The future of our planet is in safe hands if we have more tamariki like the ones who joined us for our first Eco Leaders Hui!
We bought together 10 primary schools from South Canterbury. Each school brought four future leaders to learn about predator-free monitoring, waste audits, and citizen science with iNaturalist.
Throughout the day we heard inspiring stories of what schools are already doing, and by the end, each group had created their own action plan to take back and lead change.
Their ideas included starting Enviro teams, getting chickens, boosting biodiversity through bug hotels and native planting, setting up glasshouses and veggie gardens -and a new fascination with bugs thanks to iNaturalist! 
It was one of those days that makes you proud of your community and so grateful for the teachers guiding these amazing tamariki to create a better future. We’ll be checking back in with schools in Term 4 to see how their projects are coming along.
A big thank you to Enviro NZ, Environment Canterbury, and WAVE for collaborating with us to make this event possible.
We’re excited to announce this will be an annual event, with the next Eco Leaders Hui happening in Term 2, 2026.
