{"id":396650,"date":"2026-04-25T06:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/396650\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T06:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T06:50:10","slug":"northland-community-climate-resilience-fund-faces-massive-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/396650\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland community climate resilience fund faces massive demand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Funded projects focus on practical measures to strengthen resilience to climate and environmental pressures across Northland, with an emphasis on essentials such as water, energy and food security.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollectively these investments reduce exposure to climate risk while improving local preparedness and self\u2011sufficiency,\u201d Tipene said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecent severe weather events have reinforced both the need for this investment and the role communities can play in supporting impacted wh\u0101nau when disruption occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the fund was helping Te Tai Tokerau communities better prepare for an increasingly volatile future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re already seeing how severe weather events can threaten lives, damage homes and infrastructure, leave communities cut off, and compromise access to food, water and energy supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applications for the 2026 funding round close on April 27, but the funding pool has been reduced by 20% to $480,000, pending adoption of the council\u2019s 2026\u201127 Annual Plan. Tipene said the reduction was part of efforts to achieve a nil council rates increase for the coming year.<\/p>\n

\" NRC chairman Pita Tipene says community-based climate resilience efforts are a crucial part of Northland being prepared for the future. Photo \/ Denise Piper<\/p>\n

Tipene said the fund strongly supported Northland Civil Defence readiness, with projects improving power continuity, water availability and community facilities\u2019 ability to operate as resilience hubs during disruptions.<\/p>\n

In 2025, marae\u2011based solar power systems were among 22 funded projects, including at Ng\u0101i T\u016bpoto Trustees Marae at Motukaraka Point in north Hokianga ($35,000) and Puketawa Marae in the Utakura Valley between H\u014dreke and \u014ckaihau ($26,000).<\/p>\n

Water security upgrades were funded. Morehu Marae in Pawarenga received about $7000 to replace its water tank. Te R\u016bnanga o Ng\u0101ti Hine Trust was granted $40,000 for its Tanks a Lot project, installing water storage across vulnerable Ng\u0101ti Hine communities in the Kawakawa\u2013Moerewa and inland Bay of Islands area.<\/p>\n

Food security initiatives were another major focus. The Hokianga Community Educational Trust received $36,786 for He Kete Kai o Hokianga \u2013 Future Proofing our Hokianga Food Systems, aimed at strengthening local food resilience.<\/p>\n

\" Bream Bay Coastal Care Trust’s Luke Jacobs (left) and Te Pou Taiao o Patuharakeke’s Elliot Brown learn about selective weed spraying for dune health at Uretiti near Whang\u0101rei, as part of Bream Bay Coastal Restoration Project’s $23,000 NRC community climate resilience fund 2025 grant. Photo \/ NRC, Mike Urlich, ReNative <\/p>\n

Climate Change Taitokerau Northland Trust was granted $20,000 to develop a region\u2011wide kai sovereignty strategy, designed to reduce reliance on external supply chains and improve long\u2011term food self\u2011sufficiency.<\/p>\n

Nature\u2011based resilience projects were also supported. These included the Bream Bay Coastal Care Trust\u2019s coastal restoration project ($23,000) along an erosion\u2011prone shoreline, and Maungarongo Whenua Trust\u2019s Taiao Kaitiaki Oranga \u014d te Waima project ($30,000), focused on environmental guardianship in the Waima River catchment.<\/p>\n

Tipene said the council was confident the fund was delivering strong value for ratepayers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese projects are building skills, knowledge and confidence, enabling communities to understand their own risks and develop locally appropriate solutions, while strengthening baseline water, food and energy security, particularly in highly exposed rural areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each funded project is required to provide progress reporting before further funding instalments are released.<\/p>\n

\u25a0 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Funded projects focus on practical measures to strengthen resilience to climate and environmental pressures across Northland, with an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1443,19796,4442,1259,5205,4190,273,6119,1342,295,15399,300,130,111,139,1067,69,5914,12879,147,13911,18835,131,14005,102],"class_list":["post-396650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-about","tag-available","tag-climate","tag-community","tag-council","tag-demand","tag-environment","tag-faces","tag-five","tag-fund","tag-massive","tag-money","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-regional","tag-resilience","tag-science","tag-sought","tag-strong","tag-than","tag-times","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}