He Uru Kahika ki te Wao - CONNECTIONS NEW ZEALAND

We invite our community to come together in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand for the 2022 New Zealand Ecological Society Conference running 28 November - 1 December.

In the 2022 Conference theme we recognise the importance of hononga/connections: environmental connections, ecological connections, and human connections. 

Subthemes include: 

• Ecology in a Warming World - recognising that global environmental changes will affect local conditions.
• Predator Free and Beyond - the ecology driving Predator Free 2050 and other pest management, the complementary approaches needed, and the resulting biodiversity outcomes.
• Working Together – conservation success is possible only through nurturing the connections between individuals, communities, tangata whenua, and organisations.

He Uru Kahika ki te Wao - Connections New Zealand

The theme this year comes from a whakataukī that goes: He uru kahika ki te wao, he uru tangata ki te pā - Like a grove of kahikatea in the forest, so are the connections of the people in the pā. Kahikatea have a shallow root system that interlocks with each other from which they provide stability and strength to each other. This is important for the tallest of our native trees. This metaphor is then transferred to people in the pā needing to have support systems in order to stay strong and healthy.  There is also another level to this that incorporates a human interdependence on nature, looking to nature to provide strategies for survival. 

We look forward to seeing you all in Ōtepoti this year!

Your 2022 Organising Committee, 

Yolanda van Heezik, Philip Seddon, Anne Besson, Jo Monks, Georgina Pickerell, Stephanie Godfrey & Travis Ingram (Otago University)

Gretchen Brownstein, Jo Carpenter & Anne Schlesselmann (Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research)

Clement Lagrue (Department of Conservation) 

Scott Jarvie (Otago Regional Council)

The New Zealand Ecological Society (NZES) promoting the study of ecology and the application of ecological knowledge in all its aspects since 1951. The peak professional body for ecologists in NZ, representing 490 members from academia, Crown Research Institutes, government, consultancies and industry.