Biome Trust

Biome Trust Philanthropic Organism in Service to Ecological Health 🌱 Rewilding resources for future generations

Applications are open for Ma Earth Funding Round 3.$500k is available in matching grants for 100 grassroots nature proje...
26/05/2026

Applications are open for Ma Earth Funding Round 3.

$500k is available in matching grants for 100 grassroots nature projects worldwide.

Apply through Ma Earth's new collective funding platform, purpose built for community-led regeneration.

Learn more at https://maearth.com

The Mana Wāhine Declaration for Soil and Seed is an Indigenous women's declaration to protect, nurture and honour Hineah...
22/05/2026

The Mana Wāhine Declaration for Soil and Seed is an Indigenous women's declaration to protect, nurture and honour Hineahuone - the atua or deity of soil and seed.

It is a call to action from women around the world to:
1. Return to our ancient ways of listening to Papatūānuku (Mother Earth).
2. Commit to doing the mahi or work needed to restore the health of our soils, and to save and plant our Indigenous seeds.
3. Resist late-stage capitalist patriarchy by slowing down and revitalising the divine feminine.

Led by Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust's Dr Jessica Hutchings and Dr Jo Smith in collaboration with Erin Matariki Carr and Dr Vandana Shiva, the declaration was first presented at Navdanya International in North India on World Food Day 2024, and is now open for signing by people around the world.

Learn more and sign the declaration at https://www.papawhakaritorito.com/mana-wahine-declaration-for-hineahuone-signing-page

Meet the 2026 Bug of the Year: the Avatar Moth (Arctesthes avatar) 🦋This tiny day-flying moth has earthy forewings and a...
21/05/2026

Meet the 2026 Bug of the Year: the Avatar Moth (Arctesthes avatar) 🦋

This tiny day-flying moth has earthy forewings and a glorious blush of gold on its hindwings - and it lives in just one place on Earth: the Denniston Plateau on the South Island's West Coast.

Discovered in 2012 during a Forest & Bird bioblitz, it earned its name for a sobering reason. Like the world of Pandora in the film Avatar, its only known habitat is under threat from a proposed open-cast coal mine.

Classified Nationally Critical, this little moth is one bulldozer away from extinction.

Thanks to the Entomological Society of New Zealand and for celebrating to the Avatar Moth - may this win bring the protection it deserves.

Learn more at https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/resources/avatar-moth-wins-2026-bug-year

We tend to overthink it. Climate, food security, soil health - the headlines feel impossibly tangled. But Mollison's poi...
21/05/2026

We tend to overthink it. Climate, food security, soil health - the headlines feel impossibly tangled. But Mollison's point still lands: plant something, compost your scraps, share the harvest.

The smallest acts, repeated, are often the answer hiding in plain sight.

Bill Mollison (1928-2016) was an Australian researcher, author, and biologist who co-developed permaculture in the 1970s - a design philosophy rooted in working with nature rather than against it.

His vision? That observing natural systems can teach us to grow food, build communities, and live sustainably without overcomplicating the process.

Sometimes all global transformation takes is your hands in the soil.



Over four immersive days at the Learning Environment, a remarkable group of rangatahi [youth] came together with facilit...
21/05/2026

Over four immersive days at the Learning Environment, a remarkable group of rangatahi [youth] came together with facilitators, kaimahi, and partners for Te Pātaka - a kaupapa grounded in connection to te taiao and guided by hope.

Te Pātaka made space for possibility, relationships, culture, and action - inviting rangatahi to explore who they are, where they come from, and the futures they wanted to shape.

The shifts in confidence, connection, and collective energy were real. Through powerful wānanga, deep kōrero, shared laughter, and a breathtaking dawn to close the journey, rangatahi stepped into leadership, supported one another, and brought their thoughts and creativity to life.

Ngā mihi Te Ao Hou Marae, Te Oranganui, and funding partners at Horizons Regional Council for their continued aroha & support of this kaupapa.

Learn more about future rangatahi events at https://learningenvironment.nz

There is a particular kind of knowing that only trees can offer.At .farm.foundation in the South Wairarapa, this knowing...
08/05/2026

There is a particular kind of knowing that only trees can offer.

At .farm.foundation in the South Wairarapa, this knowing is being passed - quietly and deliberately - from trees to children, and from children back to land.

Founded in 2021 by Jane and Rod Sugden alongside sisters Liz and Lucy Riddiford, the foundation began as eight hectares of former farmland near Martinborough - and with the help of local volunteers, mana whenua and schools, has become a community-oriented wetland and riparian forest restoration project working to "restore the mauri of this wāhi tapu."

Atthe heart of the work is Te Reo o te Wai - the Voice of the Water - an eight-month education programme bringing together children, teachers, artists, kaitiaki and farmers in the Waihinga Catchment.

Last month, nine and ten year olds from Southend School nestled into a quiet hollow in the heart of Waihinga Bush. They sat still. Jane spoke of mosses and lichens - the ancient, patient pioneers that first clung to the edges of streams. Out of that stillness came some of the most creative writing the children had ever produced.

This is the gift Ruamāhanga offers: a felt sense of belonging. A curriculum rooted in wonder, reciprocity, and deep time.

Read the latest newsletter at https://biometrust.earth/blog/the-wonder-of-trees

Follow .farm.foundation

Tū Wairua is a Hauora Māori initiative designed, led, and directed by Māori (Rangiwaho, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri), investigating ...
06/05/2026

Tū Wairua is a Hauora Māori initiative designed, led, and directed by Māori (Rangiwaho, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri), investigating the safety and effectiveness of administering rongoā Māori psilocybe taonga species to whānau suffering from problematic methamphetamine use (PMU).

Health psychologist Anna-Leigh Hodge (Te Rarawa, Ngātiwai) and resident community member at is a wahine Māori working at the interface of mātauranga Māori, rongoā Māori, clinical psychology, and emerging psychedelic research with Tū Wairua all within a tikanga and wairua-grounded framework - recently interviewed by .

"What drew me to psilocybin within a rongoā Māori framework was not an interest in the substance alone, but in the wider healing potential that can emerge when this work is held in a way that is accountable to whakapapa, tikanga, wairua, whenua, and whānau. Rongoā Māori is not simply about plant medicine in isolation; it is about restoring balance and strengthening mauri through relationship."

💚

Read the full interview in 's Rongoā / Drugs issue https://www.debatemag.com/single-post/intergration-of-rongo%C4%81-m%C4%81ori-with-psychedelic-assisted-therapy

Learn more about Tū Wairua at https://tuwairua.org/

*Cover image features members of the Tū Wairua team at Rangiwaho Marae, Tairāwhiti / Gisborne, with support from an inter-disciplinary team of researchers and practitioners, plus members of the wider community.

Photos by Tiffany Morgan photography, Anna-Leigh and from the Tū Wairua website.

When we restore our ecosystems, we also restore our relationship with the living world. is a botanist and member of the...
06/05/2026

When we restore our ecosystems, we also restore our relationship with the living world.

is a botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation whose bestselling book Braiding Sweetgrass invites us to see nature as a community of relatives, not a collection of resources.

She's also the founder of - a grassroots movement turning love of land into planting, community, and creative resistance.

Join a planting day near you and be part of the change.

Learn more at https://plantbabyplant.com/

Our friends at the Learning Environment are reflecting on five years of restoration at Pīwaiwaka Farm in Whanganui. Acro...
06/05/2026

Our friends at the Learning Environment are reflecting on five years of restoration at Pīwaiwaka Farm in Whanganui. Across the 72-hectare property, the local community have planted 40,000+ trees, grown 150,000+ native plants, removed 1,000+ pests, and engaged 1,500+ learners through hands-on environmental education.

A driving force behind this mahi is Taiao Thursdays, the weekly volunteer day. In the past five months alone, volunteers have contributed over 1,000 hours potting native plants and tackling Old Man's Beard in the forest.

The impact is visible in the wildlife returning. Recently the first ever sighting of a toutouwai/New Zealand robin, a declining species rarely seen so close to town, alongside regular visits from kārearea, kākā, tūī, kererū, and of course, the pīwaiwaka.

Registrations are now open for the Seed to Canopy workshop series with Cameron Ryan, a hands-on programme teaching people how to design and manage forests that last for generations (register at https://tinyurl.com/seedtocanopy).

Pīwaiwaka Farm is open from Monday to Thursday, 10am to 4pm (excluding public holidays).

For more information, contact [email protected] or visit https://learningenvironment.nz

"It takes a village to feed a village." Little Farms NZ in Wairarapa has created a community of food producers to provid...
17/04/2026

"It takes a village to feed a village." Little Farms NZ in Wairarapa has created a community of food producers to provide an affordable and resilient local food supply.

Created by mother of 3, and ex-lawyer Alex Morrissey Little Farms brings together some of the best organic kai producers in Wairarapa in collaboration to supply the Greater Wellington region with organically grown food.

Producers include:
A complete cow - Wairarapa
Vagabond Vege - Greytown, Hua Parakore certified
Rebel Gardens - Masterton
Graze Winebar - WGTN

Recently featuring on Hyundai Country Calendar with the episode Garden for Good - you can learn more about this local food initiative at https://wearelittlefarms.com/

Rewiring Aotearoa is working to build an electrified future where every Kiwi saves money on energy bills, reduces their ...
15/04/2026

Rewiring Aotearoa is working to build an electrified future where every Kiwi saves money on energy bills, reduces their carbon emissions and has the resilience to keep their lights on and homes warm.

Kill Bills Vol. 2 is touring Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Tauranga with free community events outlining action steps and resources to electrify households - with solar, batteries, heat pumps and EVs that in the long run will save thousands of dollars.

Learn more about Rewiring Aotearoa and find a local event at https://rewiring.nz/tour

Check out CEO Mike Casey & Electric Cherries for the world’s first fully electric cherry orchard in Otago.

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