Latest news with #iwi
NZ Herald
a day ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Cafe owner protests Punakaiki parking charges
DoC is aiming to launch a pilot programme in October at Punakaiki, Franz Josef and White Horse Hill at Aoraki Mt Cook. Project manager John Dore told the Board that DoC had serious budget pressures including a 30% shortfall in funding for its visitor network and a huge deficit in the amount available for biodiversity. 'For protection of all endangered species we have a budget of $300 million but a need of $2.3 billion,' Dore said. Climate events in the last few years had added $90m in costs, he added. Paid parking was a tool used internationally in nature parks and would help manage overcrowding at busy sites, he told the board. But Parrett said the move would turn public conservation land into a Wilsons-style parking lot, and urged the board to oppose it. 'However you label it, it's a National Park entry fee. It contravenes the National Parks Act and it diminishes DoC's social licence to operate.' A business owner says parking fees will disadvantage local people who call in for a coffee. Photo / LDR There were no free parks at Punakaiki because they had been removed to make room for the new Visitor Centre development and people would have no option but to pay to walk around the Pancake Rocks, Parrett said. Unlike Franz Josef or Aoraki Mt Cook, Punakaiki was not a tourist destination but a stop-off attraction for people driving the scenic coast road, and, for most of the year, there was no congestion or capacity problem in the carpark, he said. 'Parking fees will disadvantage local people who call in for a coffee or to stretch their legs, and we don't want this,' he said. While DoC owned the land, taxpayers had funded the $45 million Dolomite Point Visitor Centre development and the building was gifted by the last Government to manawhenua, NgatiWaewae, who now leased office space back to DoC. The public had paid for this development and costs should be kept low, he said. 'I am surprised that the iwi has supported the paid parking trial … unless they stand to benefit from it,' Parrett said. If people had to pay for parking they might be less likely to pay for Ngati Waewae's interactive visitor experience inside, he suggested. Ngati Waewae's representative on the Conservation Board, Francois Tumahai, objected. 'I disagree with everything you've said. The cost of the building was not $45 million and we're not getting a cent from the project. In the early days we suggested we might provide [parking] wardens … that's it.' Parrett suggested it would be good if the iwi put out a statement to that effect in the interests of transparency. The iwi leader responded: 'You're the one causing all the grief - you put it out.' Board chairperson Dr Mike Legge closed off the discussion and thanked Parrett for his contribution to the public forum. The Dolomite Point Visitor Centre, funded by the Provincial Growth Fund, was budgeted to cost $26 million but the project - including the new carparks - received a funding boost of $15m in 2023 and cost a total of $40.9m. The paid parking trial, including charging technology and upgrades to carparks at the three sites, is being funded by $3.8m from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy. DoC plans to release its pricing strategy early next month and hold public drop-in sessions at Punakaiki, Franz Josef and Aoraki in mid-August. Submissions close on August 26 for Punakaiki and September 30 for Aoraki. - RNZ
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Business commentator Nicholas Pointon
Company failure rates are on the up, Nicholas explains what the reasons behind this might be. What are land lease communities? And why they work in Australia but have failed to be picked up in New Zealand. Nicholas also discusses call from iwi who want to invest in Kiwibank, and Spark's chair's long tenure is being questioned. Nicholas Pointon is a senior journalist at the National Business Review. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
New York Post
4 days ago
- Science
- New York Post
12-foot bird has been gone for 600 years — now scientists want to ‘de-extinct' it
The real big bird returns. A company that claims to have resurrected the dire wolf has unveiled plans to bring back the moa, a long-extinct bird that once towered over people. The company, Colossal Biosciences, claimed it had joined forces with acclaimed 'Lord Of The Rings' director Sir Peter Jackson to de-extinct the ancient avian, the largest species of which stood 12-feet tall and weighed more than 500 pounds, Time reported. This flightless bird reportedly inhabited New Zealand until getting hunted to extinction by Māori settlers around 600 years ago, Livescience reported. Coordinating the ambitious de-extinction campaign is the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, between the main Māori tribe (iwi) on NZ's South Island and the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. 3 An upland moa skeleton. 'There's a lot of science still to be done – but we can start looking forward to the day when birds like the moa or the huia (an extinct NZ bird with a curved bill) are rescued from the darkness of extinction,' said Sir Peter Jackson. 'Even the journey will bring incredible insights about the history of this land and enrich discussions as to the potential nature of our future here.' Museum of New Zealand 'Some of those iconic species that feature in our tribal mythology, our storytelling, are very near and dear to us,' explained Ngāi Tahu archaeologist Kyle Davis, who is collaborating on the moa's second coming. 'Participation in scientific research, species management, and conservation has been a large part of our activities.' Jackson, an investor in Colossal who helped bring the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre into the fold, explained that the proposed de-extinction is part of efforts to ensure that 'some of the most critically endangered species in Aotearoa/New Zealand are protected for future generations.' Unfortunately, resurrecting the moa will be quite a bit more difficult than bringing his fantasy creatures to life on the big screen. Experts analogized the process to that of the dire wolf, a long-dead species of canid that scientists resurrected by harvesting DNA from fossil specimens and then filling in the genetic gap with a gray wolf genome — like how frog DNA was used to engineer dinosaurs in 'Jurassic Park.' Bringing back the moa is decidedly more challenging as the moa is far more removed from its closest living relatives, emus and a chicken-like bird called the tinamou, than the dire wolf is from the gray wolf. Whereas dire wolves only split from modern wolf-like canids — the group that includes gray wolves — around 5.7 million years ago, the common ancestor of the moa and tinamou lived 58 million years ago, while the moa and emu predecessor lived 65 million years ago. During their 'time apart,' the moa developed a lot of unique traits that are difficult to duplicate. 3 Colossal Biosciences is currently working to resurrect the woolly mammoth as well. Courtesy of Colossal To achieve this feat of genetic engineering, the team plans to aims to sequence and reconstruct the genomes of all nine extinct moa species, while also sequencing high-quality genomes of their aforementioned relatives. The team will then use precursors to sperm and egg cells to Frankenstein a 'surrogate bird' from living species and then genetically alter it to resemble a moa. They plan to introduce the edited calls into the embryonic tinamou or emu inside an egg, after which the cells will hopefully migrate to the embryo's gonads, changing them so that the females produce eggs and the males produce moa sperm. In theory, that hatchling will then grow up, mate and produce moa chicks. As of yet, the team is still in the process of selecting said surrogate, although the emu's size — they can grow up to 6 feet 2 inches tall — makes it a more suitable surrogate than the comparatively runty tinamou, per the researchers. 3 Colossal Biosciences 'brought back' dire wolves using a primordial stew with gray wolf DNA. Colossal Biosciences / Business Wire Unfortunately, the moa egg is also a lot bigger than an emu egg, so this could present another challenge if they were to use the latter as the incubation chamber in which to hatch the hybrid bird. 'A South Island giant moa egg will not fit inside an emu surrogate, so Colossal will have to develop artificial surrogate egg technology,' said Nic Rawlence, director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Lab at the University of Otago in New Zealand and a critic of the moa plan. Colossal's chief science officer, Beth Shapiro explained that they're exploring 'different strategies for artificial egg incubation, which will have application both for moa de-extinction and bird conservation work.' Of course, there are several criticisms of the project that were directed at prior resurrection campaigns as well. Critics of the dire wolf project claimed that their so-called dire wolf was still genetically a gray wolf with increased size and a white coat. Rawlence even believes that 'genetically engineering specific genes in an emu to match a moa could have dire developmental consequences.' Beth Shapiro told Live Science that animal welfare was a priority, explaining, 'We thoroughly evaluate health risks of any proposed edit before selecting them for our final list of edits.' Jackson believes the project has exciting potential when it comes to reviving lost species. 'There's a lot of science still to be done – but we can start looking forward to the day when birds like the moa or the huia (an extinct NZ bird with a curved bill) are rescued from the darkness of extinction,' he said. 'Even the journey will bring incredible insights about the history of this land and enrich discussions as to the potential nature of our future here.' The moa isn't the only animal Colossal plans to add to its menagerie of long-dead creatures. The biotech firm has also targeted the woolly mammoth for de-extinction — and is a step closer to its goal after engineering a critter called the woolly mouse.
RNZ News
14-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Iwi businesses out performing many of NZ's largest businesses
New data shows iwi and hapu owned businesses have emerged from the economic downturn in good shape and performing well. The ANZ NZ report shows these commercial entities are performing better than many of this country's largest listed companies for the 2023 -24 financial year. The findings come from long running collaborative research including 10 years of data and involving 38 iwi/hapu entities managing treaty settlement assets. This report from ANZ comes just months after a report by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment into Te Ohanga Maori - The Maori Economy- found that it is a significant, and increasingly important contributor to the wider economy of New Zealand. ANZ's Head of Maori Relationships, David Harrison, joins Kathryn to talk about the latest report's findings. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
Scoop
07-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Tatauranga Umanga Māori – Statistics On Māori Businesses: March 2025 Quarter
Tatauranga umanga Māori – Statistics on Māori businesses: March 2025 quarter presents information on one subset of Māori businesses that contribute to our country's economy. This release includes data on Māori authorities and related businesses. It does not cover all Māori businesses in Aotearoa New Zealand. Māori authorities are defined as businesses that receive, manage, and/or administer assets held in common ownership by iwi and Māori. Māori authorities are largely identified through their tax codes as registered with Inland Revenue. Any business within a Māori authority ownership group is also included for the purposes of Tatauranga umanga Māori. Key facts In the March 2025 quarter, around 1,450 Māori authorities and related businesses were in the Tatauranga umanga Māori population. All figures are actual values and are not adjusted for seasonal effects. In the March 2025 quarter compared with the March 2024 quarter: the total value of sales by Māori authorities was $1,078 million, down $0.6 million (0.1 percent) the total value of purchases by Māori authorities was $742 million, down $18.9 million (2.5 percent) the total number of filled jobs for Māori authorities was 11,870, down 170 jobs (1.4 percent) the total value of earnings by employees of Māori authorities was $212 million, down $8.7 million (4.0 percent) Māori authorities exported $219 million worth of goods, up $10 million (4.9 percent). Visit our website to read this information release and to download CSV files: Tatauranga umanga Māori – Statistics on Māori businesses: March 2025 quarter:
