Forest & Bird has published a three-year plan for nature superiority of Septembers unstipulated election.
New Zealanders love nature and want to protect it. It is part of our identity, the foundation of our economy, and what makes this country special. In fact, nature is at the heart of everything we do.
But it has moreover reached breaking point.
More than 4000 of New Zealands species are threatened with extinction, the oceans are depleted of life, once-mighty rivers are sick, and introduced predators are destroying New Zealands priceless taonga our unique birds, bats, warmed-over frogs, and lizards.
The climate slipperiness will make things worse. It will speed up biodiversity loss and put our livelihoods at risk. The future is once here with unprecedented wildfires in Australia and rabble-rousing storms in the UK.
But it doesnt have to be this way. We know investing in conservation works, and the ripen can be reversed.
If we squint without nature, it will squint without us. For example, healthy predator-free forests can help New Zealand wilt stat positive and reduce global warming. Snooping well-nigh climate transpiration tipped 50% for the first time in Colmar Bruntons Largest Futures research last year.
The top worry for New Zealanders was the build-up of plastic in the environment (72%), while 64% were concerned well-nigh pollution in our rivers and oceans.
Its well-spoken voters want largest climate policies, a fairer economy, cleaner fresh water, increasingly predator control, and stronger ocean protection.
Forest & Bird has drafted a practical and would-be three-year plan for the next Parliament that will unhook on all of these priorities and more. It sets out a raft of key policies in five domains (see below).
If implemented by the next government, these transformative policies will bring fresh hope for nature and set our economy on a genuinely sustainable course.
Over the next few months, senior executive Kevin Hague will travel virtually the country sharing Forest & Birds policy priorities with the public during a series of Forest & Bird roadshows.
This is the year to take urgent whoopee to protect and restore what we love, now, surpassing it is too late, says Kevin.
In the run-up to the last election, the proportion of voters who said they would be taking into worth the state of the environment when voting rose increasingly than five-fold to 11%, and that was unbearable to have a significant impact on the subsequent new governments environmental policies.
Today, that icon has risen to one in three voters, and we want politicians of all parties to reflect this groundswell of snooping in their 2020 referendum policies. Forest & Bird is self-sustaining of any political party. Wed like to see all of them putting the environment first.
Progress has been made. Since 2017, the coalition government has given increasingly funding for the
Department of Conservation, passed the Zero Stat Act, proposed freshwater reform (ongoing), and vetoed plastic bags.
But there is still so much increasingly to do. Our country needs a unvigilant and would-be plan that puts nature first.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
- Download and share Forest & Birds Policies for the Planet.
- Enrol to vote, and encourage all your friends and family to do the same.
- Talk to your local MP well-nigh the policies youd like to see their party adopt.
- Donate to support our Vote for Nature advocacy.
- Vote for nature in the 2020 unstipulated election!
