The Labour-NZ First coalition government announced in late 2017 that there would be “no new mines on conservation land.” Since then, more than 150,000 ha of mining permits have been approved on conservation land, according to documents released to Forest and Bird under the OIA. F&B’s review of stewardship areas...
To implement its Essential Freshwater package, the government has gazetted new freshwater standards and regulations to protect and restore New Zealand’s freshwater. These are the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020, National Environmental Standards for Freshwater, and section 360 regulations on stock exclusion and real-time reporting for water takes...
World Wildlife Fund New Zealand asked seven political parties (ACT, Greens, Labour, Māori Party, National, New Conservatives and NZ First) about their commitments to a range of 10 policies for the ocean. This included whether they supported: 30% of our coastal and marine areas fully protected by 2030 Ensuring transparent...
Greenpeace has launched a petition calling on the prime minister to urgently reinstate general tree protection across Aotearoa. Sign the petition here. Up to one third of Auckland’s urban trees have been destroyed since the last National Government removed general tree protection in 2012. As our towns and cities become...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is seeking feedback on proposals to increase the operational efficiency of buildings, and to reduce the embodied carbon across the lifecycle of buildings as part of the Building for Climate Change programme. This is the first public consultation under the new Building...
Forest & Bird are asking New Zealanders to tell our politicians that our environment is important to us. You can send an email to all political leaders asking for: Oceans restored back to health A safe climate for all life on Earth A kinder economy for people and planet Wild places that...
As part of a wider plan to reduce the amount of rubbish ending up in New Zealand’s landfills, the government is to fund the upgrading of seven high-tech recycling plants from Northland to Canterbury, the Associate Minister for the Environment, Eugenie Sage, has announced. “There is much to do to...
The Ministry for the Environment is seeking feedback on two proposals related to plastic design, use and disposal. Proposal 1: The Government is looking to move away from hard-to-recycle plastics, starting with a phase-out of: some polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene packaging all oxo-degradable plastic products. This is part of...
Coffee drinkers who have incorporated reusable coffee cups into their lifestyle may like to read this article on the Greenpeace website by Holly Dove, an Auckland-based plastics campaigner, about how to avoid takeaway coffee cups during lockdown. The process begins like this: 1. Order your takeaway online, on an app...
There is encouraging news for the Leys Institute, a Category 1 and Category A building in St Mary’s Bay which was closed on 20 December. In outlining the board’s work programme for 2020/21, Waitematā Local Board Chair Richard Northey said: “We’ve requested that the Governing Body contribute proceeds from the...