TerraNature

Founded	12 September 2000
Founder	Graeme Woodhouse
Focus	Nature conservation, environmental protection
Location	Auckland, New Zealand
Area served	New Zealand
Method	Native habitat restoration, public awareness, advocacy
Key people	Graeme Woodhouse, Chair/President Timothy Fairweather, Trustee
Website	terranature.org

Pukatea (Laurelia novae-zelandiae) tree seedling in a TerraNature native plant nursery				TerraNature is a New Zealand environmental organisation, and is an incorporated charitable trust located in Auckland. The Trust is dedicated to land and marine conservation, native habitat restoration, protection of endangered species, freshwater ecosystem protection, and reduction in the loss of New Zealand's unique biodiversity.[1] TerraNature works to provide a greater public awareness of environmental issues in New Zealand, and the international importance of the nation's 'edge ecology' which evolved in isolation for 80 million years, after Zealandia broke away from the ancient Gondwana continent. The country is a biological treasure chest with the world's largest collection of flightless birds, living fossils of reptiles and frogs that predate the dinosaurs, gigantism in insects, and 80 percent endemism in plants.[2]

TerraNature is also working to establish deep-sea marine reserves, initially along a chain of seamounts on the Kermadec Ridge. Associated with this is the Trust's opposition to deep seabed mineral mining that is proposed on seamounts, and provision of a greater awareness of whale migration through the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone, the impact of anthropogenic ocean noise on marine animals, and the need for legislation to regulate natural resources in the deep-sea.

Supporting organisation

TerraNature is informally affiliated with, and supported by Terra Nature Fund, a California nonprofit public-benefit corporation based in San Francisco. The two organisations are jointly managed and share the terranature.org website. Terra Nature Fund is designated by the United States Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organisation, which allows United States taxpayers with an interest in supporting New Zealand conservation, to make tax-deductible donations.

Notes

External links

• terranature.org, the organization's official website