WWF-New Zealand

Dr Carwyn Jones and I recently teamed up on an opinion piece for E-Tangata, in which we argue that the Coalition Government’s efforts to erase te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations from law and policy also serve to advance its war on nature. In many countries around the world, Indigenous rights have acted as a bulwark against unfettered exploitation of the natural world. Similarly, here in Aotearoa, the recognition of Māori rights has enhanced our environmental protections. Some of the most effective and transformational environmental policy in the past two decades has its genesis in mātauranga Māori. Tangata whenua have important insight into how we can counter the climate and biodiversity crises in Aotearoa. Making space for — and honouring — Indigenous leadership is key to protecting all that we love about being New Zealanders. 👇🏼 https://lnkd.in/g7_qZeCc WWF-New Zealand

Our CEO Kayla Kingdon-Bebb and Conservation Impact Manager Jamie Fowler spoke to the Environment Select Committee today to share our concerns about government proposals that would limit regional councils' ability to manage localised fishing impacts on marine biodiversity 🌊 The ability for regional councils to place controls on fishing is critically important if we don’t want to see our treasured marine life lost forever! You can read our full submission on the resource management (consenting and other system changes) amendment bill in the comments ⬇️ Our submission specifically focusses on the interface between the Resource Management Act and the Fisheries Act.

This Earth Hour, go beyond switching off your lights and spend 60 minutes making a positive impact for our planet. What will you be doing for an hour? Be a part of the #BiggestHourForEarth on Saturday, 22nd March at 8:30pm your local time. Check out https://hubs.ly/Q03b46v60 to discover all the ways you can Give an hour!

As Prime Minister Christopher Luxon opens his investment summit today, here's a reminder from WWF-New Zealand that #nature is Aotearoa New Zealand's greatest #asset and most important bit of #infrastructure: https://lnkd.in/gZzujhVd Our recent report 'A Nature Positive Aotearoa' ( 👇 Link below in comments) shows that investing in the protection and restoration of nature will save New Zealand more than $270 billion over the next 50 years. Creating more Marine Protected Areas to provide safe havens for ocean wildlife, restoring degraded wetlands and peatlands, and expanding native forest cover would all bring huge benefits to our economy. It's a significant proposition: we need to significantly increase our investment in nature by up to 6.5 times the current spend – roughly $22.5b a year. And if we do so, the payoff will be enormous: our report shows that within 11 years, the annual benefits outweigh the cost of investing in nature. But to realise these benefits we need to move beyond a myopic approach to driving economic growth and recognise the fallacy in arguing that environmental protections are nothing more than “green tape”.

As RNZ reports below, researchers have been banding thousands of black petrel/tākoketai fledglings on Aotea/Great Barrier Island for nearly 30 years now. However, only about 10 percent of these birds have ever been found again. They are truly incredible (and adorable) birds but like 90% of New Zealand’s seabirds, they’re threatened with extinction. We were lucky enough to join Elizabeth (Biz) Bell from Wildlife Management International Ltd in January as she and her team surveyed the tākoketai colony on Aotea. The Department of Conservation (DOC)-funded survey includes three trips to the colony every year to monitor nearly 500 study burrows. Our CEO Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, who joined the research trip along with members of our Board, told RNZ that the massive increase in reported seabird and dolphin by-catch after the introduction of cameras on commercial inshore vessels shows there is still a lot of work to do to protect our native seabirds including the tākoketai. "You can't change human behaviour if people don't understand that their actions are causing harm. So for Biz to have been bringing out commercial fishers and members of the seafood industry and others to show them why we're trying so hard to save these birds, it's very powerful." Check out this epic in-depth feature piece by Kate Newton - shared in our comments - to find out more about this majestic bird and its plight⬇️

You may have seen the Government has announced a $30 million spend on tourism infrastructure and biodiversity projects across the next three years. Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says this work will be funded by the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) and $19m will be ring-fenced to help protect our biodiversity. This includes: 🌿 Stopping the spread of wallabies and managing deer and goat populations in national parks and popular visitor areas; 🌿 Targeted predator control to protect native species especially the critically endangered Southern Dotterel birds in Rakiura National Park; 🌿 Stopping and removing wilding pines from our iconic landscapes. WWF-New Zealand will always celebrate any investment in conservation and nature/te taiao so we welcome this announcement from the Government 👏 As our recent Nature Positive Aotearoa report shows, our investment in nature needs to increase by approximately 6.5 times the current spend – or $22.5 billion per year – if we are to halt and reverse the loss of nature in Aotearoa. And that scaling up investment in nature now would save New Zealand over $270b over the next 50 years. The next five years are crucial if we are to halt and reverse the sustained decline in biodiversity we are seeing in Aotearoa and globally 🌎 This announcement is a good #naturepositive step in the right direction from the Government but we will need sustained, increased, and strategically delivered investment in order for New Zealand's native species and ecosystems to recover and thrive. We would note that using IVL to fund conservation projects should not encourage the Government to further cut the Department of Conservation (DOC)’s baseline funding. DOC has been chronically underfunded for decades by successive governments. We hope to see the Government double-down on investing in DOC and the amazing work it does 👏 The Government says some of the planned conservation investments will complement the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Bill to deliver the “highest ever level of environmental protection for this precious moana”.  We would reiterate our strong view that ALL the Hauraki Gulf high protection areas must be exempt from commercial fishing to protect the integrity of this Bill and restore the health and mauri of Tīkapa Moana 🌊 See RNZ's story below in comments outlining the Government's announcement in more detail ⬇️

Today, just like every day, WWF-New Zealand recognises the leadership of tangata whenua as we whakamana Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Making space for and honouring Indigenous leadership is key to protecting all that we love about being New Zealanders – including the health and mauri of te taiao, our unique and threatened natural world 🌿 We strongly oppose the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and will continue to urge the Government to uphold the Treaty’s promises, recognise Māori rights and interests, and work collaboratively toward a just and sustainable future for all New Zealanders 💚 Whatever your plans for Waitangi Day, we hope you get to spend some quality time with friends and whānau as we mark 185 years of Te Tiriti.

We’re all aflutter after returning from Aotea / Great Barrier Island to see the beautiful black petrel / tākoketai. This taonga species is endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand and is classified as nationally vulnerable by the Department of Conservation (DOC) Our CEO Kayla Kingdon-Bebb and some of our Board had the privilege of seeing tākoketai population monitoring in action. This work is led by Elizabeth 'Biz' Bell from Wildlife Management International and has been underway for almost 30 years! Research at the study colony on Hirakimata is vital to continue to track population trends, determine impacts to the birds and colony, and develop further protections for this incredibly special bird. Our team were even able to help lend a hand (literally!) by crawling under old gnarly tree roots to put their gloved hands down burrows to check if any birds were at home and then band them. A big thank you to DOC and Wildlife Management International for your important mahi 👏 👏 The tākoketai is truly an incredible bird. It only breeds in Tīkapa Moana / Hauraki Gulf and then flies as far as South America to spend winter – that’s an epic migratory route! But the incredible range of black petrels means that they’re often caught as accidental bycatch here and on the High Seas. In fact, the tākoketai is New Zealand’s most at risk seabird from commercial fishing. Here at WWF-New Zealand we will continue to advocate for our native seabirds, such as the tākoketai, so they can thrive once again. That includes continuing to campaign for the rollout of cameras on boats to the whole of New Zealand's commercial fishing fleet, and for more environmental protections for Tīkapa Moana / Hauraki Gulf - which is on the brink of ecological collapse. Check out some photos below of the team on Aotea - some of whom were a little nervous to put their hands down the burrows in case they got a nip!

Late last the night the Government announced its new international climate target - committing to reduce emissions by 51 to 55 percent below 2005 levels by 2035. Our CEO, Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, says the target is a "farcical attempt to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C and a complete failure to do our ‘fair share’ or play our part in the ‘global climate response." "This target does nothing but expose this Government’s complete inability to grapple with what’s at stake for future generations." Read our full response: https://lnkd.in/gPFmKmNC

We've just released the results of our independent polling with Horizon Research Ltd which shows overwhelming support from Kiwis for expanding marine protection in Aotearoa 🌊 This survey looks at New Zealanders' attitudes to ocean protection and reveals that 81% of Kiwis want to see more Marine Protected Areas, and 79% of New Zealanders think New Zealand should protect 30% of our ocean by 2030. Our CEO, Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, says this survey should be a ‘wake-up call’ for the Prime Minister. Less than 1% of our ocean is protected, we're wildly off-track to meeting the global goal to protect 30% of our ocean by 2030, and the Government has scrapped the Kermadec Rangitāhua Ocean Sanctuary and recently decided to allow commercial fishing in so-called 'protected' areas of the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana. “Kiwis are telling us that the status quo is not good enough. It’s time for Prime Minister Luxon to step up, realise Kiwis care about our ocean, and show New Zealanders that his Government is committed to looking after it,” she says. Marc Daalder has done a great write-up of the survey for Newsroom NZ ⬇️ and we've linked to the full report in the comments below. https://lnkd.in/gdFXWzin