Nature Restoration - First Mission Studio Convening
18 August 2023On Friday 28 July 2023, The Mission Studio officially went live with its first-ever convening in Tāmaki Makaurau. Five months after The Mission Studio was announced by The Hillary Institute & Edmund Hillary Fellowship, the goal of bringing together exceptional people around climate innovation had progressed from concept to reality, and the first mission on Nature Restoration had begun.
The Mission Studio first convening participants
For the group of 35 participants, including Te Āti Awa Taranaki Whānui, EHF Fellows, nature restoration experts, policy leads, industry leaders, systems thinkers and entrepreneurs, the convening was two and a half days of whanaungatanga (connection), rich kōrero (discussion) around taiao (nature/environment) and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge/wisdom), sharing nature restoration initiatives, and exploring system challenges and opportunities.
A key aim of the convening was to create space for participants to delve into the system changes that would be conducive for nature restoration in Aotearoa NZ. The group looked at how individual projects were struggling to scale in the existing system, and how they could work together to achieve the necessary changes. They identified the need for a culture and mindset shift to be one with nature ‘I am the river, the river is me’; ensuring the tikanga and aspirations of tangata whenua are embedded in systems; new financial models that unlock climate capital for those on the ground; and rethinking concepts of impact and evidence of change that address social, environmental and economic wellbeing.
While there was a range of thoughts and approaches to nature restoration, systems and how The Mission Studio could best serve Aotearoa NZ, the unifying and common kaupapa (purpose) was Papatūānuku (Earth, Earth Mother).
This grounding in nature, and creating a connection to people and place began through a pōwhiri by Ngāti-Tahinga Wilson from Te Ahiwaru, who shared some history of the surrounding area, including the significance of Manukau Harbour and nearby puke (hills), such as Puketaapapa, through the story of Hape. Tamahau and Pipiana Rowe, Te Āti Awa, grounded the group further by challenging them to talk to nature rather than just talking about nature, and shared the importance of the Whanganui River gaining legal personhood as a living example.
Tamahau Rowe addressing the group
Through the course of the weekend, Te Āti Awa whānau Matiu Tahi, Kaanihi Butler-Hare, Okawa Priest and rangatahi (young person) Manawa Rangihuna shared mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge/wisdom) and te ao Māori (Māori worldview). Matiu explained that in relation to the universe, Māori sorted everything into two spheres: ‘A’ that is natural and not sacred and ‘O’ that is tapu - sacred and restrictive. This framing helped anchor the group in the importance of balance and the philosophy that ‘we belong to nature’, not the other way around.
CEO of Making Everything Achievable and EHF Fellow Kaye Maree Dunn, who co-facilitated the convening alongside Alex Hannant, noted that the importance of the role and participation of iwi/Māori inside these conversations had been a key theme emerging during the weekend. Connected to this was the theme of ensuring mātauranga Māori, Māori sciences, Māori practices and ways of being were included, to help shape and frame discussions of nature restoration in Aotearoa.
These sentiments were echoed by EHF Fellow Camden Howitt who said the theme he found most inspiring was around connecting with mana whenua and communities to solve the problems happening in their backyards. He pointed out that nature is place-based, therefore local people who understand the land are those best positioned to respond with local solutions.
Co-facilitators Alex Hannant & Kaye Maree Dunn
Fellow Phoebe Tickell sharing Camden Imagines project
Jan Hania from Biome Trust said he valued hearing the coherency of the threads being shared, such as regenerative food systems, regenerative finance systems, education and narrative. He saw there was a real opportunity going forward, as people were having ‘aha’ moments of: “I see you … I see you thinking this way … maybe we should take this conversation to the next level”.
As well as exploring systems at a macro level, sessions during the convening surfaced powerful examples of inspiring initiatives already creating impact and change through creative approaches that enable agency at a community level. For example, EHF Fellow Phoebe Tickell shared the work she had led with Camden Council (London) to design and deliver a project to build municipal imagination in Camden.
Community Engagement & Strategy Coordinator, Ness Radich shared her work at The Learning Environment, where the natural environment in Whanganui is used to build community wellbeing and resilience.*
EHF Fellow Mike Taitoko shared the work Toha had been doing to build a system that creates new value for climate action. This includes growing an ecosystem of ventures, impact investors, scientists and regenerators cooperating to create new value for science-based regenerative actio
Fellow Mike Taitoko (speaking) in an open session
Polynesian canoe voyager, family village matai (chief) and marine biologist, Schannel van Dijken shared ‘The Guardians’ programme he had spearheaded in Samoa that teaches culture, habitats, climate and waste through hands-on education, and how he is now supporting and scaling Aotearoa NZ’s Māori-led Hinemoana Halo blue economy initiative.
Rosalie Nelson commented: “We are so grateful to this group of amazing people for their time, energy and passion during the first convening of The Mission Studio. From their ideas, visions and hopes, to their projects, initiatives and experience, we were blown away by their optimism and commitment to restoring nature.”
CEO Rosalie Nelson
“The team and I were honoured to have the mana and wisdom of Ngāti-Tahinga Wilson from Te Ahiwaru, and our iwi partners Te Āti Awa, including Tamahau and Pipiana; mātua Matiu; Kaanihi; Okawa and Manawa, with us for the inaugural convening of The Mission Studio. We also feel very blessed to have had Kaye Maree Dunn and Alex Hannant as facilitators, who warmly and skillfully guided us through the course of the convening.”
Rosalie concluded:
“Many seeds were planted during this first convening - we are now looking at those The Mission Studio can help nurture and grow, as well as the culture, connections, collaboration, capability and capital needed to support these ideas, solutions or initiatives to change the landscape.”
“I look forward to sharing the next steps from our first convening with the participants, our Fellows & Laureates, supporters of The Mission Studio, and the wider ecosystem in the near future.”
About The Mission Studio
The Mission Studio is about building and scaling systems change for global impact from Aotearoa NZ. It is being led by The Hillary Institute and the Edmund Hillary Fellowship partnering with iwi, industry, government, funders, leaders and community - people who are motivated by climate action and outcomes. It’s about shifting the needle on nature restoration and biodiversity loss; building more sustainable and regenerative food systems; creating stronger, more resilient communities; and helping us transition to cleaner forms of energy - starting in Aotearoa, then scaling solutions to the rest of the world.
This challenge needs great leadership, an immense collective effort, innovation, capital, and the ability to deliver to the world.
The Mission Studio kaupapa is underpinned by the values of Sir Edmund Hillary, te ao Māori principles, and recognises Te Tiriti o Waitangi as Aotearoa NZ’s founding document.
*The Learning Environment currently has a gift campaign underway - to support, you can connect with Ness here.
Illustrations by James Nicholls from Art by Tuss (www.artbytuss.com)