Hokianga hui first step in new Northland biodiversity protection pilot

Associate Minister for the Environment James Shaw was in Kerikeri to launch the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity in July. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The first step in a $300,000 pilot bringing stronger Government biodiversity protection requirements to life in Northland will take place at a hui in Opononi on Friday.

Minister of Conservation Willow-Jean Prime, Associate Minister for the Environment James Shaw and Far North Mayor Moko Tepania are among the invitees to the hui, and will be launching Te Kete Hononga [basket of relationships] in Northland.

Te Kete Hononga is one of three year-long New Zealand pilots announced by Shaw in Kerikeri on July 7. The minister was in the mid-North town to launch the newly gazetted National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB).

The co-funded Government pilots will use a collaborative approach to bring stronger Government requirements for councils to protect regional biodiversity under the new policy statement.

Under the NPSIB, Northland Regional Council (NRC) is required to work with Far North District Council (FNDC), Kaipara District Council (KDC), Whangārei District Council (WDC) and others to develop a regional restoration strategy and plans for Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to protect biodiversity within five years from August 4.

The Opononi hui is being hosted by community group Reconnecting Northland, which has been selected by the Government as the foundation of the collaborative Te Tai Tokerau pilot, working with a new Northland-based Ministry for the Environment regional biodiversity co-ordinator - Omāpere’s Thalea Tane (Te Roroa, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Korokoro).

Shaw said in Kerikeri that the pilot would build on Reconnecting Northland’s biodiversity mahi, linking councils, hapū, the Ministry for the Environment, the Government and others already protecting biodiversity, and would show what worked well and what needed further support.

The group’s ‘basket of relationships’ approach focuses on building connections between those involved in protecting biodiversity and those working on this mahi as the foundation of its work.

Reconnecting Northland general manager Eamon Nathan (Te Roroa) said the Te Tai Tokerau pilot was focused in the mid-North and Far North, with NRC and FNDC the two councils closely involved.

Nathan said about 15 community groups around Hokianga, the Bay of Islands and further north were involved in the pilot. These groups were working on a range of biodiversity initiatives, including pest control and large whole landscape-scale projects involving a range of mahi focused on looking after the environment.

The Department of Conservation was also connected to the project.

Shaw said in Kerikeri the now-gazetted NPSIB addressed weaknesses in the 30-year-old Resource Management Act that required councils to protect biodiversity but did not provide guidelines on how to do this or support for that to happen.

He said in Kerikeri that prior to the policy statement coming into effect, about a third of New Zealand’s councils had been doing a good job with regard to protecting biodiversity, a third were doing an average job and a third were not doing much or could do much better.

Shaw said Northland has been chosen as one of three Government pilot regions, along with Tairāwhiti and Southland.

The strengthened Government biodiversity protection requirements of councils come two years after thousands of people expressed their anger over in Kaikohe.

Shaw told those present that holding the NPSIB launch in Kerikeri in July represented stepping into the hīkoi’s challenge.

In June 2021, around 2000 protesters - including farmers and Māori - from around Northland marched to FNDC’s head office to express their anger at the council’s push to bring in biodiversity protection on private and Māori land via SNAs, as part of requirements under the Resource Management Act.

■ Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.