Discover and protect nature in Ōtautahi

Take action to help protect the special environment of Ōtautahi-Christchurch.

In collaboration with Christchurch City Libraries and their Wild Ōtautahi exhibition inspired by Gavin Bishop's book 'Wildlife of Aotearoa', we've put together a list of ways that you can discover and protect nature in Ōtautahi!

Gather your friends and whanau and become heroes for our environment with some of these ideas:

• Find out how to correctly dispose of rubbish and recycling and then test your knowledge with the Bin Good game(external link).
• Learn how to grow your own vegetables,  join your neighbours and help out in community gardens, forage fruit and nuts and more at Edible Christchurch.
• A hot topic around the world, climate change might seem out of our control but small changes can add up to something big – find out what you can do!  
• Christchurch water is the tastiest in the country – help to make sure it stays that way by following these water like you oughta tips. 
• We all know trees give us fresh air and shade us from the sun but trees actually provide us with so much more. Join a community planting day to make sure we always have plenty of trees around!
• Can you take photos with a smartphone? It's that simple to help us monitor the health of our beaches and coastline. Your photos let us study how our coasts are doing over time so we can better protect them from storms and erosion.
• Sign up for Children's University through your school and learn more about nature through some of the activities on offer.
• During the spring, winter and autumn school holidays, head to the Botanic Gardens for a free discovery trail to learn more about nature!
• Everyone loves a reward for their hard work – join the Kiwi Guardians(external link), protect nature and earn medals.
• Build a bug hote(external link)l or learn how to attract birds(external link) and lizards(external link) to your backyard! You can also make your garden pollinator-friendly to attract all the bees and butterflies.