Eco Canterbury Calendar

18 – 31 October

Voting in Forest & Bird’s Bird of the Year/Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau will open at 9:00 am Monday 18 October and close two weeks later at 5:00 pm 31 October, with the winner announced on Monday 1 November.

This year the Bird of the Year website will feature NZ Sign Language translations for many of our native species, alongside both their te reo Māori and English names, bird call, and conservation status. For more details and to vote (from 18th October) check out Forest and Bird website.

Biketober is a month long festival that celebrates riding a bike.

There are suitable events for everyone. If you can pedal it, you are part of it.

There is an event almost daily throughout October for you to join in.

Biketober events happen all over Christchurch. Look for an event close to you.

He waka eke noa…Te Waka o Aoraki!   We are all in this together

Information for Applicants

*** Conservation Awards entry deadline extended to Wednesday 28 September ***

The 2021 Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board Awards are now open.

We want to hear from community groups, schools and individuals that are taking action for conservation in Canterbury.

The Awards are generously sponsored by the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust along with a special School Group Award for the highest scoring school group sponsored by Glentanner Park (Mount Cook) Ltd.

1st place – $3000

2nd place – $2000

3rd place – $1000

School Group Award* – $500

*This Award has been established to acknowledge the efforts of local school groups. If a school group was to be ranked in the top three places, they would receive that Award and the School Group Award would go to the next highest scoring school group.

Eligibility:

Applicants must demonstrate making a concerted effort to make a difference to our environment and require financial support to continue their efforts.

Projects must be based in the wider Canterbury-Aoraki region, and past CACB Award recipients are welcome to re-apply.

Application Process:

Applications can be submitted either by using the google form link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Yh2wd7liNSFiITcWj1D_lROM4MB8_NnHqpXHhvjDCqg/edit?usp=sharing

or email the same information to cacbnz@gmail.com

Give us your group name and contact details and answer the following:

1. Tell us about your group/school/organisation and your conservation efforts/projects

2. Describe how the award would be used to make a difference to conservation in Canterbury.

3. Outline the extent of community involvement in your project and your ability to deliver on any stated outcomes.

You can apply using any format (videos, social media – Tik Tok, posters etc.).

The information that you supply will be viewed only by our judging panel (Conservation Board Members) and our Board Support Officer.

If you have any questions or have any additional attachments you would like to include to support your application, please send these to cacbnz@gmail.com

Applications close at midnight on Wednesday September 28, 2021.
We acknowledge the current challenges so please email us at cacbnz@gmail.com if you need a little more time or have questions. 

The Christchurch City Council’s Sustainability Fund is now open – applications close Monday 27 September 2021, with decisions expected in December.

The main sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Christchurch are shown below.

We a looking to support community, school, social enterprise and business ideas that help cut emissions and grow resilience in Christchurch.

The Councils newly adopted Climate Resilience Strategy contains 10 Climate Action Programmes.

We want to support practical projects within the action areas listed below.

For more information and to apply please visit the Sustainability Fund website

April 2021, Round 2 Funding decisions

If you applied to the Sustainability Fund before April 2021 then funding decisions are expected on Wednesday 28 July.

Your application has been reviewed by the evaluation panel, been fully explored in a Councillor workshop and will be decided by the Sustainability and Community Resilience Committee meeting on 28 July.

Because the Council dedicated all meetings during May and June to hearing submissions and finalising the 21-31 Long-Term Plan and the Climate Strategy our approval process has been delayed.

We will notify you once the decisions have been made and soon after establish grant funding agreements with the successful applicants.

Thank you for taking the time to apply to this Fund – we look forward to working with you in the future.

Keep up the great work, helping to make Christchurch a great place to live for generations to come.

Tuesday 29th June, 9:30am – 12:30pm
Tautoru/TSB Space, Tūranga

This is an exciting opportunity to:

• See the film Te Kāhui Tūao (Constellation of Volunteers) that tells the story of some of the groups in Canterbury working for change;
• Hear about some of the heroes from the Environmental Leadership and Heritage of Christchurch, Canterbury project; 
• Explore the importance of these stories as a taonga; 
• Learn how to capture, protect and share your story;
• PLUS! Hear Environment Canterbury Cllr. Southworth talk about how the LTP budget affects community groups.

More event information on Humanitix, including a list of guest speakers.

While attendance is free, you must book via Humanitix.

Exhibition of entries open to public Saturday 14 August

See Eventbrite wasteartselwyn.eventbrite.co.nz or call 03 423 0445

Competition and art exhibition that will challenge the way we look at waste, open to Selwyn high school students or home-schooled students living in Selwyn. Three substantial prizes have been offered for 1^st-3^rd prize.

Every week, Saturday 10am – 3pm  
at the Kiosk in the Botanic Gardens

Every week we will showcase a different organisation in our network. There are so many organisations in our networks with activities for children. This is an opportunity to get passionate children together and connect them with these organisations. If you would like your organisations to be involved please email us at envirokids@chchenvirohub.org. An suitably qualified Envirokids facilitator will be available to help as much or as little as you need. They will be available on the Saturday and they can help organisations plan activities if required.

Record of Learning

There are two ways children can keep record of activities they have been involved with: 

• The Christchurch Envirohub, Envirokids progamme is a Children’s University learning destination. All activities will be catagorised as either an ecology related activity or a resource efficiency related activity. Children can get the time spent on activities with either of the stamps (shown below) in their Children’s University Passport.
• Envirokids will also have a passbook for children that come regularly. Children will be able to collect beautiful Christchurch bird stickers to put into their passbook. There is also a place to record the activity that earned the sticker.

The Christchurch City Council’s Sustainability Fund that supports innovative climate action is now open.

Ideas and actions that cut carbon and support sustainability in Christchurch are welcome.

Your application should be in before Monday 26 April 2021.

For more information and to apply visit: Sustainability Fund

Previously funded projects are listed on the Sustainability Fund webpage and were also profiled in this Newsline article – Local sustainability projects benefit from new funding.

The Climate Change Commission first package of advice is open for formal consultation.

They will be consulting with the public from 1 February – 28 March 2021 on a draft of their first package of advice to Government on the actions it must take to reach net-zero by 2050, and ensure a transition to a low-emissions, climate resilient and thriving Aotearoa.

What will the first package of advice cover?

Specifically, this package of advice is made up of:

• The proposed first three emissions budgets and guidance on the first emissions reduction plan, advising the Government on how the emissions budgets could be met
• Whether Aotearoa’s first Nationally Determined Contribution is compatible with contributing to the global efforts to limit warming above 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels
• Advice on what potential reductions in biogenic methane might be needed in the future (this is not a review of current targets).