The Aspen Institute's Socrates programme in Queenstown offered a rare opportunity to engage deeply with one of our era's most pressing challenges: how journalism and democracy can endure in an age of artificial intelligence and information abundance…

n a recent acrticle commissioned by the Royal Society Te Apārangi, Katherine Short, an expert in sustainable fisheries and caring for coastal habitats, calls for the same integrated approach used in terrestrial Predator Free 2050 to be adopted for marine conservation.

The journey toward regenerating our ocean begins not with policy or technology, but with trust. This fundamental insight, drawn from personal experience, contemporary leadership frameworks, lived experience and the wisdom of systems change, offers a pathway through the complexity that surrounds ocean care in Aotearoa New Zealand.