Posted on 5-12-2003
NZ
Species In Trouble
By Anne Beston, NZ Herald
Degradation of New Zealand's landscape and the gradual decline
of 1200 already-threatened species cannot be stopped without
more money and expertise, says a major report released yesterday.
The third annual report on the five-year, $187 million Biodiversity
Strategy, a multi-agency Government programme launched almost
four years ago, has assessed for the first time whether the
strategy will meet its target of turning the tide of biodiversity
decline by 2010. It concluded it will not. Maintaining "representative
populations of threatened species important for indigenous biodiversity"
will not be "achieved at the current level of funding and
knowledge", it says.
All 1200 of New Zealand's threatened species will continue to
decline and freshwater species populations will even decrease
at a faster rate, "with a resulting loss of species from
some locations and extinction of some species". One example
is the long-finned eel, now on the endangered list and with
a 5 to 30 per cent decline forecast over the next decade as
a result of over-fishing.
The report says new hydro generation projects threaten largely
natural rivers and the state of many lakes remains an urgent
issue.
Protecting the marine environment from invasive species remains
"extremely challenging" and invasive weeds on land
are "spreading unchecked" in unmanaged areas.
The Department of Conservation is struggling to protect kiwi
in two sanctuaries at Haast and Okarito in the South Island.
Stoats are the biggest problem facing our national bird, but
trapping at the two sanctuaries "may not be sufficient
to increase kiwi numbers" at the two southern sanctuaries,
a key target of the strategy. North Island sanctuaries are faring
better, with chicks surviving at rates exceeding the 25 per
cent target in the Coromandel Peninsula's Moehau sanctuary.
One million hectares of New Zealand forest has possum control
but 3 million hectares probably needs to be controlled to halt
species decline.
Conservation Minister Chris Carter, whose department is the
lead agency for the Biodiversity Strategy, said the report contained
good and bad news. "It's a wake-up call to the community
that our biodiversity does face some really serious challenges,
but there are some successes, too."
The Government had increased DoC's annual funding from $150
million to $230 million, including some of the $187 million
biodiversity package, and Mr Carter said he would be "advocating"
for more. "The report shows we face extremely serious challenges.
The Government has already shown it's prepared to resource it.
"I'm going to be there arguing that we've got to at least
match that or increase it to win the battle."
One of the biggest hopes was improved technology to help win
the battle against pests such as stoats, responsible for decimating
kiwi chick numbers. Mr Carter endorsed his department. "In
a big organisation with a lot of staff and working nationwide,
of course you can't be 100 per cent efficient 100 per cent of
the time, but I think overall they are doing a good job,"
he said.
Conservation lobby group Forest and Bird welcomed the report's
frank assessment but said the trends it identified confirmed
the organisation's concerns. "What this report is telling
the country is that we are not doing nearly as well as we think
we are and people need to wake up to that," said spokesman
Geoff Keey.
DoC had the job of managing about a third of New Zealand's land
but was not being given enough money to do the job, he said.
December 4, 2003
Department of Conservation:
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