Former rugby league international Tāwera Nikau has turned his trademark determination towards another battle — protecting Aotearoa’s threatened taonga species and restoring the whenua, wetlands and waterways they depend upon.
Nikau joined Dale Husband on Radio Waatea following the Endangered Species National Hui in Kirikiriroa, where iwi, scientists, environmental advocates, rangatahi and community leaders gathered around a confronting reality: thousands of indigenous species are now classified as threatened or at risk.
As co-chair of Tāngaro Tuia te Ora, the Endangered Species Foundation, Nikau is championing a conservation model grounded in mātauranga Māori, practical restoration and the principle that protecting individual species is impossible without restoring the ecosystems surrounding them.
Thousands of species facing trouble
The scale of the challenge presented at the national hui is enormous.
The Endangered Species Foundation says at least 3,747 native species are officially classified as threatened or at risk, with many others yet to be assessed.
Freshwater species are particularly vulnerable, with 89 percent of native freshwater fish threatened or at risk, including tuna, īnanga and kōaro.
The Foundation says fewer than two percent of waterways are considered pristine and almost half of rivers and lakes are in poor health.
The picture around the coastline is equally concerning, with around 80 percent of shorebirds and more than 90 percent of seabirds threatened or at risk.
Those numbers help explain why the hui was deliberately designed around action rather than simply another conversation about declining biodiversity.
Nikau’s battle begins at home
For Nikau, environmental restoration is deeply personal.
His whānau farm sits beside Lake Waikare in North Waikato, putting the health of freshwater, wetlands and surrounding ecosystems directly in front of him.
His work now includes restoring wetlands, protecting biodiversity, tackling invasive species including koi carp and using technology such as water sensors to better understand the health of waterways.
It is a remarkable second act for a man best known to generations of sports fans for his rugby league career.
Nikau represented New Zealand internationally, captained the New Zealand Māori side and was later inducted as a New Zealand Legend of League.
His life after professional sport has also been shaped by considerable personal adversity, including losing a leg following a motorcycle accident.
Today, that same resilience is being directed towards community, mental health, whenua and environmental restoration.
Mātauranga Māori belongs at the centre
Central to Nikau’s approach is the understanding that Māori environmental knowledge is not an optional addition to conservation.
It is part of the solution.
Mātauranga tuku iho carries generations of observations about the relationships between whenua, wai, species, seasons and people.
That connection changes the way environmental decline is understood.
A polluted awa is not simply a problem involving water chemistry.
The loss of tuna is not merely a declining population on a scientific spreadsheet.
And the disappearance of a native species is not simply a biodiversity statistic.
For Māori, these can be losses involving whakapapa, mahinga kai, tikanga, mātauranga and identity.
The Foundation says honouring Te Tiriti requires Māori leadership, tikanga and mātauranga Māori to be placed at the centre of restoration efforts.
Some of our most extraordinary species remain almost unknown
One of the challenges highlighted by Waatea’s recent coverage is how little many New Zealanders know about the indigenous species quietly disappearing around them.
Kiwi, kākāpō and Māui dolphins are widely recognised.
But the endangered species story extends much further.
At the Kirikiriroa hui, experts and kaitiaki highlighted species including kanakana, tuna, pekapeka, kōkako, matuku-hūrepo and tara iti.
Kanakana are particularly remarkable.
The ancient jawless species have existed for hundreds of millions of years and migrate between freshwater and the ocean. For Māori they are also taonga and mahinga kai, connecting ecological health with whakapapa and tikanga.
Yet pollution, dams, culverts and habitat degradation threaten their survival.
Hokonui Rūnanga is among those combining mātauranga Māori and science through monitoring, planting and breeding initiatives to help restore them.
Pekapeka, tuna and matuku-hūrepo need healthy habitats
The same message applies to other threatened species.
Protecting pekapeka, Aotearoa’s native bats, requires protecting and reconnecting the landscapes where they roost and feed.
Understanding the future of tuna means understanding their extraordinary migration between ocean and freshwater environments.
Saving matuku-hūrepo, the Australasian bittern, means restoring the wetlands on which it depends.
That is why the conservation conversation increasingly has to move beyond rescuing individual animals.
If the awa is unhealthy, the species within it will struggle.
If wetlands disappear, wetland species disappear with them.
If mature ngahere becomes fragmented, the intricate ecological relationships within those forests begin to break down.
The Endangered Species Hui brought those connections together under the kaupapa Taonga Tuku Iho: Restoring Māuri Through Collective Action.
From sand mining to freshwater restoration
Nikau has also taken his environmental advocacy beyond his own whenua.
He has been involved in opposition to sand mining and previously helped deliver a 14,000-signature petition to Parliament opposing sand mining at Te Ākau and Bream Bay.
That advocacy reflects the broader message emerging from the Foundation.
Environmental protection cannot rely solely on government agencies.
Iwi, hapū, landowners, farmers, scientists, schools, businesses and local communities all have a role.
Nikau’s own environmental work has involved partnerships with scientists, iwi, schools and community organisations, combining local knowledge with technology and environmental science.
Norm Hill puts action at centre of hui
The national gathering in Kirikiriroa was hosted by Norm Hill, a Waikato environmental and community leader known for his work protecting the Waikato River.
Hill founded the Waikato Kaitiaki River Sweepers, mobilising volunteers to remove rubbish from waterways while strengthening community involvement in caring for the awa.
That practical approach reflected the intention of the entire hui.
Day one showcased projects already producing results.
Day two focused on collaboration and identifying actions capable of restoring the mauri of te taiao.
The kaupapa was not simply about describing what has gone wrong.
It was about demonstrating what can still be saved.
The next generation of kaitiaki
Rangatahi were deliberately included in that conversation.
The hui examined what a thriving future for biodiversity could look like through a rangatahi lens and what might change if younger generations had a greater role in environmental decision-making.
For Nikau, that intergenerational responsibility is fundamental.
His journey from elite sport through profound personal adversity and into environmental leadership has increasingly centred on service and what can be left behind for others.
And that may be one of the most important messages from the endangered species kaupapa.
Aotearoa still has extraordinary biodiversity.
But whakapapa alone will not protect it.
Neither will another report documenting decline.
Saving our taonga species requires healthy awa, thriving wetlands, restored ngahere and communities prepared to become kaitiaki — because once a species disappears, no amount of money, regret or political promise can bring that whakapapa back.
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