Originally, they invested $100m in the foundation but are now taking that funding even further.<\/p>\n
The man in charge of spending that $150m is Next chief executive Andrew Grant, who says after a long career in consultancy he felt a strong pull to give back to the people of New Zealand through conservation efforts. <\/p>\n
Grant attended Onehunga High School and went on to study engineering, before being given what he describes as his \u201cbig break in life\u201d when he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University.<\/p>\n
Next Foundation chief executive Andrew Grant left a career in business consultancy to focus on conservation efforts in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
After earning a Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree from Oxford, Grant went on to have a career at McKinsey & Company, where he worked for nearly 35 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always felt the responsibility that I wanted at some stage to do something that was philanthropic, that was more directly giving back than my business career,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in a reasonably humble background but Mum and Dad always had us in the bush.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at McKinsey, with all this incredible resource, this incredible talent, this incredible technology, this funding that\u2019s going to the world\u2019s most successful commercial organisations. And the reflection was, you know, why can\u2019t nature even get some of that?\u201d<\/p>\n
He said during his business consultancy career he witnessed talent and resources being funnelled into a variety of institutions such as the America\u2019s Cup or Rocket Lab, but nature and conservation efforts were not receiving the same level of investment or technology.<\/p>\n
Two kea in South Westland, where Next has been carrying out a large-scale conservation project. Photo \/ Chad Cottle<\/p>\n
After being based in China with his five kids and flying all over the world while with McKinsey, Grant worked out that for him to live a carbon-neutral life, he would have to plant one million trees. He has now achieved that by planting a colossal number of native trees on his family farm in W\u0101naka.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2018s probably the least productive farm in New Zealand, but we\u2019ve planted over a million native trees. As a family we\u2019ve done that for nearly 20 years, but for me the magic of New Zealand is not where we all have our own private national park,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just that these extraordinary conservation projects bring back nature, but the way they also deliver human social cohesion and that uniting element that I think is unique to New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can get upset about the decline and those things are real, but when you invest in it and restore it and give New Zealand nature a chance, it responds phenomenally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Southern r\u0101t\u0101 in bloom following the reintroduction of native bush. Photo \/ Jase Blair<\/p>\n
The Plowmans funded a 99-year lease of Rotorua Island in Auckland\u2019s Hauraki Gulf and then gifted it to the people of Auckland to be used as a public conservation park. They embarked on a major project to remove predators and replant native forest across the island to restore it as a sanctuary for native species, and set the groundwork for the vision behind Next.<\/p>\n
The $150m grant from the couple will allow Next to carry out extensive activity with projects that work alongside iwi and the Department of Conservation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re heavily looking into several in the North Island, most likely the Waipoua Forest is going to be one, where T\u0101ne Mahuta New Zealand\u2019s most iconic tree is,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite interesting interacting with iwi leaders and the way the commitments and the discussions they talk about are a partnership that is without a due date, that endures indefinitely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s that idea that if you do invest in nature and you look after it and you steward it, it does endure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next has carried out initiatives such as the Taranaki Mounga Project to restore more than 34,000 hectares of bush in Taranaki through native forest replantation and the removal of introduced pests. Other work has included wildlife preservation projects and large-scale pest removal on Stewart Island, in Abel Tasman National Park and the South Westland District.<\/p>\n
Grant said Auckland could also benefit from the funding as Next looked at ways to promote the city as a nature-positive destination through restoring wetlands or returning the dawn chorus of native birds to the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think the generosity of the Plowmans, in the world we live in at the moment, I just actually think they are extraordinary, good New Zealanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just do hope that we\u2019re able to deliver something that is genuinely hopeful for the next generation and beyond that, that is truly an endowment and a gift to the nation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Eva de Jong is a reporter covering general news for the New Zealand Herald, Weekend Herald and Herald on Sunday. She was previously a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle, covering health stories and general news.<\/p>\n