AUT has received a gift from Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation (WAF) to support a transformational environmental education experience for young people that inspires positive and enduring awareness of environmental restoration in action.
Called the Learning from Nature programme, it builds on the success of AUT’s Living Laboratories programme, where staff and students undertook research while working with mana whenua on the restoration of former ecological sites.
The new programme will see these restoration sites not only used as ‘laboratories’ for research but also extend to be ‘classrooms’ for rangatahi (young people), school students and community groups to catalyse educational opportunities in repairing nature, enhancing resilience and engaging with mātauranga Māori.