Most of our relationship with the ocean happens on the surface. We sail it, fish it, surf it and photograph it. But beneath that glistening blue is a world many of us barely understand - and one that is changing fast.

In this episode, we sit down with Steve Hathaway from Young Ocean Explorers to explore a powerful idea: if we help kids fall in love with the ocean, we can change how we treat it within a generation.

After decades spent diving, filming and documenting marine life, Steve had a lightbulb moment when his daughter shared a short ocean video with her class. The reaction from those kids sparked what would become Young Ocean Explorers - a mission to reach every child in Aotearoa with hopeful, curiosity-driven ocean storytelling.

We talk about eco-anxiety, the impact of screens, the decline of kelp forests, and why “out of sight, out of mind” has allowed marine degradation to accelerate. We also unpack how targeting kids can influence whole families, and why storytelling - not shame - is key to bringing more people along.

Here are some of the key topics we discussed:

• Why this generation are not just digital natives, but environmental natives living with real eco-anxiety
• Steve’s personal journey to becoming an ocean advocate
• How a school project helped launch Young Ocean Explorers
• The power of storytelling and curiosity to spark lasting engagement
• Why targeting teachers became a game-changing strategy
• The “One Plus A Day” story and how kids can drive real-world behaviour change
• Kelp forests, kina barrens and witnessing rapid ecosystem decline
• Why we need courage and vision for marine protection
• How to communicate conservation without alienating people
• Practical advice for parents wanting to reconnect kids with nature
• What it means to be a good ancestor for the ocean
• And so much more…

Love the People Helping Nature Podcast? Get notified when new episodes go live - subscribe for email updates here: www.conservationamplified.org

🧑‍🦱About Steve:

An ‘accidental’ underwater cameraman, Steve left his job as a builder nearly 20 years ago to share the stories of New Zealand’s underwater world. He traded hammering nails for swimming alongside orca and sharks, going on to film for some of the world’s most celebrated nature documentaries, including BBC’s Blue Planet II, Mammals, and Disney’s Emmy-winning Secrets of the Whales.

In 2013, Steve and his then 12-year-old daughter, Riley, co-founded Young Ocean Explorers. What started as short stories for kids’ television has since evolved into an online platform and education resource, used by thousands of classrooms across Aotearoa to inspire the next generation of ocean guardians.

🔗Learn more:

• Website: https://www.youngoceanexplorers.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youngoceanexplorers
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youngoceanexplorers

🎙️Learn more about the People Helping Nature Podcast at www.conservationamplified.org

Beneath the surface, Aotearoa New Zealand’s oceans are under growing pressure. We’re taking too much good stuff out, putting too much bad stuff in, and the system is warming faster than it can adapt - with dire consequences that are often overlooked and ignored.

In this episode, we sit down with Shaun Lee for an honest conversation about the state of our marine environment. Despite being an ocean nation, less than 1% of our EEZ (exclusive economic zone) is fully or highly protected, placing us among the worst-performing countries globally.

We are missing the UN benchmark that aims for 30% protection by 2030 BY FAR, and this is reflected in the declines we’re seeing in ocean health.

While the picture is confronting and politically driven, there is genuine reason for hope. We also explore how marine ecosystems can recover when pressure is reduced, and how a combination of passive and active restoration shows promise in places like the Hauraki Gulf.

Here are some of the key topics we discussed:

• The overall state of Aotearoa NZ’s marine environment.
• The key drivers of biodiversity decline and habitat loss.
• Why NZ is one of the worst countries when looking at marine protected areas.
• Why reconnecting to the past to understand what diversity we used to have is important to grasp what we have lost.
• The importance of marine reserves for biodiversity and awareness.
• The difference between passive and active restoration.
• How active restoration fast-tracks ocean recovery + examples.
• How citizen science can contribute to monitoring ocean health.
• And so much more…

Love the People Helping Nature Podcast? Get notified when new episodes go live - subscribe here: www.conservationamplified.org

🧑‍🦱About Shaun:

Shaun Lee is an Auckland-based environmental advocate and creative professional dedicated to marine restoration, pollution prevention, and large-scale ecological interventions within New Zealand’s coastal ecosystems. By leveraging his visual communication skills, he champions the protection and restoration of marine habitats. Shaun serves as a Trustee for several eNGOs, including the Revive Our Gulf Trust and the Northern New Zealand Seabird Trust.

🔗Learn more:

• Shaun’s blog: https://blog.shaunlee.co.nz/about
• Shaun’s sea floor mapping platform: https://seafloor.nz
• Hauraki Gulf Forum: https://gulfjournal.org.nz
• Revive Our Gulf Trust: https://ww.reviveourgulf.org.nz
• Northern NZ Seabird Trust: https://www.nzseabirdtrust.com

🎙️About the podcast:

The People Helping Nature podcast is brought to you by Conservation Amplified, a registered New Zealand charity.

We are on a mission to help make conservation mainstream by amplifying the awesome stuff people are doing to help nature all around Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find out more about Conservation Amplified at www.conservationamplified.org.

In this episode, we sit down with Keith Woodley (MNZM) from Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, to unpack the incredible lifestyles of shorebirds, their habitats, and the work people are doing to protect them.

Here are some of the key topics we discussed:

• Shorebird adaptations and why some of them migrate from the Arctic Tundra to NZ.
• The diverse range of shorebird habitats worldwide and in Aotearoa.
• Ngutu Pare (Wrybill): their adaptations, life cycle, threats, and conservation activities.
• The importance of braided rivers of the South Island and their restoration.
• Kuaka (Bar-Tailed Godwit): their adaptations, life cycle, threats, and conservation activities.
• Why North Korea is an important migratory shorebird stronghold.
• Keith’s experiences travelling to North Korea for shorebird conservation.
• The importance of international collaboration to protect migratory waterbirds.
• And much more…

Love the People Helping Nature Podcast? Get notified when new episodes go live - subscribe for emails here: https://www.conservationamplified.org

🧑‍🦱About Keith:

In 1993, while living on the Kapiti Coast, Keith Woodley stumbled into the role of resident manager at the Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, in the Firth of Thames. 32 years later, he is still there. With a degree in politics and history, this was not the future he envisaged. During this time, migratory birds have led him to numerous shorebird sites - in Australia, Indonesia, China, North and South Korea, and Alaska. There has emerged from these experiences, three books: Godwits: long-haul champions (2009), Shorebirds of New Zealand: Sharing the margins (2012) and In Pursuit of Champions: The Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre story (2022).

🔗Learn more:

• Website: https://www.shorebirds.org.nz
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pukorokoro_miranda_shorebirds
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MirandaShorebirdCentre
• The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership website: https://eaaflyway.net
• New Zealand Birds Wader Count: https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/schemes/national-wader-count

🎙️About the podcast:

The People Helping Nature podcast is brought to you by Conservation Amplified, a registered New Zealand charity.

We are on a mission to help make conservation mainstream by amplifying the awesome stuff people are doing to help nature all around Aotearoa New Zealand.

Because when people are aware, connected to the ecosystems around them and care enough to take positive action, only then will we see lasting change.

Listen in and follow us to start or deepen your journey.

Find out more about Conservation Amplified at www.conservationamplified.org.

Zoos haven’t always looked like they do today. The role of a "good zoo" is now about playing a crucial role in conservation and advocacy for animals - locally, nationally, and globally.

In this episode, we sit down with Karen Fifield, CEO of Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo and President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), to unpack what modern zoos do to protect wildlife beyond what you experience when visiting.

Karen shares how Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo contributes through wildlife hospital care, specialist breeding programmes, fieldwork, and community support - and why transparency, animal welfare, and long-term thinking are essential if zoos are to maintain public trust.

We explore how zoos work alongside community efforts, why some species are kept off display, how global animal welfare standards are set, and the role education plays in helping people take meaningful action for nature.

It’s a wide-ranging conversation about animals, people, ethics, and responsibility - and why good zoos are becoming more important, not less, in a changing world.

Here are some other key topics we discussed:

• The role of storytelling and experience design when building zoo habitats
• What Wellington Zoo does to support local community conservation efforts
• How Wellington Zoo funds their important work
• The very real threat of wildlife trafficking and why working together is critical in addressing it
• Why it’s important to ‘think before you like’ social media content about wild animals interacting with humans
• How to avoid visiting a bad zoo
• Why being more sustainabile in our everyday lives is a way that everyone can help wildlife conservation
• And much more…

👩About Karen:

Originally from Australia, Karen’s zoological career began at Taronga Conservation Society Australia and Zoos Victoria before she joined Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo in 2006. Alongside her Chief Executive role, she has also been the President of the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA) and is currently the President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).

In 2023, Karen was recognised as one of the Power 10 Zoo and Aquarium Blooloop Top 50 Influencers internationally, and in 2016 became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit MNZM for services to Business and Animal Welfare.

Under Karen’s leadership, Te Nukuao has celebrated many achievements. In 2009, Te Kōhanga The Nest, a state-of-the-art veterinary hospital, opened. The Zoo was the first Toitū carbon zero-certified zoo in the world in 2013 and won the inaugural WAZA Environmental Sustainability Award in 2018.

In 2024, Mana Whenua gifted the Zoo its te reo name, Te Nukuao Tūroa o Te Whanganui a Tara, which tells the story of the Zoo’s commitment to conservation and care for communities, wildlife and wild places.

🔗Learn more:

• Website: www.wellingtonzoo.com
• WAZA website: www.waza.org

🎙️Learn more about the podcast at www.conservationamplified.org

The smaller critters often get the least attention - yet they make up the foundations of life in our ecosystems.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, invertebrates and lizards help recycle nutrients, disperse seeds, pollinate native plants, and support the whole food web. And they’re also some of the hardest animals to actually understand and protect.

In this episode, we head back to the Southern Lakes Sanctuary for a round two with their herpetologist and invertebrate specialist, Samuel Purdie, who pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to look after species like the Southern Alps giant wētā (Deinacrida pluvialis).

These rare alpine insects survive in harsh, often freezing landscapes and are now classified as nationally endangered.

Monitoring methods like tracking tunnels, mark-recapture studies, cameras, and eDNA all tell different parts of the story. And without careful calibration, they can paint wildly different pictures.

Sam also gives an inside look at the technical and physical reality of alpine fieldwork: night surveys on steep terrain, tents flooding, hazardous cliffs, and the huge challenge of getting reliable data.

It’s an eye-opening conversation about some of the least visible yet critical species in the Southern Lakes ecosystem, and why paying attention to the small stuff matters more than most people realise.

Here are some of the key topics we discussed:

• Why invertebrates and lizards are foundational to healthy ecosystems
• What we know about the Southern Alps giant wētā, their alpine adaptations, and threats they face
• How climate change is shrinking alpine habitats and the consequences
• Why mice are a major, underestimated threat that should be included in Predator Free 2050
• The complexities of doing monitoring properly that are often overlooked
• The physical and rugged reality of alpine fieldwork
• Why inconsistent monitoring methods can mislead conservation efforts
• How habitat modification and fire pose risks to lizard populations
• Practical ways the public can help
• And much more…

🧑‍🦱About Samuel:

Samuel Purdie is a herpetologist, science educator, and award-winning wildlife photographer from Rotorua. Sam holds a BSc in Zoology and Ecology and a PGDip in Wildlife Management from the University of Otago, and has recently completed his MSc focusing on native alpine lizards.

A lifelong enthusiast for “creepy crawlies,” Samuel spends much of his time turning over rocks in search of New Zealand’s lesser-known species. As Biodiversity Projects Coordinator at Southern Lakes Sanctuary, he's involved in planning and monitoring for these cryptic native lizards and shares his striking wildlife photography and species knowledge across Southern Lakes Sanctuary's media channels.

🔗Learn more:

• Southern Lakes website: www.southernlakessanctuary.org.nz
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/southernlakessanctuary
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/SouthernLakesSanctuary
• Sam’s website: www.samuelpurdiewildlife.com

🎙️Learn more about the podcast at www.conservationamplified.org

The Queenstown Lakes District is one of the most spectacular places on Earth - a picturesque landscape of mountains, lakes, and remote valleys where nature still feels wild.

But beneath the beauty lies a conservation challenge: around 40 native species in the region are threatened or at risk of extinction.

For decades, local communities have stepped up to protect these landscapes and wildlife, powered by volunteers putting in the hard yards. Now, Southern Lakes Sanctuary is helping to take that effort to the next level, supporting the mahi of six long-running conservation groups representing nearly 100 projects, landowners, businesses and hundreds of volunteers across 198,000 hectares, with plans to scale to 850,000HA over time.

In this episode, CEO Paul Kavanagh pulls back the curtain on what happens when communities get the backing they need: skilled staff, smart tech, and funding that lets them go further together.

From self-resetting traps to eDNA monitoring and beyond, this work is helping species like kea and mōhua return to the landscapes they once called home.

Takahē, once declared extinct, now roam the Rees Valley again - a testament to what’s possible through collaboration.

It’s a story of people, progress, and pragmatic action, showing how skilled professionals and passionate locals can work hand in hand to protect Aotearoa’s wildlife at scale.

Here are some of the key topics we discussed:

• How six established conservation groups joined forces to form Southern Lakes Sanctuary
• Managing volunteer fatigue by adding professional support to complement volunteer-led mahi
• Expanding predator control from 6,400 to 13,000+ traps and removing more than 70,000 introduced animals
• Why measuring biodiversity outcomes matters more than counting traps and the role of robust monitoring
• Threatened species management across the project area
• The critical role of sustainable, long-term funding and partnerships with business and philanthropy
• How AI-enabled, self-resetting traps and live mesh networks are transforming remote predator control
• The importance of working in urban and peri-urban areas as well as the back country
• And much more…

🧑‍🦱About Paul:

Paul worked as a field biologist in Ireland after graduating with an Honours degree in Zoology from University College Dublin. He moved to NZ from Ireland in 2009 to further his career in conservation. Paul was General Manager of the Kiwi Birdlife Park, a wildlife park dedicated to preserving some of Aotearoa’s unique native species, for over 12 years before his appointment to his role as CEO with the Southern Lakes Sanctuary.

🔗Learn more:

• Website: www.southernlakessanctuary.org.nz
• Report Takahē Sightings: www.southernlakessanctuary.org.nz/takahe-sightings
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/southernlakessanctuary
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/SouthernLakesSanctuary

🎙️Learn more about the podcast at www.conservationamplified.org

Most New Zealanders have never seen a bat, yet their presence signals the health of our forests.

They’re our only native land mammals, quietly pollinating, eating insects, and supporting ecosystem balance. But with many areas still unmonitored and major data gaps in our understanding, their story remains half-told.

In this episode, senior ecologist and bat expert Mark Roper joins us to share insights from years of fieldwork and research into Aotearoa’s long-tailed and short-tailed bats: how they live, where they roost, the challenges of collecting and processing data on them, and how community-led projects are uncovering new knowledge about where they’ve been found.

Mark explains how emerging technology is transforming bat research - from low cost acoustic recorders paired with AI-based online classifiers that identify calls, to the National Bat Survey bringing communities together throughout the country.

This episode uncovers a bigger picture: how collaboration, technology, and local action are helping us better understand and protect one of Aotearoa’s most overlooked native species.

Here are some of the key topics we discussed:

• Population estimates of long- and short-tailed bats
• Major threats including habitat loss, introduced predators, and light pollution
• Why bats are useful indicators of forest health
• The impact of wind farms and the emerging live curtailment approach that balances renewable energy with wildlife protection
• How affordable recorders and AI classifiers are making bat detection accessible for citizen science
• Why we should consider requiring all bat data to be entered into an open national database
• And much more…

🧑‍🦱About Mark:

Mark Roper is a bat ecologist and founder of The Bat Co. Lab. Splitting his time between New Zealand and Sweden, he uses sound and technology to uncover what bats can tell us about the health of our planet. Mark leads the NZ National Bat Survey and works with researchers and communities worldwide to better understand where bats live, why they matter, and how listening to them can guide smarter conservation.

🔗Learn more:

• Website: www.thebatcolab.co.nz
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574762309249
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/thebatcolab
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/markroyroper
• More bat resources: www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/bats-pekapeka/resources-for-bat-workers

🎙️Learn more about the podcast at www.conservationamplified.org

For many careers, purpose doesn’t extend much beyond cashing in the payslip.

For Michelle Impey, she’s lived a career of purpose for 20+ years.

As CEO of Save the Kiwi, Michelle has led the organisation’s evolution from a one-person funding distributor to a national team delivering measurable conservation outcomes for our national icon, the kiwi bird.

In this episode, we talk candidly about building a career with purpose - the trade-offs and rewards, the culture that keeps people for decades, and how business skills like fundraising, operations and communications can drive real impact alongside fieldwork. You don’t necessarily need an ecology degree to help; you need intent, passion and persistence.

Michelle also outlines the NZ conservation sector’s evolution. From early research into Kiwi decline and DoC sanctuaries, to the community-led and iwi-led movement, Predator Free 2050, new technologies, and Save the Kiwi’s own incubation and crèche programmes - this is proof that collaboration can turn the tide for Aotearoa’s wildlife.

Here are some of the key topics we discussed:

• Lessons from 20 years leading and growing a conservation charity
• How New Zealand’s kiwi recovery efforts have evolved
• What leading a purpose-driven organisation really looks like day to day
• Blending business skills with conservation outcomes
• Applying entrepreneurial thinking to conservation challenges
• Advice for anyone looking to start or transition into a purpose-driven career
• Finding your place in conservation - from volunteering to leadership
• Why culture and long-term commitment matter in meaningful work
• And much more…

👩About Michelle:

For more than 20 years, Michelle Impey has been the CEO of Save the Kiwi, an organisation that’s on a mission to grow kiwi to abundance across New Zealand. Save the Kiwi works alongside iwi, conservation groups, and the Department of Conservation to raise awareness about the plight of the kiwi, how important the species is to New Zealand’s national identity, and what Kiwis can do to help their namesake.

During her 20+ years in this role, Michelle has witnessed the explosive growth of iwi- and community-led kiwi conservation initiatives, which have in turn created more kiwi-safe habitat all over the country and a greater collective desire for kiwi to return to places where they once thrived. Michelle works tirelessly to ensure kiwi remain at the forefront of New Zealand's consciousness, reminding everyone around her that one person taking small action can lead to monumental change.

🔗Learn more:

• Website: www.savethekiwi.nz
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/savethekiwinewzealand
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/savethekiwinz
• LinkedIn: ww.linkedin.com/company/save-the-kiwi

🎙️Learn more about the podcast at www.conservationamplified.org