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Innovation stories

  1. Land Domain Report collaboration

    Manaaki Whenua contributed many of the data sets, computer models, and peer-reviewed science that underpinned the Our Land report.

  2. Combating wilding conifers

    Wilding conifers are a huge threat to New Zealand’s environment. The non-native trees, also known as wilding pines, now invade more than 1.8 million hectares of land.

  3. Honey presents golden opportunities

    Mānuka and kānuka honey are in high demand worldwide, and Manaaki Whenua is working with Māori landowners on ways to drive further value from local varieties.

  4. Te weu o te kaitiaki (the roots of the guardian)

    Manaaki Whenua has been working with the Tūhoe Tuawhenua Trust and the Ruatāhuna community to develop and test a complementary forest monitoring package that uses both mātauranga and scientific approaches in forests of importance to them.

  5. Landscape-scale predator control pays off

    Large-scale landscape predator control is a vital component of many restoration projects across the country. The Cape to City programme in Hawke’s Bay is a great example of a collaborative approach to this work to restore natural habitats and improve biodiversity, underpinned by Manaaki Whenua’s res...

  6. New methods help in kauri dieback management

    Kauri dieback disease has spread quickly over the past decade, killing thousands of kauri. The [Phytophthora agathidicida] pathogen was first identified on Great Barrier Island Aotea in 1972, with Manaaki Whenua’s Dr Bevan Weir leading the description of the ‘kauri-killer’.

  7. Research critical to virus release

    The work of Manaaki Whenua scientist Janine Duckworth has helped support this year’s release of the RHDV1-K5 rabbit calicivirus in New Zealand.

  8. Science key to the national myrtle rust incursion response

    Myrtle rust is a plant pathogen that can devastate pōhutukawa, rātā, mānuka, kānuka and other native trees. New Zealand is particularly at risk from this disease, as trees in the myrtle family are highly represented in our forests. Not only can the disease affect the environmental values of our fore...