Ngā Awa river restoration programme: Our work

Taking a whole catchment approach, Ngā Awa is working in partnership with others to restore the biodiversity of 12 rivers from mountains to sea.

Ngā Awa began in 2019 and is an extension of our existing work to slow the decline in New Zealand’s biodiversity. It focuses on a diverse range of priority river catchments across the country.

Vision and objectives

We are working with communities towards healthy, thriving rivers from source to sea.

The programme's objectives are:

river ecosystems and species are thriving from mountain to sea
restored rivers are enriching people's lives.

The objectives are being achieved by collaborating with others, co-designing and co-leading with iwi, hapū and whānau and by recognising climate change. Planning the restoration work is underpinned by sound technical and scientific advice.

A local partnership approach

From source to coast, rivers run through many different landscapes including native vegetation, farming, horticulture, forestry and urban areas. All these activities and land uses affect a river and need to be considered in its restoration.

Local iwi, hapū and whānau are our principal partners for Ngā Awa and are involved in all aspects of the restoration. We are also working with regional councils, landowners, businesses, community groups, Fish & Game, the Ministry for the Environment and other agencies.

Programme and engagement reports

Ngā Awa annual reports summarise the year’s progress and highlights for each river:

Engagement reports are a summary of engagement at each river and the programme overall:

Vision and objectives of the programme:

Strategy overview 2022 (PDF, 3,750K)

Jobs for Nature

Several Ngā Awa rivers benefitted from Jobs for Nature funding. Read a Conservation Blog about this work in the Whanganui, Waikanae and Rakitata river catchments.

Research themes and reports

Several research themes have been identified as priorities for the programme. These include climate change resilience, river geomorphology, socio-economic drivers and monitoring needs.

Programme research and reports

How the rivers were chosen

Ngā Awa includes rivers from different regions in New Zealand and from the east and west coasts. The size of their catchments is varied and together they include a range of diverse ecosystems.

Rivers that are part of this programme met the following criteria:

- the headwaters were in a natural condition
- sections of the catchment nearer the coast (lowland areas) were in good condition
- important ecosystems were present
- local communities were interested in or already involved in restoration work
- the catchment had some factors that could be fixed or improved
- there was a connection to different types of habitat on public conservation land
- some threatened fish species were present.