Sustainable Coastlines is a grassroots charity on a mission to enable people to look after the coastlines and waterways we all love. They deliver coastal clean-up events, educational programmes, public awareness campaigns, and riparian planting projects.
In September 2020, funding from the Jenkins Trust purchased 500 trees for Sustainable Coastlines’ planting site at Harbourview-Orangihina Park on Te Atatu Peninsula in Auckland.
Dedicated volunteers along with Jenkins Trust trustees mucked in and planted the trees, a contribution to an ongoing project that both enables and benefits the local community, and has important environmental benefits.
Key to Sustainable Coastlines’ vision is healthy water, and they strive to improve the health of our rivers and lakes to protect the precious ecosystems that exist there. Their ‘Love Your Water’ programme focuses on freshwater restoration through water-quality education and riparian planting.
Riparian planting (planting alongside waterways) restores freshwater ecosystems. Through their roots, trees help to stablise waterway slopes, which reduces the sediment entering the water. Roots also work as a filter for harmful nutrients, chemicals and pathogens. The trees themselves provide shade to keep the water a healthy temperature. As a result, biodiversity and natural habitats improve.
To date, Sustainable Coastlines has planted 225,283 trees and educated 231,459 people on water quality and plastic pollution. Find out more at www.sustainablecoastlines.org