New Zealand pushes ahead with selling / exchanging 60% of its precious conservation estate
New Zealand pushes ahead to privatise conservation land, opening up almost 5 million hectares for sale and/or exchange
Environment
Conservation
Vale David Parker MP
David Parker’s Deputy Leader ‘s speech in 2014 at the Wellington Labour Party Conference was the best I ever heard from a Labour Leader. Vision matched values in intensity and scope. Parliament now loses one of its very best.
A sad lament from the serial left
Attacking leftists attempts to expose the Atlas Network of right-wing think tanks, Chris Trotter offers this gem “Morally speaking, is taking money from oil companies really all that distinguishable from giving money to oil companies every time we fill up our petrol tank?”
Our Resistance
There are still groups of people in New Zealand who can and do organise to resist the damage of the right.
The Greens In Real Government in October 2023
What happens if the Green Party gets 10% of the vote and the top 9 get in. And say they get to form a government. What would Greens in Cabinet look like?
Future Green Wins Will Be Hard
It does not mean they are not worth trying; it means they will be fights against entrenched power.
Voting for our lives: protecting the environment from the late capitalism death cult
Environment Southland gives the ok for intensive farming on the edge of Fiordland National Park. Everyday there’s more news of disastrous decisions being made by people in power. The local body elections in the next month give us one easy and straightforward way to change that.
Greens: Bill to ban mining on conservation land pulled from biscuit tin
Eugenie Sage’s Members Bill has been drawn.
“We call on the Labour Government to back the Bill so it can finally fulfil its promise to ban new mining projects on public conservation land”
Predator Free Rakiura Stewart Island
If anyone’s keen on helping in a globally noteworthy epic conservation project, try the whole of Stewart Island.
Anarchy in the UK
In the United Kingdom Boris Johnson’s government has been brought to its knees because of a sex scandal, surprisingly not one involving himself.
Fisheries reform is under way
David Parker has shown a deft handling of the Oceans and Fisheries portfolio and in the past week has announced the accelerated roll out of cameras on fishing boats and a suite of actions designed to address the failing health of the Waitemata Harbour.
Well done John Edgar
I’d thought I’d take a moment to celebrate the life of John Edgar, who passed away a few days ago.
Labour’s new Oceans Ministry
Jacinda Ardern’s decision to rename the Fisheries Ministery to “Oceans and Fisheries” and install David Parker instead of Stuart Nash shows a welcome desire to protect this most precious of resources.
Labour Increases Protection for Kauri Dieback
In an announcement that will probably gain them few extra votes but still warms the cockles, Labour have promised to put Kauri Dieback on the same scale of national disease response as Bovine Tuberculosis and Kiwifruit PSA.
How has Conservation Fared Under This Government?
I’m going to give this government just 5 out of 10 on the conservation front.
What the Greens did
A round up of the Green Party’s achievements in the 2020 Budget: funding for nature, the commitment to ending violence, and public housing and insulation. And a look at the pragmatics of what the Greens can currently accomplish.
National’s new conservation policy was previously announced in 2014
National has announced a “new” policy that it previously announced in 2014. And that has already been implemented.
Common-wealth Government
Advantage is testing an idea out. What will a common accountability framework for the government look like?
The Middlemarch fire and Dunedin’s water supply
The tussock fire at Middlemarch has impacted Dunedin’s water supply and raises issues about our preparedness for climate change.
Why we save rivers
An application to dam the Waitaha River on the West Coast has been declined. When looking at how to meet human needs, we need to do better than ‘how much can we get away with taking from nature?’
photo – Zak Shaw
What if there were only 34 31 more whitebait harvests left?
If we want to prevent the extinction of whitebait it’s time to stop buying and selling it.
What if we let the wilding pines grow?
Take a breath, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. In an age of climate breakdown, where reforesting is a critical component of climate mitigation and adaptation, we need to stop cutting down so many trees, and move to forest-based thinking.
A Good Week for Conservation
Three big, bold moves for conserving nature and expanding our awareness of it were announced inn the last week. All of them led by Minister Eugenie Sage.
100% carbon free power generation?
The Interim Climate Change Commission has come out saying that making our electricity generation 100% renewable would be really expensive and that that expense would land on the poor of New Zealand. But the Government has already indicated it could be flexible on the target. ICCC should be helping us plan, not throwing road blocks in the way.
The hard change of forestry
Forestry is forcing an important tilting point between mitigating climate change and land use, and it’s going to affect the viability of some North Island towns.
Is there a middle ground on climate change
It has been reported that US Presidential hopeful Joe Biden is hoping to craft a middle ground position between the extraordinarily strong scientific consensus suggesting we have a climate crisis and the industry supported anti scientific knee jerk opposition to doing anything.
Zero Carbon bill announced
The Government has announced that the Zero Carbon Bill will have as a goal carbon neutrality by 2050 and the halving of methane emissions by that time.
It’s the end of the world as we know it *
* and I don’t feel fine.
Eugenie Sage vetos vast tailings dump
Green Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage has vetoed Oceania Gold’s attempt to buy a 180-hectare dairy farm to store mining tailings from its Waihi gold mines.
Climate change is this Government’s nuclear free issue
The results of the Zero Carbon Bill negotiations are due to be announced shortly. This Government has a political imperative to make sure that the final proposal is resolute.
No More Investing In Oil Exploration
Norway’s government has announced it is selling out of oil exploration although it will continue to invest in energy companies that have refineries and are engaged in distribution and retail sales of oil and gas products.
Sage gets the money
Greens Minister Eugenie Sage deserves praise for securing some solid funding increases for her Conservation portfolio.
The end of tenure review
Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage has ended the policy of tenure review, under which large tracts of land were privatised and onsold for huge profits and sensitive ecological areas wrecked.
$58 billion verses democracy: Bouganville
There’s trouble on the horizon in Bouganville with its government proposing significant changes to its mining law to allow wide scale mining on the island.
Right wing environmental sock puppet party launched
No friends National’s sock puppet party has now been announced.
Simon Wilson thinks Epsom could be offered to Blue-Greens
Simon Wilson has suggested that the only way National may have to establish a Blue Green presence in Parliament is to offer them the seat of Epsom.