This Film Project is made possible by the Support of the Nia Tero Pasifika Journalism Fellowship
Nia Tero is proud to announce its inaugural Pasifika Journalism Fellowship to support Native and Indigenous-led news reporting in Pacific Island communities.
The Pasifika Journalism Fellowship will support 7 emerging journalist who identify as Pacific Islanders (or pairs with a Pacific Islander lead) to cover stories based around on Pasifika peoples care for land and sea.
About the film
Title: Akaoraanga o te Kakerori
The Kakerori bird (Rarotonga Monarch) is an endemic species to the Cook Islands. It drew near to extinction in the 1980s and the population was at an all time low of 29 birds in 1989. For the past three decades, conservation work through rodent control and the erection of a conservation area has led to the Kakerori population slowly improving, and the population is estimated to be over 500 today.
For this project, we will be finding those that have been involved in this conservation mission that has saved the bird from the brink of extinction. We aspire to document the history of this project. Also, in October – November, a census will be taking place to count the Kakerori Population. Earlier this year was the ‘çatch, tag and release’ period which we have already documented.
The work to conserve this species is ongoing, and not very many people know about it. The overall goal of this project is not only to document the history of this project, but to raise awareness on how it is an ongoing project, which will hopefully draw in more volunteers to play a part in the akaoraanga o te Kakerori.
