July 21, 2010

Kia Ora!
     Our day started off early with a trip into Christchurch for a few presentations. Our first stop was at Environment Canterbury, or ECan, for a talk with Wayne McCallum, the Regional Biodiversity Coordinator. His presentation revolved around the Canterbury Biodiversity Strategy (http://www.canterburybiodiversity.org.nz/). Wayne discussed why there was a cascading order of biodiversity strategies and how they are used in their projects. What stood out the most to me was how ECan has been able to get the community involved in everything they do. Hopefully we can have the same community involvement and enthusiasm back home!

     Once we finished at ECan, we headed to the Christchurch City Council offices for a few more presentations. First up was Trevor Partridge, who spoke to us about managing biodiversity in urban areas. He talked about the regulatory framework and governance structure behind planning in the city. It was made clear that implementing biodiversity projects is not an easy process. Zoe Dewson spoke to us afterwards about managing waterway biodiversity in the city. In the past, Christchurch waterways were primarily managed for the comfort of its residents. Now they are managed for multiple values: ecology, landscape, recreation, heritage, culture, and drainage. This change in management practices results in higher biodiversity and better water quality. The overall message I got from today's lectures was that projects that aim to increase biodiversity require a lot of planning and community involvement.

      After dinner, Mark drove us into Lyttleton to watch a local band, The Eastern Family, at a place called Wunderbar. It was a really cool and funky bar that looked as if it used to be a thrift store. The entire band wasn't performing but the music was still great. We even bought their album! Altogether, it was a fun way to end the day.

The Eastern Family

-Dania