Communities, wh\u0101nau and environmental leaders from across New Zealand have been recognised for their efforts to restore and protect freshwater ecosystems.<\/p>\n
Five Freshwater Champions and a special recognition award recipient were named at the Freshwater Champions Forum at the Suter Art Gallery on 28 August. The awards were presented by Cawthron Institute with support from NZ Landcare Trust.<\/p>\n
More than 60 nominations were received from across Aotearoa, with Cawthron Institute freshwater ecosystems group manager Dr Roger Young noting the diversity and quality of entries reflected the growing commitment to freshwater restoration.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunities are facing increasing pressure on freshwater resources, and these Champions demonstrate the impact that local action can have. Their work shows how people can come together to improve freshwater outcomes in ways that are both practical and\u202fenduring.\u201d<\/p>\n
The recognition comes as communities across New Zealand respond to increasingly complex freshwater challenges, including climate-related flooding and drought, pressure on water quality and the need to build more resilient catchments.<\/p>\n
The 2026 Freshwater Champions were:<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Riddiford wh\u0101nau, for their work through the Ruam\u0101hanga Farm Foundation in South Wairarapa.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Mana Moana Three Lakes, for bringing together the Whakak\u012b Lake Trust in Hawke’s Bay, Wairewa R\u016bnaka in Canterbury and Lake \u014cm\u0101pere Trust in Northland to restore and protect the mauri of their culturally significant lakes.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sam Ludden, for his contribution to freshwater restoration, environmental education and cultural leadership across Wairarapa.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Arap\u0101rera Community Catchment Society, for planting more than 3000 native trees, undertaking fish and eDNA monitoring, completing freshwater mussel surveys and installing water quality monitoring equipment across an 8800ha catchment flowing into Kaipara Harbour.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Lake Rotorua farming community, represented by the Lake Rotorua Primary Producers Collective and Te Arawa Arataua, for its long-term contribution to improving water quality in the Lake Rotorua catchment.<\/p>\n
A Special Recognition Award in M\u0101ori Engagement was presented to\u202fDr Te K\u012bpa K\u0113pa Brian Morgan, who has created practical tools that help iwi, councils and communities assess freshwater health in ways that reflect both cultural and environmental values.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Communities, wh\u0101nau and environmental leaders from across New Zealand have been recognised for their efforts to restore and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-590791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590791","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=590791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}