The Eye on Nature School Days and Family Day Event has been cancelled as a precautionary measure to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19 (novel Coronavirus).
It is with great sadness that Eye on Nature School Days and Family Day events will not go ahead for 2020. The decision was made Monday 16 March at 8:00 am by our event managers here at the Manukau Beautification Charitable Trust (MBCT) and was supported by sponsors and partners.
It is paramount we look after the health and wellbeing of our communities first. The difficult decision has been made in order to help protect our communities from the spread of Coronavirus.
Proud to provide enlivening opportunities for courageous local communities, Eye on Nature was set to welcome 1500 primary school children and 10,000 + Auckland visitors to the Auckland Botanic Gardens in Manurewa, on School Days - Tuesday 24, Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 March, and on the Family Day Saturday 28 March 2020. The programmes theme Adaptations in NZ: Urutaunga ki Aotearoa – Thrive to Survive: Tipu Matomatoheiorapito couldn’t be more on point as external factors such as draught, bush fires, coronavirus and economic impacts challenges our communities. Since 2013 we have opted for a thought-provoking theme ready to shake statistics and schedules. Whilst the 2020 programme has been cancelled, we are still prompting citizens to make choices for change.
We want to highlight the importance of our theme, especially given the challenges our communities and environment is faced with today.
It is often hard for busy families to engage with their environment and local communities; the work we do helps individuals build their relationship with the natural world, and their neighbourhoods so in times like these, we can all support and help each.
We are starting to look for ways to share the event messages through innovative no-contact modern means. 40 + environmental partners, local food vendors, entertainers, volunteers, sponsors and educators will band together to bring Eye on Nature back to Auckland communities in 2021. Other events and programmes planned to run throughout the year will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis following advice from the Ministry of Health and the situation at the time. Since announcing the decision to cancel, we have had an overwhelming response of support from our local communities. We want to take this time to thank everyone who supports us every year, our programme partners and supporting organisations from around New Zealand, our legacy partners Auckland Council, the six Auckland Southern Local Boards and the Auckland Botanic Gardens. We hope you are safe and well and we look forward to seeing you at Eye on Nature 2021. Aroha mai, MBCT.
