Twenty-two projects around Te Taitokerau are to share $600,000 of Northland Regional Council funding designed to help build climate resilience.

Council Deputy Chair Tui Shortland says during the council’s Long-Term Plan 2024-2034 consultation, the region’s communities had emphasised the importance they placed on council taking a leading role in helping to build that resilience.

That had resulted in the council establishing a $600,000 fund to support communities to prepare for the growing effects of climate change and the natural hazard risks our region faces.

Councillor Shortland says the council had received a huge level of interest from communities across Northland, expressing their ideas and aspirations for a climate resilient future for Te Taitokerau.

"In this first round we had an overwhelming response, with 96 applications requesting $3.2 million."

Councillor Shortland says deciding how to allocate the $600,000 available had been extremely difficult, but 22 projects that met the fund criteria and aimed to build community capacity and strengthen connections to build community resilience would receive a portion of this pūtea.

"Six of the projects directly focus on building kai resilience for the region."

"These include on the ground community-led mahi that aims to educate and empower communities to grow their own kai and projects that identify and strengthen food support networks and develop a strategy for how the region can become self-sufficient in food production and distribution."

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Four projects supported water supply investigations to future proof water resilience and water tanks in vulnerable communities. "This extends the water resilience mahi NRC previously supported through the Water Resilience Fund which has now been replaced with this Climate Resilient Communities Fund."

Three rural marae will receive funding to support the installation of solar panels, improving energy resilience and benefiting the wider community in times of need. Investing in energy security not only keeps the power on when energy infrastructure goes down, but reduces energy costs for our people and importantly helps reduce Te Taitokerau's greenhouse gas emissions.

Funding will support four projects that look to nature-based solutions to build resilience to the changing climate, recognising how restoring wetlands, river margins and coastal dune systems can enhance protection from weather events, increase carbon sequestration and support our indigenous biodiversity.

Three other projects aim to build resilience across multiple impact areas looking holistically at how our resilience could be improved as the climate changes.

Two planning projects have been funded that will help the respective communities understand how climate change could impact them and to formulate specific plans to reduce these impacts.

Successful applicants and their projects are:

• Bream Bay Coastal Care Trust - Bream Bay Coastal Restoration Project ($23,000)
• Climate Change Taitokerau Northland Trust - Kai Sovereignty Strategy ($20,000)
• Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand- Te Taitokerau branch - Te Taitokerau How to restore dunes video ($30,708)
• Community Business Environment Centre - Hokinganui a Kai ($40,000)
• Hokianga Community Educational Trust - He Kete Kai o Hokianga -Future Proofing our Hokianga Food Systems ($36,786.39)
• Matatina Marae Trust - Matatina Kai Whenua - community garden at marae for self sufficiency ($22,476)
• Maungarongo Whenua Trust on behalf of Ricco Tito -Taiao Kaitiaki Oranga ō te Waīma ($30,000)
• Morehu Marae Committee - Water tank replacement at marae ($7127.66)
• Ngaitupoto Trustees Marae - Solar system ($35,000)
• Opuawhanga Community Hall Trust - Resilience Network ($10,500)
• Oromahoe 18R2B2B2 Trust - Te Wai Ora, Te Whenua Ora: Oromahoe Water Feasibility Study ($25,000)
• Pakanae 5A Trust - Cultural and Nature-Based Resilience Programme ($30,000)
• Puketawa Marae - Solar Energy for marae resilience ($26,037.49)
• Roma Marae - Te Ngao ki te Marae o Roma (Energy Resilience at Roma Marae) ($25,000)
• Rural Support Trust Northland - Rural Support Climate Resilience ($40,000)
• Te Hapua Sports and Recreation Club - Water Resilience ($6956.52)
• Te Kōhanga Reo O Manaakitia - Kia manawaroa Te Kōhanga Reo o Manaakitia ($7200)
• Te Maire Whanau Trust - Whānau-Led Fruit Orchard Development ($30,000)
• Te Paatu ki Kauhanga Trust Board - Kāmehameha ($40,000)
• Te Pokapu Tiaki Taiao O Te Tai Tokerau Trust -Tuituia Te Kahunuku & Food Resiliency ($32,325)
• Te Runanga o Ngati Hine Trust - Tanks a lot ($40,000)
• Whakapara Marae Trust - Te Taiao o nga Waipukehia" The environment of the flooded waters ($30,000)

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