Regenerating Nature
2022 AWARD FINALIST
Sponsored by Department of Conservation
The mission of Trees for Survival is environmental restoration. The programme involves native tree planting and education of school children in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Children are taken on a journey and encouraged to take action and ownership at their school through environmental restoration and carbon sequestration. Projects include growing and planting-out native plants, restoring waterways, stabilising erosion-prone land, creating bird corridors and building new ecosystems.
The Trust provides schools with a school shade-house and 1,000 native seedlings. Children nurture and grow the seedlings to plants over one season. The plants are then planted in ecologically damaged areas, typically creeks, streams, wetlands and erosion prone land.
This year, despite Covid disruption, 157 schools planted 120,000 native plants in approximately 130 sites. Schools and planting sites are located across Aotearoa New Zealand. Schools pay no fees to be part of the programme and the Trust applies equal-opportunity enrolment across school applications.
The programme has grown significantly over the past two and a half years and has attracted considerable funding support.