People Helping Nature Podcast

Beneath the surface, Aotearoa New Zealand’s oceans are under growing pressure. We’re taking too much good stuff out, putting too much bad stuff in, and the system is warming faster than it can adapt - with dire consequences that are often overlooked and ignored.

In this episode, we sit down with Shaun Lee for an honest conversation about the state of our marine environment. Despite being an ocean nation, less than 1% of our EEZ (exc...

In this episode, we sit down with Keith Woodley (MNZM) from Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, to unpack the incredible lifestyles of shorebirds, their habitats, and the work people are doing to protect them.

Here are some of the key topics we discussed:

• Shorebird adaptations and why some of them migrate from the Arctic Tundra to NZ.
• The diverse range of shorebird habitats worldwide and in Aotearoa.
• Ngutu Pare (Wrybill): their ad...

Zoos haven’t always looked like they do today. The role of a "good zoo" is now about playing a crucial role in conservation and advocacy for animals - locally, nationally, and globally.

In this episode, we sit down with Karen Fifield, CEO of Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo and President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), to unpack what modern zoos do to protect wildlife beyond what you experience when visiting.

Karen sha...

The smaller critters often get the least attention - yet they make up the foundations of life in our ecosystems.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, invertebrates and lizards help recycle nutrients, disperse seeds, pollinate native plants, and support the whole food web. And they’re also some of the hardest animals to actually understand and protect.

In this episode, we head back to the Southern Lakes Sanctuary for a round two with their herpet...

The Queenstown Lakes District is one of the most spectacular places on Earth - a picturesque landscape of mountains, lakes, and remote valleys where nature still feels wild.

But beneath the beauty lies a conservation challenge: around 40 native species in the region are threatened or at risk of extinction.

For decades, local communities have stepped up to protect these landscapes and wildlife, powered by volunteers putting in the har...

Most New Zealanders have never seen a bat, yet their presence signals the health of our forests.

They’re our only native land mammals, quietly pollinating, eating insects, and supporting ecosystem balance. But with many areas still unmonitored and major data gaps in our understanding, their story remains half-told.

In this episode, senior ecologist and bat expert Mark Roper joins us to share insights from years of fieldwork and resea...

For many careers, purpose doesn’t extend much beyond cashing in the payslip.

For Michelle Impey, she’s lived a career of purpose for 20+ years.

As CEO of Save the Kiwi, Michelle has led the organisation’s evolution from a one-person funding distributor to a national team delivering measurable conservation outcomes for our national icon, the kiwi bird.

In this episode, we talk candidly about building a career with purpose - the trade-o...

What happens when one of the Bay of Plenty’s most degraded catchments becomes a restoration success story?

In the 90s, the Te Mania Catchment was a major source of sediment flowing into the Tauranga Moana, with a stream health of 2/10. The stream flowed through Pukekauri Farm, managed by Rick Burke and the Seddon family. And they decided to do something about it.

They began their journey of environmental restoration at the same time ...

Nature doesn’t stop at the fence-line, so why should conservation?

Throughout Aotearoa, catchment groups are changing the conservation narrative. Farmers, foresters, iwi and communities are working together at landscape scale - proving that when landowners are given structure and support, they become powerful custodians of nature.

The results ripple well beyond any single farm gate. From 6,000-hectare predator control projects to rip...

When a child says, “Mum, I did something to save the planet,” something shifts - not just in the home, but throughout the local community.

In this episode, we’re joined by Sally Clegg from Trees for Survival, a long-running, school-based programme that’s growing the next generation of environmental changemakers.

Through hands-on reforestation projects, school children are cultivating native seedlings and planting them on retired farm...

“People are the absolute silver bullet to this whole predator-free thing.”

Dan Henry didn’t set out to lead a movement. But when he and a friend began handing out rat traps around their suburb of Miramar, something clicked. No committees. No red tape. Just a simple idea people could say yes to.

Predator Free Miramar was born.

Over the following 6 years, that idea helped turn an entire urban peninsula in Wellington into a predator free...

Commercial pine forests and kiwi conservation: contradiction or opportunity?

“We know kiwi are happy to live in commercial forests. And we know that of New Zealand's landmass, I think it's something like 7% of that landmass is covered in commercial forests of some description.”

That’s about 1.8 million hectares of a largely untapped habitat many people overlook!

In this episode, forestry specialist Craig Balsom from Save the Kiwi expl...

“I hold hope for the future of kea in that they are smart and adaptable birds, but we really need to act to help them on their way.”

And it takes a special kind of people to do exactly that: you need equal parts physical endurance, technical mountaineering expertise, and adaptive problem-solving in some of Aotearoa’s most challenging environments.

Picture this: walking a thousand metres straight up alpine terrain with tramping packs ...

New Zealand's most intelligent native bird is at risk of fading away, despite being highly visible around tourist hotspots.

Kea, the world's only alpine parrot, captivates hearts and minds with their vibrant personalities and remarkable intelligence comparable to that of a four-year-old child.

These charismatic birds skillfully navigate harsh mountain environments, yet face a range of threats pushing their population to dangerously l...

“If you want to know how many kororā live in New Zealand, go find them.”

The world’s smallest penguin species could be vanishing right before our eyes - without enough data to confirm their suspected decline.

Kororā (little penguins) are thought to be in trouble throughout Aotearoa, yet we lack the nationwide monitoring to prove it.

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, Hiltrun Ratz and Melissa McLuskie from the New Z...

“The Raukūmara was never prioritised. It was forgotten."

For generations, local iwi Ngati Porou and Te Whanau-a-Apanui watched their ancestral forest degrade. The Raukūmara reached breaking point. Deer had stripped the understory bare, and possums and rats had multiplied unchecked, reaching catastrophic levels. The question became urgent: how could they save their dying forest?

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, Or...

What if businesses could become a driving force behind positive environmental action, complementing and accelerating conservation efforts worldwide?

Despite their significant impact on our planet, less than 10% of small businesses have measured their carbon footprint.

The perceived complexity of taking climate action has created a massive barrier - something Carlos Chambers experienced firsthand when his previous company's carbon me...

What does it take to transform a planting project into a thriving, self-sustaining NZ native forest?

In short, it's a long-term commitment that goes far beyond the initial planting day: The secret to success isn't the day you put trees in the ground, it comes from everything that happens before and after.

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, we welcome Wayne O’Keefe back to share crucial insights and practical tips o...

It’s been estimated that more than 2.5 million feral cats call Aotearoa NZ home.

2.5 million!

That's big numbers, making them a growing problem and an increasing threat…

These aren’t your typical domestic house cat. They are wild animals, and they’re having a devastating impact on our native wildlife.

"Comparing a feral cat to a domestic cat is like comparing a wolf to a Labrador"

Feral cats predate on all kinds of taonga species - from...