Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne

Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne is an NGO with a 225-hectare urban ecosanctuary located in Wellington, New Zealand. Established within a predator-exclusion fence and surrounded by the capital city, Zealandia itself is a living lab, created to test whether native ecosystems and wildlife could be restored in a highly modified urban landscape. 

By extension, the whole of Wellington city has become a living lab, having demonstrated that ambitious ecological restoration can transform not only a protected site, but an entire city. The sanctuary has enabled the recovery and reintroduction of numerous native species, many of which are now expanding well beyond the fence into Wellington's suburbs, parks, coastlines, and surrounding landscapes. The return of species such as kākā, tīeke (North Island saddleback), tuatara, hihi (stitchbird), and an increasing diversity of native birds has contributed to a visible and measurable shift in urban biodiversity across the region. 

New projects have emerged to improve restoration outcomes across the landscape, including Predator Free Wellington, and NGO which has already demonstrated proof-of-concept in eradicating rats, possums and mustelids from a large proportion of the city. Capital Kiwi, another NGO, has successfully established a population of brown kiwi beyond Zealandia’s fence, proving we can now extend our ambitions beyond strict predator exclusion zones.  

Our approach combines ecological restoration, scientific research, community participation, indigenous knowledge, education, policy engagement, and long-term partnership building. Zealandia works closely with universities, research institutes, mana whenua (Indigenous Māori partners), local and central government, community restoration groups, schools, private landowners, and conservation organisations. Together, these partnerships have helped create a city-wide restoration movement, supporting habitat improvement, predator control, species monitoring, environmental education, and public engagement with nature across the city. 

Zealandia acts as a catalyst and source population for species recovery, lasting outcomes depend on collaboration across landscapes, institutions, and communities. This has made Wellington an internationally recognised example of urban ecological restoration and nature-positive city development. 

For researchers, Zealandia offers opportunities to explore questions relating to biodiversity recovery, ecological resilience, species translocations, urban ecosystem restoration, nature-bsased solutions, social-ecological systems, environmental governance, climate adaptation, community participation, and the relationships between people and nature. As both an operational conservation project and a long-term research platform, Zealandia and our close collaborators provide a unique setting for interdisciplinary collaboration linking ecology, social science, public policy, and environmental management. 

We are interested in connecting with researchers, cities, NGOs, and practitioners seeking to understand how landscape-scale biodiversity recovery can be achieved in urban environments through collaborative, evidence-based approaches.