Awaroa Ki Karioitahi (AKK) is a community-based environmental organisation working across the lower Āwhitu Peninsula, from the Waikato Awa to the Tasman Sea. AKK supports farmers, lifestyle block owners, schools, mana whenua, and local residents to combine as a connected community, working together to restore and protect the unique landscapes they call home. Through practical conservation programmes, training, technology, and community coordination, AKK helps people take meaningful action while building local capability and long-term stewardship.
AKK acts as a steward and support organisation for the Predator Free Whiriwhiri and Otaua School Rat Rangers programmes.
Predator Free Whiriwhiri is a novel conservation model that has been operating for over ten years, pioneering a Community Action First approach to predator eradication. Combining networked communications, shared real-time data, and a high-intensity trapping programme, it coordinates volunteers, landowners, schools, and community groups into a single eradication network. The model has proven that sustained, landscape-scale predator control can be delivered at exceptionally low cost by empowering communities to lead the work themselves. It has inspired communities across Aotearoa and provides a practical blueprint for scalable, community-led conservation.