By Erity Teave Hey | President, Mana Rapa Nui Foundation · Vice President, Rapa Nui Parliament | 2025

In 2025, the Mana Rapa Nui Foundation awarded a grant to Fundación Mata ki te Rangi, funding scientific research on the native plant species of Rapa Nui in order to support environmental knowledge, conservation efforts, and community education on Easter Island.

About Fundación Mata ki te Rangi

Fundación Mata ki te Rangi conducts rigorous scientific research on the native and endemic plant species of Rapa Nui. The unique ecosystem of Easter Island—shaped by millennia of isolation in the South Pacific—is home to plant species found nowhere else on Earth. This botanical heritage is under pressure from invasive species, climate change, and decades of land-use change.

The Foundation manages a botanical garden in the Zona Poniente of Easter Island and is developing an architectural vision for a permanent cultural and research center that will serve the community and scientific visitors for generations.

What the Grant Funded

The Mana Rapa Nui Foundation grant funded:

• Scientific botanical research on the native and endemic plant species of Rapa Nui
• Documentation of environmental knowledge and conservation planning
• Community education programs that connect residents to the island’s natural heritage
• The development of the Mata ki te Rangi botanical garden and cultural center

Why This Partnership Matters

Preserving the natural heritage of Rapa Nui is inseparable from preserving its people and its culture. The plants of Easter Island are not separate from the Rapa Nui people; they are part of the same history, the same identity, and the same future. By funding botanical research, we are funding the foundations of a sustainable Rapa Nui for generations to come.

Fundación Mata ki te Rangi represents exactly the kind of community-rooted scientific institution that Rapa Nui needs—and that the global philanthropic community has largely overlooked.

“Preserving the natural heritage of Rapa Nui is inseparable from preserving its people and its culture.”

Mana Rapa Nui Foundation