MEDIA RELEASE
Life’s a beach for new coast care co-ordinator
For immediate release: Monday 29 September 2008
The Bay of Plenty’s beaches will get a boost now that a new Coast Care Co-ordinator has started.
Pim de Monchy joined Environment Bay of Plenty this month as the full-time Land Management Officer for the Coast Care
programme.
Mr de Monchy said he was looking forward to meeting existing Coast Care volunteers and encouraging new groups to start
up.
“The volunteers have worked incredibly hard in protecting our coastline,” Mr de Monchy said. “However, these volunteers
are mainly based near built up residential areas like Waihi and Papamoa. The less populated rural areas are just as
important ecologically and it would be good to see these stretches of coastline being protected too.”
Mr de Monchy said the role of the Coast Care groups in protecting the Bay’s coastline would be even more important in
light of climate change.
“Our coastline could be vulnerable to rising sea levels in the future. However, if you have healthy dunes then the
likelihood of damage to land and property behind those dunes will be reduced,” Mr de Monchy said.
Before joining Environment Bay of Plenty, Mr de Monchy was the Operations Manager for Maungatautari Ecological Island
Trust, a community-led sanctuary in the Waikato.
Environment Bay of Plenty Land Resources Manager Robyn Skelton said Mr de Monchy’s appointment underlined the regional
council’s and partner organisations’ commitment to the Coast Care programme.
“Coast Care represents the way we want to work with our communities – it gives community groups a sense of ownership of
these important areas within our region,” Ms Skelton said. “We are absolutely committed to the programme and are
exploring ways to grow it. We are therefore delighted to have someone with Pim’s experience on board.”
Coast Care Bay of Plenty is a community based programme co-ordinated by Environment Bay of Plenty which aims to reduce
erosion of sand dunes. Dunes are important because they protect our homes and our neighbourhoods from coastal flooding
and erosion.
Coast Care is a partnership programme involving Tauranga City Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Opotiki
District Council, Whakatane District Council, the Department of Conservation and Environment Bay of Plenty.
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