The idea that biodiversity loss is not inevitable - we have a choice - is the subject which will be discussed by an assembly of experts at Wild Things, a conference organised by the Environmental Defence Society (EDS).
Taking place on 12-13 August at the Viaduct Events Centre, Auckland, the event will encompass local ecological voices along with key international speakers, sharing their range of knowledge from environmental situations overseas.
The EDS says on the current trajectory, kiwi will be functionally extinct on the mainland within a few decades - a sobering symbolic image of what could happen to New Zealand's ecosystems. Habitable land as well as freshwater and marine realms are increasingly coming under the negative effects of the ways humans use them.
Relevant issues will be discussed in seminars, covering such topics as New Zealand's biodiversity challenges, bridging the gap between policy and reality, what's needed to scale up ecological efforts, and the connection between Treaty settlements and biodiversity.
Dr Guy Preston is deputy director-general of environmental programmes in the Department of Environmental Affairs in South Africa. He will be speaking at Wild Things from the position of an official responsible for the prevention and control of invasive species. Preston has been behind the implementation of relevant policies across the country.
