{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Iwi and communities bring kiwi back to Wellington after 150 years","description":"For the first time in 150 years, kiwi once again live in the hills surrounding Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. More than 250 manu (\u201cbirds\u201d in the M\u0101ori language) were successfully translocated back to the region, thanks to the efforts of the iwi (nations of Aotearoa), community members, and landowners behind the Capital Kiwi Project. Paul Ward, the project lead and founder, joins the Mongabay Newscast this week to explain the yearslong effort to make this possible. \u201cThis is a relational project as much as it is what you might traditionally call a conservation project. And I think at a fundamental level that if we lose our relationship with these animals, with these manu \u2026 they risk becoming a museum species,\u201d he says. R\u0101wiri Walsh (Taranaki Wh\u0101nui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ng\u0101 Rauru K\u012btahi, Ng\u0101ti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Te \u0100ti Haunui-a-P\u0101p\u0101rangi) is the project\u2019s Kaimanaaki Kiwi (kiwi guardian) and iwi liaison. He also joins the podcast to explain the process from the perspective of Te ao M\u0101ori (the M\u0101ori world). For the Capital Kiwi project to receive kiwi, they must be gifted the birds by iwi through a tono, a gifting process. The project then bestows the bird on a community through a p\u014dwhiri, a traditional M\u0101ori welcoming ceremony. And then the tono, as Walsh explains, is a request to the iwi for the birds. \u201cFrom a M\u0101ori perspective, we just had to agree with the iwi that we were receiving from, and they had to agree with us that they wanted to give us kiwi,\u201d Walsh says. \u201cWhat we were able to do when moving kiwi is \u2026 welcome the people, both the sanctuary workers as well as the iwi, onto the lands that they were bringing the birds. And then \u2026 the responsibility and the onus to the birds would switch \u2026 we would do the p\u014dwhiri or the ceremony, and then there would be a process where they would be handed over,\u201d Walsh says. The project is far from over, Ward says, as communities now share responsibility for caring for the birds. He adds that this model is a proof of concept for reintroducing other species. In total, including newly hatched chicks that made it to fighting weight (more than 90% of them), Ward estimates there are over 300 kiwi in the hills surrounding Wellington. \u201cTen years ago, [the] challenge probably would\u2019ve [been] \u2018Are we being too ambitious?\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI think now that challenge is one of complacency. \u201cWe\u2019re leaning into those relationships with our partners, with our iwi, our landowners, and our communities to explore what other taonga [property] species might be returned to these environments.\u201d Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here. Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky. Cover image: Walsh performing a health check on a kiwi chick. This photo was one of National Geographic\u2019s 2023 images of the year. Image courtesy of Robin Hammond\/Capital Kiwi Project. \u2014\u2014 Timecodes (00:00) Kiwi return to Wellington (04:28) The Cultural Significance of Kiwi (08:49) Threats & Conservation History (19:00) Building the Capital Kiwi Project (27:46) Relationship with iwi and the tono (31:54) Remarkable Results (50:05) What Comes Next ","author_name":"Mongabay Newscast","author_url":"https:\/\/www.mongabay.com\/podcast\/","html":"