Thank you for supporting efforts to get an independent inquiry to into the ongoing environmental catastrophe in Tairāwhiti. 

Over 5,000 people have now signed the petition that will be presented to Gisborne District Council next week. If you're in Tairāwhiti, please come along (bring a sign if you want to!) at 8.30am Thursday 26th January to the Council chambers; if not, you can watch online. We'll present the petition to councillors just after 9am and see what they have to say.

We urgently need a review of the local and national rules for what happens on steep, erosion-prone hillsides on the soft geology of Tairāwhiti. It's not just about forestry slash, as you can see from the photos there are huge amounts of sediment and silt being deposited in waterways and on to land when streams and rivers breach their banks during the more frequent and severe rain events our region is experiencing. As we listen to the next heavy rain event starting this evening, many roads are still closed and parts of the region are becoming impossible to live in.

Te Weu Tairāwhiti, a local group of researchers, have created four short videos about the history and future of land use in Tairāwhiti - we encourage you to watch the videos here, and share them. There are lots of other useful resources on the Te Weu website (www.teweu.nz) about climate change and land use in the region.

In Tairāwhiti, Māori owned land is a larger portion of the region than in other parts of the country. If you're a Māori landowner anywhere in the country and interested in supporting native forest to be restored onto the whenua, you could join Te Kokiri ā Tāne, a national network of Māori working to get native ngahere back on the land. 

There are lots of initiatives in every region trying to address similar issues at a local level - most councils will have a list of conservation and environmental protection projects in the local area led by community groups, marae and hapū. There are also great civil society organisations worth supporting like Forest & Bird and the Environmental Defence Society who get involved in local and national advocacy efforts.

The issues are complex - significant investments are involved, but so are the livelihoods of farmers, forestry workers, truck drivers and port workers. We need organisations like Trust Tairāwhiti and central government to prioritise the development of truly sustainable industry in the region to make us more economically and environmentally resilient. 

Some local leaders and Government ministers are minimising the urgency of the situation and seem to be unwilling to commitment to an independent inquiry or review of the rules. That's why we need to show them how much support there is for the actions listed in the petition. Please continue to share it and encourage others to support our whole region by signing and sharing with others. 

Ngā mihinunui - thank you again for supporting the wellbeing of whānau and whenua in Tairāwhiti.