Leading a Regenerative Future for Aotearoa New Zealand

Emeritus Professor David Norton retired from the University of Canterbury at the start of 2022 and has over 40 years’ experience in New Zealand ecology and conservation across public and private land. Over his career, his research and consultancy work has spanned several fields of ecology and conservation biology including the ecology of New Zealand’s native forests, conservation and management of threatened plants, mistletoe biology, ecology of remnant habitats, restoration ecology, threat...

– Emeritus Prof. David Norton

You can’t distribute wealth without generating it first. New Zealand needs to generate wealth as a country in order to make the investment required to arrest New Zealand’s long term decline relative to other OECD countries. I believe Pure Advantage and the people involved can make a difference by getting this country focused on the opportunities available from the global shift to Green Growth. There is no country that depends on clean and green for its global image as much as New Zealand does...

– Rob Morrison

Sheridan Ashford graduated from the School of Forestry at the University of Canterbury in 2013 and is now the Commercial Sales Manager for Summit Forests New Zealand & President of the Future Foresters New Zealand. As well as leading the Future Foresters, Sheridan also sits on the New Zealand Forest Owners Association/ Farm Forestry Association Training & Careers Committee.

– Sheridan Ashford

Paul Quinlan is a landscape architect, trustee of Tāne’s Tree Trust, convenor of the Northland Tōtara Working Group, and a regional advisor for Trees That Count. He has expertise in sustainable indigenous forest management, particularly with regenerating tōtara on farmland in Northland and manages research projects on that topic.

– Paul Quinlan

My appreciation for the carbon sinking quality of forests began in the Brazilian Amazon when I had to measure the amount of carbon being sequestered by tall forest. I was sent to Brazil to discover whether carbon sequestration was reduced in drier years (unfortunately, yes). Upon my return to NZ in the early 2000’s I got involved in NZ’s first forest carbon sink programme. We combined carbon units from landowners with regenerating indigenous forests, certified their carbon and biodiversity...

– Dr. Fiona Carswell

Senior lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, with over 15 years experience in teaching and research in geospatial and ecological sciences.

– Bradley Case

Councillor and activist from Kāpiti, New Zealand. Since a young age, Sophie has held the environment closely and always felt a strong connection to and need to protect this one planet we share. She founded School Strike 4 Climate in Aotearoa NZ and went on to coordinate the movement which mobilised 170,000 people across the country in September of 2019, united for climate justice. She then ran for Council at the age of 18 and was elected as one of Aotearoa’s youngest Councillors, now holding...

– Sophie Handford

Manu Caddie (Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Hauā) is a biotechnology entrepreneur focused on truly sustainable land use and an indigenous bioeconomy. He is an advocate for restoring diverse native forest on erosion-prone land in Tairāwhiti as the region is locked in a constant cycle of climate-related disaster, recovery and preparation for the next weather event.

– Manu Caddie

Jonathon Porritt is an eminent writer and campaigner on sustainable development. For the last 30 years, Jonathon has provided strategic advice to leading UK and international companies to deepen their understanding of today’s converging environmental and climate crises. He is also focused on intergenerational justice, supporting young people in their activities around sustainable development issues as they face a future defined by the twin crises of the Climate Emergency and Biodiversity...

– Sir Jonathon Porritt

Geoff was born and raised on a Dairy and Deer Farm south of Auckland. He attended Lincoln University where he graduated with a B Com (Agricultural). In 2018 he received a Doctor of Commerce honoris causa from Lincoln his alma mater recognising his achievements as a serial entrepreneur. He founded 42 Below and was a director and Chairman of The Trilogy Group and Moa Group. Geoff has been a trustee of Melanoma NZ and of the Endangered species foundation, he is currently a trustee of Pure...

– Geoff Ross

Mark Kimberley is a statistician who spent most of his career working at Scion and now freelances as a consultant. His interests include forest inventory, forest growth modelling, and climate change. He has developed several widely used forest growth models for both exotic and native tree species and contributed to the design and analysis of New Zealand’s national inventories of exotic and natural forests

– Mark Kimberley

David Hall is Senior Researcher at The Policy Observatory at AUT and an Associate Investigator at Te Punaha Mātatini. He has a D.Phil in Politics from the University of Oxford and works on climate finance innovation, low-emissions transitions policy, and land use and forestry policy.

– Dr David Hall