Don’t forget conservation, Forest & Bird says

Forest & Bird today welcomed the Green Party’s package of economic policies as positive for the environment.

“We need to stop selling ourselves short, by spending our environmental capital on short-term economic gain, and start investing in the environment instead,” said Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate Claire Browning.

“This job creation policy from the Greens aims to support the economy by supporting the environment, and shows how investment in the environment can be a benefit, not a cost.”

The Green Party released today a package of economic and environmental policies, which it said would create 100,000 jobs.

Forest & Bird welcomed a number of the policies in the package including:

• Pricing resources, such as water, and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.
• Direct investment in job creation, including establishment of a 3000 strong ‘conservation corps’, to carry out work such as riparian planting along degraded streams, wilding pine control in the Mackenzie Country, and trapping pests throughout our conservation estate.
• Government regulation and investment, towards the goal of an economy that is energy-efficient, and does not consume fossil fuels.

But Forest & Bird believes conservation should not only be promoted on economic grounds.

“We look forward to seeing policies from all political parties, where protection of the environment, and investment in conservation, are not just a means of supporting the economy,” Claire Browning said.

“We need good economic policy, but we need good conservation policy, too.”

“Conservation means looking after our natural heritage and fellow species because it is the right thing to do. It can also create jobs, and protect our brand.”

ENDS

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