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The plight of NZ's native birds
The plight of NZ's native birds
In her penultimate report, the outgoing Environment Commissioner turned her attention to the threats to our native birds.
Flickr/russellstreet
Dr Jan Wright, who ends her second five-year term this year as Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, presented her latest report on Wednesday, Taonga of an island nation: Saving New Zealand's birds.
"Despite the efforts of many, most of our native birds are in trouble." Of 168 native birds, only 20% were doing okay, she said.
She made seven recommendations to parliament, including an action plan for Predator Free 2050, more research into current predator control tools, including further optimising the use of aerial 1080, and the development of clear principles to manage genetic diversity among small populations.
She also suggested a Nature border levy for tourists, which would help fund conservation.
"The Government has recently announced more funding for the tracks, bridges, toilets, carparks and other infrastructure that supports the visitor experience", she wrote in her report. "But the flora and fauna that draw visitors need much more help too."
In response to questions from the tourism industry at the report launch, Dr Wright said her concern was that as visitor numbers continued to increase, maintaining tourist facilities would take precedence over putting more money into conservation.
While she praised the Predator Free 2050 goal, Dr Wright said now there needed to be an action plan: "a living document that is revised and added to over time" that would bring together the disparate efforts currently underway.
She also called for more research into high-priority areas, including current predator control tools alongside cutting-edge genetic tools that may play a bigger role in the future. The species teetering on the brink of extinction needed help now, rather than waiting for a big breakthrough that could be decades away, she said.
Professor Phil Seddon from the University of Otago agreed. "An eminent scientist once described New Zealand as not so much having an avifauna, as having the wreckage of an avifauna," he said.
"But this is not quite accurate – wreckage calls to mind stunned survivors gathering themselves after the storm. But in New Zealand that storm is still very much raging and there is the real risk that we are about to lose more of our unique birds to the crashing sea of predators that assault them daily."
While Dr Wright highlighted the impact of feral cats on native birds, domestic cats remained "the elephant in the room in any discussion of predator control," said University of Otago's Associate Professor Yolanda van Heezik.
"While the emphasis on restoration of habitats outside DOC estate is laudable, the vision should extend to urban areas."
The values and beliefs of people living in cities inevitably influence government priorities, Dr van Heezik said, and those values were "more likely to be shaped by encounters with birds in urban neighbourhoods than in DOC conservation estate".
“Many New Zealanders do not know or are not interested enough to discriminate between native and exotic birds, but this growing disconnection can be reversed through ecological restoration and biophilic urban planning," she said.
Wellington-based urban ecologist Dr Heidy Kikillus agreed that domestic cats needed to be part of the wider discussion. "Cats are an important member of many families and are not going anywhere anytime soon," she said.
"However, if we are serious about protecting New Zealand’s native species, we will have to include the topic of domestic cats – not just ferals – in the conversation, and find ways to balance domestic cats and conservation."
University of Otago conservation geneticist Associate Professor Bruce Robertson said much pioneering conservation work has been done to protect native birds - particularly through temporarily securing them on predator-free offshore islands.
"However, as Dr Wright states, while island populations will keep our threatened birds away from introduced predators, these small isolated populations contribute to the erosion of essential genetic diversity."
The SMC gathered expert reaction to the PCE's report.
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