The Natural Heritage Project was initiated by Sir Geoffrey Henry within his Prime Minister's Department in 1990.
The Project moved into the Natural Heritage Trust when it was established in 1999 by an Act of Parliament.
At this time the project employed its first assistant - funded by NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, and administered by Volunteer Service Abroad [1] - a taxonomic specialist graduate from New Zealand to work with Gerald on identifying and entering species into the developing multimedia database of flora and fauna.
In addition, there has been essential funding from NZAID, SDC, Bishop Museum, PBIN, GEF, and UNDP.
Gerald McCormack is Director of the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust and was coordinator of the project to transfer the Rimatara lorikeet (kura in Cook Islands Māori) at Atiu to establish a reserve population.