Donor Support Shines a Light on New Zealand’s Biodiversity Gap

The $160,000 grant, administered through the University of Waikato’s Foundation Te Pou Taunaki  – has helped the Eco-index Initiative to launch version 2.0 of its Ecosystem Reconstruction Map.  

We are pleased to support Eco-index to provide cutting-edge intelligence for land planning and biodiversity investment. Their work to bring data and technical expertise together is important for many large-scale environmental projects.

Matthew Monahan, Co-Steward of Biome Trust.

First launched in November 2023, the online ecosystem restoration map for New Zealand is an open-access digital tool which aims to address information gaps in biodiversity restoration. Eco-index Co-Director, Dr Kiri Wallace, Research Fellow at the University of Waikato’s Environmental Research Institute says the team is really grateful to receive the grant from Biome Trust.   

Because our research is taking off and people are picking up the outputs and taking an interest in it, we're trying to stay together as a team to keep doing this kind of research and support this platform, we’re lucky we have some good philanthropists in the country who are interested in funding the development of these kinds of technologies.

Dr Kiri Wallace

As well as adding cost information to the map, the Biome Trust grant has helped Eco-index to develop and share two digital products that organisations can use to harness the reconstruction map’s data within their own systems. These have so far been provided for free to Te Arawa Lakes Trust and Taranaki Mounga Project.  

The charitable grant from Biome Trust has been one way that Eco-index and its products have continued to evolve and be provided free of charge to the public and community groups.  

Find out more about the Eco-index initiative:

• Restoring ecosystems to boost biodiversity is an urgent priority
• Researchers estimate cost of reconstructing native habitat