Tairāwhiti Pharmaceuticals, based in Te Araroa, also excavated 460 metres of channels in the wetlands to lower the water table to reduce ponding and flooding of its mānuka plantation. Tairāwhiti Pharmaceuticals previously harvested wild mānuka trees but in November 2019 established a 30ha mānuka plantation, some of which encroaches on Te Whare Wetlands. Tairāwhiti Pharmaceuticals planted 200,000 mānuka trees in late 2019, some of which encroached on Te Whare Wetlands. Tairāwhiti Pharmaceuticals has committed to remedial steps recommended by the ecologists including filling in the drains, retiring the mānuka plantation that is in the wetland and installing a fence. According to Kerr's LinkedIn profile, he is also the managing director and founder of Natural Solutions and the East Cape Mānuka Company.

Source: New Zealand Herald June 06, 2021 03:33 UTC