Maunga ki Tai - page 1

A newsletter from the
MESSAGE FROM
THE CE
It is a further milestone for
the Authority to begin its 4th
Funding Round on 1 July. While
we have funded approximately
$16 million of projects to date it
is timely to remember that the
Authority with $220 million to
administer over the next 26 years
has only about 15 per cent of the
financial resources required for
the substantive Waikato River
clean-up. The need for co-funding
and partnerships is crucial.
A key undertaking demonstrating
partnerships is the Waikato
Regional Council’s Healthy
Rivers Plan process that is
now underway. This plan is
fundamentally important to the
future of the Waikato River and it
is therefore encouraging
to see so many
stakeholder groups
already involved in
the process.
J U N E 2 0 1 4
2014
Funding Strategy
sets
direction for clean-up projects
THE WAIKATO RIVER AUTHORITY’S 2014 FUNDING STRATEGY HAS BEEN PUBLISHED
PRIOR TO THE 4TH FUNDING ROUND GETTING UNDERWAY.
The document meets the legislative
requirement to prepare and publish
a strategy document that identifies
priority areas for funding.
The latest Strategy, which is available
on the Waikato River Authority
website
provides updated direction and
guidance for applicants seeking
funding to help clean-up the river.
Among the areas the Authority is
giving priority to in the updated
Strategy are:
• Wetlands: A greater emphasis on
the protection and restoration of
wetland projects and those projects.
• Co-ordinated and Collaborative
Approach: Projects that form part
of multi year strategic plans by
applicants working together and that
have links to other catchment projects.
• Lower Waikato and Waipa: Projects
that impact positively and directly
on the Waipa River (supporting
the implementation of the 20 year
Catchment Plan) and lower Waikato
River, which are the areas that are
most degraded.
• The development of a whole of
catchment restoration plan.
Authority co-chairs Hon John Luxton
and Tukoroirangi Morgan say this year
will see up to $7 million made available
for clean-up projects. “However we
again stress the need for high levels
of co-funding as part of successful
applications. The funds available to the
Authority will not be sufficient on their
own to see the vision for a restored
and protected Waikato River achieved
so it is important we foster additional
funding partnerships.
“To date there have been 108 projects
funded with committed funds
approaching $16 million. We look
forward to receiving and approving
additional projects this year that will
help us achieve the vision for the
Waikato River.”
The Tunawaea landslip in the upper Waipa catchment occurred in the early 1990’s.
It is estimated to have put many hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of material
into the Waipa River system. In the past 20 years there has been considerable
planting work to help repair the damage from the slip and thereby improving Waipa
River water quality.
1 2,3,4
Powered by FlippingBook