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Monday 3 October 2011

Environment of New Zealand

The environment of New Zealand is characterised by unique flora and fauna and a variety of landforms contained within a small island nation. Historically having a very isolated and endemic ecosystem far into modernity, the arrival of first the Maori and then later European settlers began to have significant impacts on this system, with the intentional and unintentional introduction of new species and plants which often overwhelmed their natural competitors, losing to a significant loss of native ecology and biodiversity, especially in areas like birdlife. Today, most parts of New Zealand are heavily modified by the effects of logging, agriculture and general human settlement, though large areas have also been placed under protection, combined in many cases with efforts to protect or regenerate native ecosystems (aided by the fact that especially the South Island of New Zealand has only a very low population density).



Biota


A tuatara, an endangered reptile found only in New Zealand. Eighty percent of New Zealand's biota is endemic.
The biota of New Zealand is one of the most unusual on Earth, due to its long isolation from other continental landmasses. Its affinities are derived in part from Gondwana, from which it separated 82 million years ago, some modest affinities with New Caledonia and Lord Howe Island, both of which are part of the same continental plate as New Zealand and in part from Australia.
More recently a component has been introduced by humans. New Zealand's biodiversity exhibits high levels of endemism, both in its flora and fauna. Until recently the islands had no native terrestrial mammals except for bats (although mammals did exist in New Zealand until 19 million years ago), the main component of the fauna being insects and birds. Its flora is dominated by Gondwanan plants, comprising historically of forests, most famously the giant kauri. New Zealand has developed a national Biodiversity Action Plan to address conservation of considerable numbers of threatened flora and fauna within New Zealand.




Birds of New Zealand


Mammals in New Zealand


The only terrestrial mammals that were in New Zealand prior to human habitation were three species of bat. A number of marine mammals are found on the coast and waters of New Zealand. Maori and European settlers introduced a wide range of mammals some of which have become serious invasive species.




Flora of New Zealand


New Zealand has a richly varied flora of imported and native species, the indigenous varieties having developed quite significantly due to the geographic isolation of the country before human migration and plat imports became common. However, the combination of external factors such as climate change and invasive species, as well as increasing agricultural and other human land uses have led to widespread damage. New Zealand's forest ecosystems for example are being considered as the second most endangered of the world, with only 7% of the natural habitat remaining.




Protected areas of New Zealand


The Ministry for the Environment has produced two State of the Environment reports to date, one in 1997 and the other in 2007.




Rankings


OECD environmental performance review
In 2007, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducted an environmental performance review of New Zealand. Some of the main conclusions and recommendations were that:
energy intensity is about equal to the OECD average
intensity of water, fertiliser, and pesticide use is low for OECD countries. However, the review period saw 'significant increases, with consequent growth in pressures on the environment'
New Zealand should strengthen national policy guidance (policy statements, national environmental standards)
New Zealand should further integrate environmental concerns into economic and sectoral decisions, particularly by using economic instruments to internalise environmental costs of economic activities
New Zealand should further develop international environmental cooperation.






Environment and politics


Level of environmental protection by political parties.
(blank indicates that the party was in not in Parliament)
Party 2002 2005 2008
Alliance 56%
ACT Party 10% 10%
Green Party 97% 97% 97%
Labour Party 57% 61% 44%
Maori Party 83% 87%
National Party 27% 43% 27%
NZ First 59% 50% 78%
Progressive Party 76% 81% 60%
United Future 28% 48% 53%
The Values Party formed in 1973, the first ever national level environmental party. The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand formed in 1991 which included some members from the defunct Values Party, and was initially in Parliament as part of the Alliance Party. They currently have nine MPs that put forward green political ideology.
The level of protection of the environment from the different political parties varies according to their position on the left-right political spectrum. The right wing ACT Party scores the lowest and the left wing Green Party scores the highest.




New Zealand environmental law


The roots of New Zealand environmental law can be traced to the common law of Britain. The increasing environmental awareness of the 1960s led to a specific body of environmental law that developed in many Western countries including New Zealand. Environmental law became more integrated in the 1980s with the passing of the Environment Act 1986 and the Conservation Act 1987. These Acts set up the Ministry for the Environment, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and the New Zealand Department of Conservation.
The most significant Act of Parliament concerning environmental law was the passing of Resource Management Act in 1991. Issues under the Act are adjudicated by the Environment Court of New Zealand.




Treaties and international agreements


New Zealand is a signatory to a number of treaties and international agreements:
The Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1992 – ratified on 8 September 1993
The Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992 – ratified on 16 September 1993
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, 1989 – ratified on 21 July 1988
The Antarctic Treaty, 1959 – ratified on 1 November 1960 – Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, 1980 – ratified on 8 March 1982 – and others
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 – ratified on 19 July 1996
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, 1989 – ratified on 20 December 1994
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants 2001 – ratified on 24 September 2004.
Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1971 (London [Dumping] Convention) – ratified on 30 April 1975 – and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 – not yet ratified
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, 1973 – acceded to on 10 May 1989
The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, 1971 (Ramsar Convention) – signed on 13 August 1976 with effect from 13 December 1976
Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing with Long Driftnets in the South Pacific, 1989 (Wellington Convention) – ratified on 17 May 1991
South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, 1985 – ratified on 13 November 1986
Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region, 1986 [SPREP] – ratified on 3 May 1990
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity – ratified on 24 February 2005
New Zealand is a depositary to the following environmental treaties:
Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities
Convention for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC)
Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing with Long Driftnets in the South Pacific
Protocol 1 to the Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing with Long Driftnets in the South Pacific
Protocol II to the Convention for the Prohibition of Fishing with Long Driftnets in the South Pacific




Environmental issues in New Zealand
As with many other countries there are a number of environmental organisations that are working towards addressing various environmental issues in New Zealand.
The move to carry out genetic engineering in New Zealand are opposed by environmentalists on economic and environmental grounds.




Deforestation


New Zealand's patterns of greenhouse gas emissions are similar to Scandinavian countries, in that land use and land use change and forestry are amongst the most significant contributors. Most of the current 11.9 million hectares of agricultural land had been cleared, representing around 44% of the total land area of New Zealand. Initial attempts to decrease the scale of further deforestation, such as Forestry Rights Registration Act 1983 that created 'forestry rights' have been argued to only be moderately successful. However, they created world class structures of data collection and property rights that made way first for an amendment to the 1949 Forests Act in 1993 and later to the Climate Change Response Act 2002. Forestry came to be seen as main tool in meeting New Zealand's Kyoto Protocol targets.Accordingly, REDD programmes (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) were implemented, whereby reforestation and deforestation was tied carbon emissions credits and traded (ETS) and commercial carbon-sink forests were planted. Perhaps due to the government's initial control over REDD and the trade in carbon credits there was initially an increase in deforestation and it was not until private forestry owners gained access to the trading scheme and to carbon credits that the scheme started to produce reductions in deforestation.



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