give Back Saturdays, summer watering and winter planting - a growing number of local people are enriching the tiny forest and deepening their relationship with it. A local volunteer Oversight Team now gives direction to this work. All activities have been and continue to be a rich source of learning about local biodiversity, how whenua and awa can be healed and nurtured, as well as the stories of this place.
Participants have also celebrated together seasons such as Matariki, run learning programmes for a local school and the Scouts, and will increasingly offer a range of workshops that teach participants regenerative skills and principles; including matauranga Maori.
Check our current info on the King George V Reserve Facebook Page.
We won a Kumara Award 2022!
We were given a friendly surprise with award for the mahi we've done with our Regenerative Communities Pilot project in the Tiny Forest aka King George V Reserve.
The awards are given by Placemaking Aotearoa for projects that create a deeper connection between communities and their place. We took out the 'Tiakina te whenua, ka manaakitia te tangata. Caring for the land, caring for the people' award for Otautahi, Waimakariri, Selwyn region.
Huge thanks to Maui Stuart and Te Hapu Ngati Wheke for their strong support and involvement in the project. Thanks to Placemaking Aotearoa for the recognition and affirmation with these inspirational awards. Thanks also to Lotteries Research for funding support to get us to this point in our development. The journey of growing together whenua and people has only just begun.
Check out all the winners: Pacemaking Aotearoa Kumara Awards
What is Regeneration?
Regeneration is about healing the whole community of life, rather than merely conserving parts of it. It asks how humans can partner with nature to create fullness of health for nature and each other. This requires deep respect and love for, the ecology of our local place, and a willingness to both learn from, and change with it.
A regenerative community acts in ways that restores, renews and revitalizes all of life that makes up their place.
What can we do Together?
Our aim is to create local regenerative communities committed to learning, engaging, sharing, support, and transformation. We are beginning with a Regenerative Communities Pilot exploring ecological action, reflecting together, workshops, sharing experience, skills and resources.
Let’s take a step forward and imagine and create together a better way of living for all life across the East Canterbury Waitaha Bioregion. For our children, our children’s children and all life that follows.
Regenerative Communities Pilot
You've probably heard of Regenerative Agriculture as a way for a sustainable future. Well we want to explore what a regenerative community would look like. This Pilot is to both learn and practice how to undertake regeneration with and by community. We are journalling the story as it happens and what we are learning. Our intention is to share this across Flourish initiatives as well as publicly, with the aim that other initiatives can pick up this exciting and transformative way of working
Launched in early 2021 our primary focus has been engaging local people from the St Martins/Opawa/Hillsborough communities in King George V Reserve. Located at the junction of these communities, it features a regenerating tiny forest and the Opawaho Heathcote River. In partnership with Te Hapu o Ngati Wheke the project seeks to honour Te Tiriti O Waitangi. The tiny forest was planted in 1990 to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the signing of Te Tiriti.
Why is it Important?
Our human relationship with our planet is broken. We owe it to future generations to heal this rupture. Approaches such as sustainability reduce the damage but do not steer us in a healing, transformative direction. We need to find a pathway that leads us all back to health, reducing climate breakdown and a fair society. Throughout human history indigenous societies have lived regeneratively and so we can draw on their wisdom in shaping our way forward.