• Eliminate threats:
    weeds, pests, mammal
    predators, and pathogens

    Pest control monitoring

    Pest control monitoring. Photo: Zealandia

  • Track our progress:
    a bioheritage scorecard
    for Aotearoa

    Kiwi

    Kiwi

  • Restore healthy freshwater:
    wai taonga and
    mahinga kai

    Kereru at Zealandia. Credit - Brendan Doran

    Kereru at Zealandia. Credit - Brendan Doran

  • Detect and eradicate:
    zero impacts from
    biosecurity incursions

    Monitoring apple orchards. Image © Plant & Food Research

    Monitoring apple orchards. Image © Plant & Food Research

  • Protect and restore:
    secure threatened species
    and resilient ecosystems

    Honeybee on clover.

    Honeybee on clover.

  • Engagement:
    What can we do
    together?

    Visiting Zealandia.

    Photo: Zealandia

About New Zealand's Biological Heritage National Science Challenge

Our National Science Challenge aims to enhance and restore New Zealand’s land-based and freshwater ecosystems – on the conservation estate or in private ownership – by deepening our understanding of which species we have, and seeking science-based solutions to dealing with threats: pest animals and insects, weeds, pathogens, and climate change. We consolidate and focus research happening in these areas across New Zealand.

The Programmes Learn more

We aim to give biodiversity and biosecurity decision makers up to date, sufficiently accurate, information of what we’ve got, where, including introduced species...

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New Zealand is highly vulnerable to invasive pests, weeds and diseases. Recently, the PSA bacterium decimated our kiwifruit production, costing growers and the country millions...

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The work of Programmes 1 and 2 feeds into this programme, which focuses on whole ecosystems – preventing irreversible loss and identifying the critical tipping points that affect them...

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