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Protecting our treasured plants and wildlife The Green Party has a plan to strengthen our environmental law to protect our native plants and wildlife and the places they live. We have a biodiversity crisis in New Zealand. We need to ensure habitats for special wildlife and plants are kept safe and that depends on how we manage our land and waterways. Many threatened plants and animals live outside our conservation estate and the protections that come with that. In fact, 28 percent of kiwi habitat and 70 percent of the threatened lizard species are found on private land. The key populations of some threatened plant species such as Bartlett’s rata and kakabeak are only found on private land. There are now 73 percent more threatened species (amongst plants, reptiles, freshwater fish and birds) than there were a decade ago. Too many of our native plants and wildlife are in serious decline. The Department of Conservation needs more funding to do its job but that is only part of the solution. Our major environmental law, the Resource Management Act (RMA), is not adequately protecting our native plants and wildlife and the places they live. A lack of clear national rules and direction means that local councils are not taking a consistent approach. The Green Party has a plan to better protect our native plants and wildlife and the places where they live. The Green Party will: 1. Improve support for community organisations. 2. Put the protection of our treasured native species and habitats at the heart of our law by strengthening the RMA. Support local councils to help them protect our native biodiversity. 3. 1) Support people standing up for our environment and our native plants and wildlife The Green Party will increase the Environmental Legal Assistance Fund from $800,000 to $1.6 million for environmental and community organisations involved in legal action. We will restore the Department of Conservation’s role to advocate for our native species under the RMA. 2) Strengthen the RMA to better protect our native plants and wildlife We will amend the RMA to: Give greater weight to protecting native wildlife and plants Put protection of indigenous biodiversity at the heart of the RMA Require decisionmakers to ensure wilderness and scenic values are protected Reinstate protection of urban trees Ensure that the NZ Biodiversity Strategy is considered when deciding resource consents so that native plants and wildlife are better protected Allow “calling in” of decisions that impact on nationally significant indigenous biodiversity. This would enable such important decisions to go to the Environmental Protection Authority or Environment Court rather than a local council to decide 3) Policies that help local councils protect our native plants and wildlife We will complete a National Policy Statement for indigenous biodiversity. The National Government halted progress on one in 2011. The statement will ensure that planning rules are consistent nation-wide to protect our native plants and wildlife and their habitats. We will also develop a National Environmental Standard on clearing native vegetation to ensure the same standards are applied nationally. Find out more at www.greens.org.nz/environment Position paper Authorised by: Eugenie Sage, Parliament Buildings, Wellington