Yellow-crowned kākāriki on Motuara Island. Image Simon Hayward
New Zealand’s progress towards securing 30% of its terrestrial and aquatic habitats in protected areas by 2030 will be under the spotlight at this year’s UN Biodiversity Conference. By Chantal Pagel
Forest & Bird magazine
A version of this story was first published in the Spring 2024 issue of Forest & Bird magazine.
The variety of plant and animal life in the world is fundamental to our everyday lives. Biological diversity within and between species and ecosystems has a profound effect on our physical and economic wellbeing.
A healthy environment provides us with natural resources and protection from extreme weather events, with the latter becoming more important in the wake of climate change. If we look after nature, nature will look after us.
Unfortunately, we humans aren’t doing enough to protect nature’s diversity, and our environment is suffering. Nature is vanishing in Aotearoa and around the globe through direct exploitation, habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and the introduction of alien species into ecosystems they don’t belong.
About 25% of species in assessed animal and plant groups on Earth are threatened, suggesting that around one million species already face extinction, many within our lifetimes, unless action is taken.
Two decades ago, world leaders recognised the need to develop integrated approaches to biodiversity protection that consider environmental, social, cultural, and economic values.
The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro agreed a comprehensive strategy for “sustainable development” while ensuring a healthy and viable world for future generations. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity was born.
Chantal Pagel with Kiwi chick. Chantal is Forest & Bird’s regional conservation manager for the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, and Hawke’s Bay.
New Zealand signed up to the convention along with 195 other nations. It has three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its wealth, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of such resources.
The development and implementation of a national biodiversity strategy and action plan was a requirement for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its obligations under the Convention.
Forest & Bird was a foundation member of the governmental stakeholder group that worked for 18 months to develop recommendations for a strategy, working alongside the Iwi Chairs Forum, Environmental Defence Society, the Forest Owners Association, Federated Farmers, Fisheries Inshore New Zealand, scientists, and others.
Te Mana o te Taiao – Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy was finally launched in 2020 and provided a “greenprint” for nature protection and restoration. Upholding the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an essential part of Te Mana o Te Taiao.
The strategy’s implementation plan will be used over the next 30 years to set out a pathway for achieving the strategy, to ensure:
- ecosystems and species from mountain tops to ocean depths are thriving
- people’s lives are enriched through their connection with nature
- Treaty partners, whānau, hapū, and iwi are exercising their full role as rangatira and kaitiaki
- prosperity is intrinsically linked with a thriving biodiversity
In 2022, the New Zealand government signed up to a new global deal for nature, the “30 by 30” initiative which emerged from the COP15 UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal.
Participating nations must designate 30% of the planet’s terrestrial and aquatic habitats as protected areas by 2030. It also means countries must stop subsidising activities that destroy valuable ecosystems, such as mining and industrial fishing.
“We have made global biodiversity commitments before,” said Conservation Minister Poto Williams, in December 2022, when she announced New Zealand had become a signatory. “This deal recognises we need to do better. The new targets are stronger, smarter, and address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss.”
New Zealand’s progress towards goals and outcomes to protect biodiversity will come under scrutiny at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) taking place in Colombia from 21 October to 1 November 2024. It’s likely we will make global headlines for all the wrong reasons.
While there are biodiversity-enhancing programmes in place that can help us meet our international biodiversity obligations, such as Predator Free 2050, other important initiatives have been axed by the National-led government. These include He Waka Eke Noa – the Primary Sector Climate Action Partnership and the Jobs for Nature programme.
The introduction of the recent Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill will also reduce biodiversity protection. The soonto-be scrapped Resource Management Act contains obligations to provide for the protection of significant indigenous habitat.
On top of proposed DOC cuts, Ministers have also signalled important protections in the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity will be watered down or rolled back.
Many international tourists love travelling to New Zealand. They come here to experience our stunning natural heritage and a country with an incredibly rich diversity of plants and animals, many of which are only found here.
Recognising that nature is at the heart of our economy and the way we do business is essential. Acknowledging the role of mana whenua as kaitiaki of our whenua and taonga species, and adopting tikanga and mātauranga Māori into the management of indigenous biodiversity, are also crucial.
Our nation needs to do better at protecting and restoring our country’s unique natural heritage before it’s too late.
Canterbury spotted skink. Image Euan Brook
In April, for example, after an urgent assessment by an independent expert panel, the Canterbury spotted skink was reclassified from Nationally Vulnerable to Nationally Critical – the last step before extinction. There are fewer than 1000 mature adults left on Earth.
This large skink lives in Canterbury’s wild places, mostly on private and council-managed land. This makes the species especially vulnerable to the current government’s anti-nature policy agenda.
Nature cannot be restocked. Once a species is gone, it is gone for good, which may have detrimental impacts on other organisms, including us. And this, undoubtedly, will cost us dearly.
WHAT IS FOREST & BIRD DOING?
Forest & Bird is campaigning to stop a wider rollback of environmental protections that would undermine Te Mana o te Taiao, including the proposed Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and changes that would reverse recent progress in protecting and restoring freshwater.
The Department of Conservation is leading the development of the next Te Mana o Te Taiao implementation plan. Forest & Bird will contribute to the upcoming discussion document to support positive outcomes for indigenous biodiversity in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Our conservation and advocacy staff will continue to press the government to acknowledge the importance of indigenous biodiversity for climate change resilience and economic wellbeing. They do this by making detailed policy submissions on national and regional environmental policies, plans, and strategies.