Creating a climate-ready community in Puketāpapa

One of the best ways to build a climate-ready community is through strong community connections, sharing knowledge and resources and supporting each other.

Puketāpapa Mt Roskill is full of people and organisations doing exactly that, enabling those in the local community to become more resilient in the face of events such as the 2023 Anniversary Weekend floods.

Charitable trust Acts of Roskill Kindness Trust, (ARK), run by Peter and Tili Leilua, helped over 2,000 local residents affected by those events without any outside funding. Acts of Roskill Kindness is part of Global Hope Missions, which runs youth development and creative mentoring programmes to inspire and educate rangatahi around climate action and by extension, their friends and family.

The Puketāpapa Climate Activation programme models ways for residents to reduce emissions through active transport, growing and eating a plant-based diet, and buying local.

Active transport is also being encouraged through the Puketāpapa Cycling Haven: He Taunga Paihikara (Bike Train) project, which is supported by Auckland Transport to work with schools to teach bike skills, make sure bikes are in good shape, provide bikes for those who need them and offer a shared bike ride to school. There are also bike hubs in Sandringham and Mt Roskill, offering education, basic repairs, information, and refurbished bikes for sale.

Community events are also an ideal way to create connections and build resilience by sharing knowledge, and joining a local community group is a way to make this connection ongoing. Local Puketāpapa events include regular information stalls at Wesley Market, planting days at the Community Garden at Molley Green Reserve, and the annual Albert-Eden & Puketāpapa Eco-Festival. There is also an active network of Eco-Neighbourhood groups, with members learning ways to increase their resilience through action areas: eat, grow, move, energy, shop and talk.