(Under construction)
9.00 Aotearoa’s energy Future
Matt Newman
Matt is a community organiser, facilitator and farmer, proudly hailing from the provinces. Having spent much of his career living and working in Te Urewera and alongside whānau in many of Aotearoa’s most remote communities, he now serves as Community Activator for Rewiring Aotearoa, supporting communities, marae and local leaders across the motu to unlock the practical, economic and resilience benefits of electrification and build a more prosperous future for Aotearoa.
Presentation summary – under construction
9.20 Kaitiakitanga and renewable energy in Te Tai Tokerau
Aston Plunket
Aston is a Huanui College Prefect, Carbon Neutral Ambassador, and recipient of the prestigious Te Ara a Kupe Beaton Scholarship. An accomplished student researcher with a strong focus on physics and environmental science, she leads student-driven initiatives spanning waste minimisation, native reforestation, and emissions awareness. Her work blends technical inquiry with a passion for environmental justice and community resilience across Te Tai Tokerau.
Aston will present key insights from her research paper, exploring how principles of kaitiakitanga can guide renewable energy projects across Te Tai Tokerau. She will examine the historical and legal contexts of Māori energy sovereignty, highlighting how core concepts like mauri, manaakitanga, and whakapapa offer a blueprint for equitable, community-uplifting energy developments. Alongside her findings, Aston will share her personal journey of falling in love with this topic and navigating the rigors of formal academic research as a secondary student.
9.30 Resilience and adaptation panel
Arama Morunga
Arama Morunga is a Northland Regional Councillor (Te Raki constituency) and Kaupapa Māori advisor (Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi) with extensive experience in cultural governance, regional planning, and emergency management.
As the Climate Change advisor for the Ngātiwai Trust Board, Arama is a key leader in the Ngātiwai resilience project. His contributions helps to empower iwi-led emergency response, marae preparedness, and climate adaptation strategies across Te Tai Tokerau, but especially in hard-hit Whangaruru. His work bridges regional council policy with tangata whenua values, ensuring indigenous knowledge and kaitiakitanga guide long-term community readiness, environmental care, and regional disaster response.
Sarah Peri
Sarah Peri (Te Rarawa) is the Kaupapa Māori Lead for Climate Action and Resilience at Far North District Council. Her work centres on supporting hapū, marae and communities across Te Hiku o Te Ika to prepare for the impacts of climate change in ways that reflect their unique histories, relationships and aspirations. Guided by whakapapa and kaitiakitanga, Sarah is passionate about weaving together diverse knowledge systems and enabling locally-led solutions that strengthen the resilience of people, whenua, wai and future generations.
This panel brings together local government leaders and advocates to explore how Te Tai Tokerau is adapting to an era of increasingly severe weather events. Featuring key adaptation specialists from from councils and a community leader from hard-hit Whangaruru, the discussion will bridge local policy with lived reality.
Together, panellists will examine regional adaptation strategies, responsiveness, and the practical realities of isolated coastal communities facing severe storm impacts and infrastructure cut-offs. The panel highlights how council-led adaptation projects can meaningfully partner with community-driven response networks to build long-term, place-based resilience across our region.
10.00 NRC Climate Resilience Communities Fund Showcase
Tessa Mackenzie (Opuawhanga Community Hall Trust)
Tessa is the director of Natural Assets, specialising in community-led development, strengths-based facilitation, and social change projects across the community, corporate, and NGO sectors. With over two decades of experience in collaborative planning, she actively supports regional resilience initiatives, including co-coordinating the Ōpuawhanga Community Resilience Network near Whangārei. She is currently studying toward a Master of Change and Organisational Resilience with a particular focus on the integration of indigenous led principles within Eco-village frameworks as a model to further empower communities and organisations navigating complex social and environmental transitions.
Ella Mitchell (Waiaohia Restoration Project)
Ella is a student at Whangārei Girls’ High School and an active member of the school’s Environmental Committee. She is passionate about empowering young people to become informed, engaged, and active participants in environmental action. Through her involvement in the Waiarohia Restoration Project over the past three years, Ella has developed a strong connection to local environmental restoration and the importance of protecting and restoring our natural environment. She is committed to inspiring and supporting other young people to recognise the impact they can make and to take meaningful action for the future of their communities and the environment.
Waiarohia Stream flowing past the Civic Centre and the conference venue
This panel features recipients of the Northland Regional Council’s Climate Resilient Communities Fund. The panelists will share how their projects are progressing giving us a glimpse of what is possible as we adapt to the adverse weather generated by a warming planet.
10.30 Morning tea and Kōrero
11.00 Youth panel
Youth Panel
Youth panel description (under construction)
11.30 General elecion candidate panel
Candidates for the general election are invited to respond to climate related issues.
12.30 Lunch
Afternoon workshops 1.30 to 2.30
Exhibition Hall: Citizen Assemblies
Rakesh Pinao
As a science graduate and meteorologist Rakesh has studied the science of our climate system, as a project manager he has traversed the challenges of making change, and as a citizen he has ridden the journey of hope and disappointment of global efforts to place people and planet at the centre of our decision-making. Rakesh has worked on regional climate change adaptation at the Northland Regional Council working primarily to establish and maintain climate partnerships with district councils, iwi/hapu groups, and national agencies.
In this session Rakesh will be your guide as you explore what’s next. You’ll harness the wisdom of the day and tap into your aspirations for future. First in quiet self reflection, then in small discussion and finally by connecting it all together into a shared neural network of action. This workshop lays the foundations for collaboration with Anne Bardsley of Deliberative Democracy, who will be working with us to further develop citizens’ assemblies in the north.
Cafler Suite One: Creating a wild kai recipe book
Dr. Carol Peters QSM
Carol is a community development advocate with a PhD in community-led development who served two terms as a Whangārei District Councillor. Over decades of grassroots advocacy with organisations like Whare Āwhina, she initiated and supported transformative regional initiatives including Open Arms, Whakaora Kai (Food Rescue Northland), and Tai Tokerau Climate Action. Awarded a Queen’s Service Medal for her dedication to social and economic development, she continues to champion housing affordability, community resilience, and regional arts. Carol is the Chair of Climate Action Tai Tokerau.
Building on her book Wild and Free, Dr. Carol Peters leads an interactive workshop exploring Northland’s wild edibles, seasonal foraging, and recipes. This collaborative session invites participants to share their own local plant lore, exchange recipes, and discover new ways to integrate wild harvests into daily nutrition and local kai sovereignty.
Cafler Suite two: Spiritual Solutions for Healing the Climate
Peter Bruce-Iri
Peter is a researcher, author, and the Project Lead for Climate Action Tai Tokerau, supporting regional community-led climate action. His work centres on how natural living systems and eco-restoration can stabilise local and global climates, insights detailed in his books How Plants Cool and Heal the Climate. This year he published Spiritual Solutions for Healing the Climate advocating the need to develop a unified and peaceful world as an essential foundation for effective climate action.
Based on his book Spiritual Solutions for Healing the Climate, Peter Bruce-Iri invites participants to explore the connections between their daily lived experiences and the essential foundations for a peaceful, unified world. Drawing on Bahá’í perspectives—which view world faith traditions as progressive stages in the evolution of human civilization rather than competitors—this reflective session encourages attendees to examine their own spiritual heritage. Together, participants will explore the core character qualities and shared values required to foster unity, restore ecological balance, and build a thriving, collective future.
Bounty Room: Making climate music
Workshop summary – under construction
2.30 to 3.00 Afternoon tea
Exhibition Hall: Plenary and forward planning
The focus of day one of the conference is our kai sovereignty/food systems strategy. The presentations and workshops will have helped us navigate the transition from the industrial food system to a regenerative food system. This provides an emerging template for other necessary transitions that will the focus of the next conference. This plenary session will provide the opportunity to review and capture the actionable value that emerged in the conference and initiate interest groups for other transitions.