Category: News

The invasive pathogen infects native New Zealand trees in the Myrtaceae family, such as pōhutukawa and mānuka, causing dieback and potentially death. It was first detected in New Zealand in March 2017 and is now prevalent throughout the upper North Island, being recorded as far south as Greymouth. Researcher Dr Michael Bartlett says we need […]

Initially supported by the BioHeritage Challenge, Kauri Rescue was set up to help treat kauri dieback on private property during 2017 and 2018. During that time they had over 500 enquiries from the public and project manager Dr Mels Barton says they were able to create kauri ambassadors within the community. “Supporting landowners with large […]

We have brought together some of the brightest minds from around New Zealand to form our scoping groups

For as long as anyone can remember Western science has been punctuated with horror stories of cut-throat competition and heavy-handed criticism. Frustrated with this ‘winner takes all’ approach, in 2016 a group of New Zealand scientists asked if kindness could lead to better scientists and better science. This Kindness in Science (KiS) movement has since gained […]

Many groups have already begun the scoping process. If you would like to register as being a stakeholder that members of a particular scoping group can contact for external input, please email The schedule of completed and planned first workshops is: May Ngā Rākau Taketake Rapid Implementation Group June Early Career Group Ngā Rākau […]

1. What are scoping groups? Our scoping groups are made up of 8-10 people who represent a range of relevant research expertise, aligned disciplines and knowledge systems (as much as practicable). We’ve chosen people who have a variety of backgrounds and work experience, but they bring their own skills and views and don’t represent the […]

An Early Career Scoping Group (ECSG) has been created to enable BioHeritage associates to develop their skills and empower their voices in Tranche 2.

Signing up to our monthly eNewsletter is the perfect way to stay up-to-date with Challenge happenings – click the links below to view past issues. The BioHeritage eNewsletter comes out monthly and provides a snapshot of work being done by our Challenge Parties toward achieving big impacts for Aotearoa’s environment. It also provides information on […]

Find out how urban environments hold a huge, untapped opportunity for restoring our native biodiversity.

To achieve a predator-Free New Zealand, we need to prepare for future scenarios now.

The Environmental DNA (eDNA) Hub had its first public road test in May 2019.

A complete ‘platinum-standard’ reference genome could help the conservation, commercial and customary harvest of a treasured mahinga kai species.