We are very pleased to announce and introduce the keynote speakers for the 2026 New Zealand Plant Conservation Network Conference. Below is a small introduction to each of our keynote speakers and their presentation topics.
Aaria Dobson-Waitere - He kakano ahau: a Kaupapa Māori approach to reindigenising taonga species translocations
Despite a long history of translocating taonga species, these processes continue to be largely shaped by Western frameworks, with few recent examples led by indigenous knowledge and practice. Using the case study of Pua o te Rēinga (Dactylanthus taylorii), this research applies Kaupapa Māori methodologies to explore the values and tikanga guiding taonga species translocations across Te Upoko o Te Ika a Māui, the Greater Wellington Region. The findings aim to strengthen partnership-based translocation practices in Aotearoa.
Carlos Lehnebach - Collaboration: A Driver of Plant Diversity and a Powerful Tool for Its Conservation
Nature is filled with remarkable examples of collaboration between species. Some of these interactions have been recognised for centuries, while others are only now beginning to be understood. In this talk, I will share the challenges and discoveries from a journey to understand the relationships our native orchids have developed with their pollinators and mycorrhizal fungi. Understanding these partnerships has been essential for developing practical conservation tools that are now being used to support the long-term survival of some of our most threatened orchids.
James Brock - Ferns across the Pacific
Ferns have long been understood to disperse by wind due to having microscopic spore and widely distributed populations, and New Zealand and the other islands of the Pacific provided the biogeographic patterns for this narrative. However, the patterns that framed early hypotheses and ideas on fern ecology are changing due to research into genetics and spore ecology alongside modern taxonomic efforts. Further, in the context of landscape ecology, passive, atmospheric dispersal of spore to islands appears to be limiting; so, why do islands have so many ferns, and what other vectors of fern spore dispersal might contribute to fern occurrence and distributions across the Pacific?
Jason Arnold - Indigenising Protected Areas: Reclassifying Our Relationship with Nature Through Biocultural Approaches
For more than 180 years, Aotearoa New Zealand’s protected area classification system has positioned Māori as separate from, and often a threat to, nature. This has resulted in an entrenched fortress conservation paradigm that fails both biodiversity and the potential for te Tiriti based equitable partnership. Jason’s experience of conducting research with Ngāi Tahu and his mahi delivering Te Au Roa o Te Rakihouia through the South-East Marine Protection programme (SEMP), have fuelled his interest in how biocultural approaches can transform protected area classifications to achieve stronger biological, cultural, and relational outcomes. This keynote explores how biocultural approaches grounded in ahikāroa, rangatiratanga, and kaitiakitanga can help reclassify the relationship between people and nature through mana whenua-led governance, equitable partnership, and lived connection to place.