Yvette Couch-Lewis

Ngāi Tahu – Ngāti Wheke, Ngāti Waewae

Yvette Couch-Lewis MNZM is of Ngāi Tahu decent, who whakapapa to e Rāpaki-o-Te Rakiwhakaputa me Ngāti Waewae. She is currently the Co-Chair of the Whaka-Ora Healthy Harbour Lyttleton Catchment Management Plan governance group. Through her iwi mahi as a Taonga Species Representative, is also Co-Chair of the Department of Conservation Kākāriki Karaka governance group. Yvette has served as an Iwi RMA Hearings Commissioner and a Tumu Taiao for a three-year term at the Christchurch Regional Council Table.

Yvette has decades of experience working in various co-governance roles, and across a wide range of environmental projects on behalf of her hapū and iwi. In 2021, Yvette was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her services to conservation and Māori for her involvement in these types of governance roles. First and foremost, though, she is a taua(grandmother) who wants to ensure her mokopuna can grow up connected to their ancestral lands and environmental cultural practices.