Collaboration the key to improving habitat for kiwi and mitigating climate change in Hawke’s Bay

Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay has partnered with Eat My Carbon and Carbon Invoice to deliver more native trees and shrubs in the ground at Te Awanga. The plantings will improve habitat for Eastern Brown Kiwi in the buffer zone around Cape Sanctuary whist enabling local businesses to mitigate carbon emissions generated by their operational activities.

Eat My Carbon (EMC) and Carbon Invoice (CI) are New Zealand-based entities that have developed innovative tools for carbon emission accounting. CI enables small and medium sized businesses to calculate the carbon footprint of their operations using information drawn from Xero accounting software. The platform then calculates the number of native trees required to sequester that carbon and issues an invoice to cover the cost of plants. EMC supports environmental groups and others who are planting trees to understand the impact of their work by calculating the amount of carbon sequestered by the planted trees. EMC’s platform also enables groups to promote their work and is the underlying technology for Biodiversity HB’s Project Portal.

Several Hawkes Bay-based businesses are early adopters of CI’s carbon accounting platform, including Property Brokers, HB Tech, Inhouse Marketing, Halcyon Project Management, and Tracta and thus, CI were looking for a local planting project to support with funds raised. Biodiversity HB introduced them to the team at Te Awanga Downs and helped to organise a planting event for staff from the local businesses. The event was a great success, resulting in over 700 plants in the ground and enabling local businesses to meet like-minded people including staff from CI and EMC.

Increasing native plantings at Te Awanga Downs is a key project for Amy and Fox Nilsson and project manager Moo Scotting. It contributes to a wider initiative by Te Awanga locals to improve the habitat for kiwi, as there is evidence of them ‘escaping’ the fence surrounding nearby Cape Sanctuary. Establishing native trees and shrubs increases food sources, whilst dense toe toe clumps provide refuge from predators. Other aspects managed by Moo include an extensive predator trapping network and kiwi aversion training for local dogs.

Biodiversity HB is well-positioned to connect businesses that want to ‘do good’ with local individuals and groups that need help -financial and other resources – to achieve biodiversity and climate-focused gains. General Manager Debbie Monahan cites “our extensive local knowledge and relationships that enable us to bring people together to collaborate and achieve common goals.” She hopes that plantings supported by CI-contributing businesses will become a regular part of the landscape in our region. “This first event was a great day out for everyone, and expertly hosted by the Te Awanga Downs team. We look forward to facilitating more of these events in the following years”.

A great video has been created to capture the day - which you can find here..

Hawke's Bay Planting Action Day by CarbonInvoice (youtube.com)

18 September 2024

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