You can help shape the future of your local board area

Support Māori aspirations for kaitiakitanga over our natural environment for the benefit of current and future generations  

Provide annual grant funding for environmental organisations  

Partner with the community groups and mana whenua to implement projects focusing on education, planting, weed management, water quality, pest management and indigenous biodiversity protection and restoration initiatives across public and private land, such as [insert your local example]  

Deliver a local freshwater stream quality programme to identify and mitigate pollution sources and protect the Hauraki Gulf/Manukau Harbour/coastal waters 

Restore wetlands 

Make grants to local groups for projects and actions which have a positive effect on the local environment 

Consider and evaluate the impact of all local board projects on the environment 

Deliver the Urban Ngahere (Forest) Strategy to increase the urban ngahere in our parks and open spaces 

Advocate for increased monitoring of air and water quality 

Support the community in moving to low carbon, resilient and sustainable practices by funding projects, events and research enabling both mitigation and adaption to climate change impacts 

Consider and evaluate the impact of all local board projects on climate change  

Advocate Council and CCOs to make room for rivers and streams to flood safely, so that flooding does not destroy communities, by stopping development in flood-prone areas and enabling managed retreat 

Support community-led food initiatives such as community gardens, learning to grow or prepare food, reducing packaging and food waste and sharing produce 

Make grants to local groups for projects or actions which will have a positive impact on community resilience (such as those maintaining or creating carbon sinks, or nature-based solutions such as restoring wetlands, creating room for streams to flow naturally, protecting sand dunes and mangroves) 

Mitigate the effects of climate change by restoring freshwater ecosystems to provide ecological services such as flood mitigation, habitat for native biodiversity, sedimentation reduction, and carbon sequestration through riparian planting  

Plant more trees for shade in public spaces to mitigate the causes and consequences of climate change (e.g., removing pollutants and limiting the urban heat island effect)  

Build more rain gardens in public spaces 

Advocate for strong tree protection in planning rules 

Identify areas in parks and reserves to retire from general maintenance (mowing) and support community groups to plant as conservation areas 

Advocate to ensure town planning regulations consider sustainable practices and reduce risks related to climate change (e.g., coastal inundation, erosion and inland flooding).  

Provide an accessible, safe and efficient network of pathways and cycleways across our neighbourhoods 

Advocate to Auckland Transport (AT) to improve the local public transport network in [insert local board area] to provide lower carbon and more efficient services (e.g., feeder bus service integration and optimisation, Park & Ride facilities, ferry service optimization, or other innovations). 

Advocate to AT to deliver projects that align with the Transport Emissions Reduction Pathway (TERP), the key strategy to de-carbonise Auckland’s transport system.  

Advocate to AT for improved cycle and pathway safety, including lighting, physical traffic barriers, accessibility and proactive maintenance to prevent problems 

Advocate to AT for more local initiatives to contribute to decarbonisation by encouraging more use of public transport. Examples could be electric on-demand public transport options or better bike storage at transport hubs