6 October 2010 Time to call in national environmental debt says Conservation Department head

New Zealand needs a “radical game change” as it chases greater prosperity in an altering world economic order, an increasingly competitive environment and a prolonged recession. That’s the view of the Director-General of Conservation, Alastair Morrison, presenter of this year’s State of the Nation’s Environment Address at Lincoln University.

“We need to challenge the conventional way that economic progress is described and measured,” he says.  “We need to manage and allocate our natural capital differently and call in the environmental debt we have built up over generations.”

The base from which New Zealand will build its future prosperity will likely be what the country has always done well, says Mr Morrison, “but we need to give substance to our pride in a being a people of the land; people who tread lightly upon it.  We need to translate that pride into market advantage.”

Mr Morrison will expand on his theme of “Building Biodiversity: Building New Zealand” in the 12th annual State of the Nation’s Environment Address at Lincoln University on Thursday 7 October.

The address is in the Stewart 1 Lecture Theatre on the Lincoln University campus from 5.00 – 6.00pm. It is open to the public and admission is free.

Mr Morrison joined the Department of Conservation in 2002 and was appointed Chief Executive and Director-General in 2006.

The series of annual Lincoln University State of the Nation’s Environment addresses was founded in 1999 by Lincoln University’s Professor of Nature Conservation, Professor Ian Spellerberg and associates. Presenters over the years have included Cabinet Ministers, Government ministry heads and environmental and conservation group leaders.