Biodiversity crisis is uneconomic

Federated Farmers member Mac Pacey is committed to improving the quality of Lake Rotorua.

Eighty million years of geographical isolation and the diversity of our land and seascapes mean Aotearoa/New Zealand is a global hotspot for biodiversity.

We have many species that are found here and nowhere else in the world. All of our native skinks and geckos, more than 90 per cent of our native insects, 80 per cent of our higher plants, and a quarter of our native birds are only found in New Zealand.

In pre-human times, New Zealand was probably a very noisy place with flocks of tui, kaka, korimako/bellbird making their presence known, kakapo booming at night to attract a mate and hundreds of millions of petrels darkening the sky when they returned to their burrows on coastal headlands.

It's certainly a different story today. Much of the landscape and habitat our native plants and wildlife once called home is now farmland or urban sections.

Some economists (and political parties) argue that you need to "balance" the economy with the environment, that you can exploit the environment as long as we don't push its systems to the point of collapse.

I'd argue that a strong economy and the benefits of jobs, financial prosperity and thriving communities cannot exist without a healthy environment and healthy ecosystems. A healthy environment supports healthy people. Taking better care of nature will benefit all of us.

We need to prioritise this because of New Zealand's biodiversity crisis. Predation and habitat destruction and degradation mean 85 per cent of our native lizards, 74 per cent of our native freshwater fish species, 40 per cent of our native bird species and nearly 40 per cent of our native plants risk being pushed into the extinction crevasse.

Our remaining native forests, shrublands, tussock grasslands, wetlands and rivers need protection for the habitat and the ecosystem services they provide -- clean water, clean air, erosion protection, and habitat for beneficial insects.

Many farmers, such as those with QE II covenants, those who have fenced wetlands, are planting stream banks, and/or controlling weeds and rats, stoats and possums have realised this. Their efforts are often inspiring.

Others recognise that regenerating manuka has more dollar value as a nectar source for beekeepers than cleared for grazing. Yet habitat destruction continues.

A 2015 ECan report says that between 1990 and 2012 more than 11,630ha of undeveloped land along the margins of Canterbury rivers such as Rakaia and Waiau was converted to intensive agricultural use. Forty per cent of this was public land. The habitat these undeveloped margins provided for native plants, insects and lizards. This habitat, scarce in lowland Canterbury, is now gone.

That's why the Green Party wants an effective National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity with strong policies and standards so that councils take a more consistent approach and give more weight to protecting our treasured native species and habitats. This should be at the heart of our environmental law, the Resource Manage Act.

We need to ensure the native plants and wildlife that New Zealanders treasure are kept safe so that the kiwi and koru or silver fern can remain our national symbols.

Many threatened plants and animals live outside the conservation estate so private landholders have a crucial role in their protection. Some 28 per cent of kiwi habitat, 70 per cent of threatened lizard species, and key populations of some threatened plant species such as kaka beak are found on private land.

I am interested in feedback on possible changes to tax law and what impact rebates could have in encouraging landholders to retain and protect areas of native vegetation on their properties. If we had an effective price on carbon, and the ETS or its replacement better recognised the carbon sequestration role of native forests and other vegetation this could encourage carbon farming which protected indigenous habitats.

We might not be able to recreate the noisy dawn chorus of centuries ago, but we can value the remaining indigenous biodiversity we have and love, and support those who are working to protect it.

- Eugenie Sage is Primary Industries and Environment spokesperson for the Green Party.