“Many people are not aware of how much of a crisis New Zealand is in with our biodiversity. New Zealand is home to 168 species of native birds and many of these are endemic. Four out of every five are in trouble and some sit on the brink of extinction.
“The funding increase recognises this huge problem and the urgent need to act now.”
Landscape Architecture Associate Professor Mick Abbott was also heartened with the Government’s bid to protect biodiversity.
“With over 8 million hectares of public conservation lands, the challenge of looking after our special places is enormous,” he said.
However, he pointed out that doing so would require more than simply employing a greater number of DOC rangers.
“We need to keep questioning our long-term vision for protected areas,” he said. “Are we too focused on iconic species rather than restoring whole ecosystems?
“Can we ensure the Mackenzie Basin and South Island High Country maintain their unique character, given the fragmentation and intensification of land use that has happened through tenure review?
“And are we being effective in connecting young and new New Zealanders to our conservation values?”
Environmental Planning Associate Professor Hamish Rennie said the $3.1m allocated to a new unit for policing the Resource Management Act (RMA) “put councils on notice in terms of taking action against serious environmental breaches”.
“The unit is an interesting indicator of central government’s concern over local government’s ability to police the RMA,” he said.
“However, it will have to be careful not to make non-compliance monitoring a numbers game, as many cases are the result of technicalities and have no negative effect on the environment.
“For example, farmers are required to demonstrate that their nutrient loss is below the permitted limits, and although many farmers are well below the limits and farming in environmentally friendly ways, some haven’t done the paperwork to get the consents.”
Dr Rennie said he would welcome the unit as long as it helped to target and fund the difficult-to-prosecute cases that had major environmental impacts.
“The difficulty of getting evidence that stands up in court is often a problem in such cases and this is especially so for loss of indigenous vegetation. A council needs to have sufficient information about what was present before someone removed it to be able to prosecute successfully.
“At this stage, it’s not clear how the new unit might be able to assist in such cases, but this is where its focus should be.”
The significant increase in funding for the Department of Conservation is likely to increase demand for university graduates in the areas of pest control, biodiversity issues and environmental planning.
Lincoln University’s Bachelor of Science (Conservation and Ecology), Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and Bachelor of Environmental Management are key qualifications for those interested in these issues.