EDS concerned New Zealand leading world into extinction

Sunday, 28 June 2015, 4:56 pm
Press Release: Environmental Defence Society

EDS concerned that New Zealand is leading the world into the sixth extinction

“Our precious biodiversity is under extreme pressure, from a whole range of threats,” said EDS’s Senior Policy Analyst, Dr Marie Brown.

“This month Gerardo Ceballos and co-authors demonstrated that the world’s sixth major extinction event is underway. The other five were caused by asteroid strikes and massive volcanic eruptions. This one is different. It is caused by humans.

“Back in 2010, Corey Bradshaw and co-authors showed that New Zealand had the highest proportion of threatened species among 228 countries. This is not an area we want to be world leaders in,” said Dr Brown.

“Our numbers are deeply worrying. 74% of our native freshwater fish, 85% of our lizards and 100% of our frogs and bats are threatened with extinction.

“In our recent book, we explain why New Zealand’s biodiversity loss is so bad, and getting worse. Vanishing Nature: facing New Zealand’s biodiversity crisis describes a new wave of extinction underway here. It is driven not exclusively by rats, stoats and possums, but by habitat clearance and over-exploitation.

“It’s not that the predators and weeds have gone away. Their impacts continue, and will likely to cause more extinctions unless New Zealand greatly scales up its pest control efforts.

“But many formerly common populations are now dwindling primarily because their habitats are being reduced to tiny fractions of their recent former extent (e.g. many skinks and geckos).

“We argue that this new wave is a consequence of weak environmental legislation that affords no particular protection to the great majority of species and their habitats.

“This stems from powerful private and corporate vested interests dominating the political discourse and capturing our regulatory agencies so that the effectiveness of regulation, policy and plans is undermined.

“Just two days ago, the New Zealand Sea Lion was reclassified from Vulnerable to Endangered on the IUCN Red List. The primary threat to Sea Lions is that of fishing – directly through bycatch and indirectly through competition for prey.

“Vested interests have again won out, while a seriously imperilled species marches toward extinction. New Zealand must urgently examine how it is fulfilling its role as steward of our precious biota.

“To really turn the trends around for biodiversity, we need fundamental reform including novel economic institutions designed to bring divergent public, private and government interests towards alignment. We propose a range of solutions to do this such as progressive taxes and payments for ecosystem services.

“Without some hard-thinking and a step up from simply business-as-usual, more species will become increasingly threatened until they go extinct,” said Dr Brown.
ENDS

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Environmental Defence Society

EDS speaks for the environment. It has influence.

Since 1971, EDS has been driving environmental protection in Aotearoa New Zealand through law and policy change. That's why it's one of this country's most influential non- profit organisations when it comes to achieving better environmental outcomes.

EDS has expertise in key disciplines including law, planning, landscape and science. It operates as a policy think-tank, a litigation advocate, and a collaborator – bringing together the private and public sectors for constructive engagement.

EDS runs conferences and seminars on topical issues, including an annual Environmental Summit and the Climate Change and Business Conference.

EDS is a registered charity and donations to it are tax-deductible.

Contact Environmental Defence Society

• Website - www.eds.org.nz
• Email - manager@eds.org.nz
• Phone - + 64 9 302 2972
• Link - EDS National Conference
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