The Nature of Things

New Zealand’s indigenous biodiversity is in crisis – a crisis of state and trend, a crisis of governance and a crisis of public engagement – because the fundamental drivers of loss have not been addressed. What follows is the vision articulated in Vanishing Nature to bring solutions together and identify progress in communicating it. New Zealand has … Read More

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Over the past several weeks I’ve unpacked the essence of Vanishing Nature, pointing out where the fundamental drivers of the loss of nature appear throughout our economy and institutions. The worrisome state of our national conservation agency (DOC) is a manifestation of politically sanctioned agency capture promoting low priority to safeguarding nature over competing government … Read More

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Community conservation is a real jewel in the crown of New Zealand’s conservation effort. Many thousands of kiwis fight for kiwis every weekend: trapping, weeding, building tracks, running tours and building community links to nature. Community groups, iwi organisations, private sector inputs, the philanthropic sector and landowners toil admirably. But this won’t save biodiversity. Community … Read More

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Clocking in at more than 20 times New Zealand’s land area, our marine environment is extraordinary and full of biodiversity we have yet to even describe. But weak and dysfunctional governance renders protection of marine biodiversity from ongoing decline almost impossible. Our ‘big blue backyard’ faces key issues, particularly the absences of a staunch statutory … Read More

New Zealand’s freshwater bodies are as revered as they are imperiled. Despite decades of law devoted to protecting freshwater ecosystems and safeguarding water quality in some way or other, the decline in freshwater biodiversity is startling. Lakes, wetlands, estuaries, streams and rivers are home to a pretty incredible array of wildlife that is in deep trouble. While some effort … Read More

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Conservation on private land is a story of the good and the bad.  Of the remaining privately-owned natural habitat, at least 350,000 hectares are legally protected by covenant of one sort or another.  The Queen Elizabeth II National Trust recently registered their four thousandth covenant making a total of 180,000 hectares protected for open … Read More

Many countries don’t have a centralised conservation agency like New Zealand has, but do these gatekeepers have the backing to stem environmental degradation and biodiversity loss? Last week I set out the three fundamental drivers of biodiversity loss: Market failure for biodiversity Regulatory failure due to agency capture and the power of private interests Perverse incentives that lead politicians … Read More

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Last week I demonstrated that despite a proud history of conservation and environmental management, New Zealand is still fast losing its natural heritage and, with it, our future prosperity. Addressing that requires some reframing of what conservation is for New Zealand, and recognition that doing more of the same might slow ongoing loss but cannot reverse the … Read More

The extraordinary specialness of our wildlife and ecosystems is internationally renowned. New Zealand is a global biodiversity hotspot with deep time endemism. This means that not only are things here pretty special, but they’ve been that way for millions of years. A unique identity for New Zealanders has been forged from this environment, and our natural capital has … Read More

Environment Aotearoa 2015 confirmed what many of us already knew: our natural heritage is in serious trouble.[i] Despite decades of law, policy and grass-roots conservation initiatives our biodiversity is rapidly declining because of habitat loss, fragmentation and change; pollution; impacts of invasive species; macro scale changes such as ocean acidification and a host of other negative … Read More

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