COVER STORY
ENVIRONMENT
"We conducted a number of workshops, film screenings and field trips to projects on the fringes of Auckland, so the participants could see tangible examples of the goals in action.”
community groups in New Zealand to see how these goals can be adopted across the board,” he says. “Ultimately we hope this vision will help to create new norms within the sector and spur organisations along to look into how their projects can be tweaked to tackle a number of the goals.” At the conference, local community leaders and academics joined speakers from Australia, Tonga, Fiji, Nepal and Vietnam to deliver presentations across a variety of subjects: from the value of female entrepreneurship to building climate-resilient communities, developing sustainable housing solutions to ageing gracefully. “We just didn’t want it to be a talk-fest, we wanted people to come away inspired and frothing with ideas. As well as organising more than 55 speakers, we conducted a number of workshops, film screenings and field trips to projects on the fringes of Auckland, so the participants could see tangible examples of the goals in action.” One such field trip was to the Waiheke Resources Trust, which runs a number of projects that give
people the tools and skills to live sustainably. From composting workshops to zero-waste projects, the Waiheke Island trust helps community members to reduce the amount of waste they produce, live healthier lives, save money, forge greater connections within the community, and foster a sense of kaitiakitanga (guardianship). Michael Maahs, who manages the trust, says the SDGs have been an invaluable influence on the direction of the organisation. “Originally the trust was formed with the goal of waste minimisation, though we quickly realised we needed to get people on board with a larger vision around living sustainably and environmental connectedness,” Maahs says.
Winter 2017
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