Download Protecting our treasured plants and wildlife

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