Nature-positive initiatives inspire hope for Aotearoa’s biodiversity future: Harvey Locke

Harvey Locke in Franz Josef, South Westland. Photo / Simon Millar

Opinion

THREE KEY FACTS

• An inaugural economic analysis finds $270b could be saved over 50 years by halting species loss.
• Meeting set biodiversity targets would mean boosting NZ’s current annual spend on nature from $4b to $22.5b.
• The report, by consultancy firm EY New Zealand, pointed out how more than 4000 native species, from plants and fungi to birds and fish, are threatened or at risk of extinction.

Harvey Locke is the Vice-Chair for Nature Positive, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, and the Yellowstone-Yukon Conservation Initiative.

OPINION

Reflecting back on a week traveling through this beautiful country, I was impressed to see the many nature positive initiatives occurring on the ground.

I saw restoration plantings in Central Otago, predator control in West Coast temperate rainforests, farmland biodiversity conservation on Banks Peninsula, and ecosystem restoration on iwi land in urban Auckland.

The passion and enthusiasm of those involved with these efforts was obvious, and the outcomes are inspiring.

I met with many leaders including the Minister of Conservation, government agency chief executives and the team of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

The commitment of these people to the conservation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s endemic biodiversity and to tackling the climate crisis was clear.

Australia recently hosted the first Global Nature Positive Summit. When considering if New Zealand can have a climate and nature positive future the international context is important.

The West Coast is a wild region of glaciers, rocky coves and temperate rainforest. Photo / Lonely Planet

The Global Biodiversity Framework sets a nature positive goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030 so there is more nature in the world than there was in 2020.

Complementarily, Article 33 from the Climate Change Convention COP28 UAE 2023 explicitly links the climate emergency to the biodiversity crisis and makes it clear we can’t meet global temperature goals without halting and reversing the loss of nature.

There are three parts to climate policy, and nature is at the centre of all three:

• Mitigation – reducing emissions from two sources: (1) the amount of ancient nature in the form of fossil fuels that we burn and, (2) protecting storehouses of carbon in intact nature such as forests, wetlands and mangroves.
• Sinks – pulling carbon out of the atmosphere which is being done every day by nature. There is no current technology that can do it at the scale nature can.
• Resilience (also called adaptation) – protecting and restoring nature builds long-term resilience to the effects of climate change.

There is no substitute for a rapid reduction in emissions from fossil fuels. However, we must also think about nature if we want effective climate policy. I think New Zealand can contribute to both climate and biodiversity goals in a nature positive way.

So how can this work? A unifying vision is very helpful – Recloaking Papatūānuku can provide both a vision and an action pathway.

This initiative aims to protect, restore and enhance over 2 million hectares of indigenous forest and wetlands across Aotearoa over the next 30 years. Eight hundred years ago, New Zealand was largely a forested country, and it can be that again.

This can be done in a manner consistent with preserving New Zealand’s agricultural productivity. A recent report by EY and WWF demonstrates investment in Nature Positive actions now is good for the future of New Zealand’s economy.

The most urgent action is to protect intact areas of nature from the magnificent temperate rainforests to the tiniest patches of native habitat. In simple terms, if you want to recloak the land, stop taking the clothes off.

We also need to undertake restoration with native species because we have degraded too many natural ecosystems. Quick-growing pine plantations are not going to provide positive, long-term biodiversity or climate outcomes.

A great example is the South Westland temperate rainforests. These forests currently serve a global purpose by capturing and storing carbon, but to continue serving these two globally important functions they must remain healthy.

To prevent them from degrading and thereby becoming less effective at capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere, invasive species like possums, stoats and rats should be removed. Zero Invasive Predators( ZIP) is already proving that this can be done at scale in an enduring way to the benefit of both the climate and native species.

The Recloaking process will lead to positive feedbacks. For example, on my trip I learned about the kererū.

A healthy forest would provide bountiful habitat for kererū, which combined with predator control would significantly increase their numbers. Bountiful kererū would disperse seeds across the landscape, enriching existing forests and creating new forests.

A healthy forest would provide bountiful habitat for kererū. Photo / Alex Burton

Recloaking Papatūānuku with native species would also be part of an enduring long-term strategy to make the country resilient to the dramatic changes that are coming. It is not a quick fix, but it will be enduring, which is vital to a stable 21st century.

This can and should be done in partnership with everyone in the country, from local catchment groups to the national government, Indigenous communities and later arrivals. Working together towards a nature positive future provides a hopeful path forward in a troubled world.

Aotearoa New Zealand can be a major contributor to the nature positive global goal. A vision like Recloaking Papatūānuku can provide a canopy under which efforts of every size can contribute to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.