The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council welcomes the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPS-IB) as an important way to support the region’s recovery and build resilience in rural areas.

The NPS-IB, which comes into force on 4 August 2023, sets national direction for how Councils, landowners, Māori and others identify and protect areas where there is a significant variety of native plants and animals in decline.

Regional Council Integrated Catchment Group Manager Iain Maxwell says it’s great to see the policy statement after six years in the making.

“As Hawke’s Bay recovers from the cyclone, supporting biodiversity is critical for the region’s resilience, and for landowners to build resilient farm businesses. Nature based solutions to rebuilding our infrastructure will also help make a biodiverse region."

This policy statement nicely aligns with our work programmes where we are supporting our rural community to plant trees to protect erosion prone areas, revert areas of native bush, and prevent productive soil loss,” says Mr Maxwell.

The NPS-IB has one set of criteria for councils to identify significant natural areas to maintain consistency, and requires councils to have a regional biodiversity strategy and identify significant natural areas in the next five years.

The Government has also released is plans for a biodiversity credit system to encourage landowners to protect native habits on their property – as part of the NPS-IB.

This credit system would help to conserve habitats and species by enabling landowners, who protect and restore native wildlife, to earn credits for their actions.

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