Te Taiao Day at Wao Summit 2026: Our Future Is Connected.
As we head towards the 2026 Wao Summit, Wao General Manager Monique Kelly takes a step back to look at the bigger picture and why understanding the connections between climate, nature, human health, energy and the resources we depend on matters more than ever.
Photo Credit: Camilla Rutherford
The first part of this year has been a reminder of just how interconnected our world has become. How a conflict thousands of kilometres away can affect the price of fuel, the cost of producing food, the availability of building materials and, ultimately, the pressure felt by households and businesses here in Aotearoa.
In our recent blog series, we explored some of these connections through energy, food and critical materials. What emerges is a picture of a world that is becoming more complex, more volatile and increasingly difficult to understand by looking at any one issue in isolation.
Climate change is not separate from energy. Energy is not separate from the materials we use. Our economy is not separate from nature. Human health is not separate from the health of the ecosystems around us.
This is where Te Taiao Day, the opening day of the Wao Summit on Tuesday 27 October, begins.
The invitation is to step back and see the bigger picture.
Throughout the day, academics, researchers and thinkers will explore the systems shaping our future with respect to climate, human health, nature, resources and systems thinking. Through the lens of the planetary boundaries, the day looks at the wider pressures being placed on the natural systems that sustain us.
That systems’ perspective matters. We have become very good at breaking complex problems into manageable pieces. Climate over here. Biodiversity over there. Resources somewhere else. Yet the natural world does not operate in silos.
Photo Credit: Camilla Rutherford
A changing climate places pressure on ecosystems and human health. The transition to renewable energy increases demand for critical minerals. Extracting those materials creates its own environmental and social impacts. Plastics derived from fossil fuels persist in our environment and increasingly in our bodies. Meanwhile, healthy functioning natural systems underpin the food, water, resources and economic activity upon which our communities depend.
The challenge is not simply solving each problem individually. It is understanding the relationships between them. That is also where opportunity lies.
Complex systems have an extraordinary capacity to adapt and reorganise following periods of disruption which expose weaknesses.
Te Taiao Day is about building the understanding needed to create space to rethink what we value and how our systems work.
Not to leave overwhelmed by the scale of the challenges, but with a clearer picture of the world we are navigating, the questions we need to be asking and the possibilities available to us.
Because before we can decide where we are going, we need to understand the system we are in.
Seeing the system through a different lens
These connections will also be brought to life through the work of award-winning photographer and visual storyteller Camilla Rutherford, whose Once Were Farmers exhibition will open at Rippon Hall as part of Te Taiao Day.
Through her photography, Camilla takes us inside Vietnam’s waste villages, revealing the people and places behind a global recycling system most of us rarely see. It is a powerful reminder that what we consume, discard and send “away” does not simply disappear. Our choices are connected to landscapes, livelihoods and communities far beyond our own.
The exhibition adds another dimension to the conversations taking place throughout Te Taiao Day — moving beyond data and ideas to show the human stories within these interconnected systems.
Once Were Farmers opens at 5.30pm on Tuesday 27 October at Rippon Hall, following the Te Taiao Day programme, and will be on display during the opening days of the Wao Summit.
Te Taiao Day is about building the understanding needed to create space to rethink what we value and how our systems work.
Not to leave overwhelmed by the scale of the challenges, but with a clearer picture of the world we are navigating, the questions we need to be asking, and the possibilities available to us.
Because before we can decide where we are going, we need to understand the system we are in.
Join us for Te Taiao Day
Tuesday 27 October | Wao Summit 2026
Spend the opening day of the Summit exploring the bigger picture — and the connections between climate, nature, human health, resources and the systems that shape our lives.
Te Taiao Day PassJoin us for the full day of Te Taiao conversations, ideas and perspectives.
Full Festival PassExperience Te Taiao Day and continue across the wider Wao Summit programme, with six days of conversations, workshops, experiences and events exploring resilience in action.
Or EXPLORE THE FULL WAO SUMMIT PROGRAMME to see what’s happening across the week.