Over his career, Charles has been a huge advocate for citizen science and supporting individuals, whānau and communities to deepen their connections to the landscape around them, while developing their abilities to question and make sense of what they see and experience.
Internationally, all around NZ and certainly on New Zealand's East Coast these sorts of initiatives have manifested as 'bioblitzes' or 'Taiao health checks' as they are known Out East.
Charles was involved in a number of these engagements, and alongside partners at Gisborne's Tairāwhiti Environment Centre pioneered the development of a range of support services to enable groups to set up and run their own health checks.
Examples of Charles work in this area can be found below, and a number of Charles' recommended tools and resources for effective Taiao Health Checks and Bioblitzes can be found in the resources section off this website.
Charles can also be seen giving a brief presentation on the philosophy and practice of bicultural citizen science to Teachmeet NZ here - Ecological Education - citizen science, technology, and bioregional learning.
