Conservation Minister Tamar Potaka said saving every species was “very ambitious”

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said he did not think anyone had been able to provide a costing of saving all of the country’s endangered species in the past six years.
photo: VNP/Phil Smith

Forest and Bird conservation group is shocked that the Government says it cannot save all of New Zealand’s native species.

On Tuesday, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka told parliament’s environment committee that it could cost hundreds of billions of dollars to prevent the extinction of all species here.

“If we’re really serious about saying we want to save every species and get them out of endangered or at risk space, that effort is going to require an absolute, maybe even superhuman effort that’s going to cost, I don’t know, I don’t want to imagine the cost, but it’s literally hundreds of billions of dollars, maybe even trillions of dollars, and I don’t think we’re there yet.

“I think we can now be more realistic about which species, which regions, which ecosystems we want to focus our attention on and achieve those goals.”

He believes the conservation department’s view that every species must be saved is a “very aspirational and ambitious goal”.

“We may not be able to achieve this goal,” he said.

“So we have to be very careful before we say we’re going to save every single species. We have to be very clear that there’s a cost, and so far, no one has figured it out.”

Asked if that meant he agreed with species extinction, Potaka said he did not, but it was “very short-sighted and shortsighted” for a politician to commit to saving every single species without proper cost accounting.

He had not done such a costing and did not think that anyone had been able to provide one in the past six years.

“There is a cost to maintaining species and making sure they don’t go extinct. I don’t think anyone in the history of the Department of Environmental Protection has calculated the cost of that in a (meaningful), defensible and credible way, and if they have, please tell me.”

Nicola Toki, CEO of Forest and Bird, told Morning Report Potaka’s comments sound like he’s picking and choosing what to save.

“I am really shocked by the minister’s comments. He is basically picking winners, right?

Nicola Toki, CEO of Forest and Bird.
photo: supply

“He was actually saying, you know, I don’t really want to save everything because it’s just too expensive to save it all, so, you know, we’ll pick and choose some of the things we might want to save. He forgot his duty.”

Dame Jane Goodall made the comments during her visit to Parliament on Thursday along with a number of dignitaries. Highlighting New Zealand’s role in saving the black robin from extinction.

“It’s shocking that a conservation minister has come out and said this is all a bit difficult and expensive, he needs to come out,” Toqua said.

this Report submitted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (DOC) to the United Nations Convention on Biological DiversityThe 2019 report, which covers the period 2014 to 2018, said a quarter of the nearly 4,000 species currently listed as threatened or endangered had been assessed only once, making it impossible to know whether their conservation status had changed.

Minister says planning tool helps decision making

Torquay believes that continued pest and disease control will bring huge benefits to conservation efforts if it can be strengthened.

“We only have ongoing pest control on a small percentage of New Zealand’s public conservation lands, probably 7% overall, right?

“If you’ve been to Wellington recently and looked at the work that’s been done in Wellington to reduce predators, it’s been a big benefit to multiple species. Some species don’t actually cost that much to look after.”

Department of Conservation director general Penny Neilson told the environment committee they had developed a biodiversity planning tool to explore species and representative ecosystems to identify investments in those species and representative ecosystems and the expected returns.

Department of Conservation Director General Penny Nelson.
photo: Photo courtesy of Lance Lawson

“For each region we have priorities and we are developing portfolios to meet those priorities. So internally we have developed some more effective processes to help us set priorities and then I think the other critical thing is we are currently developing the next implementation plan for the biodiversity strategy and that is where we can capitalise on opportunities with others.

“For example, with threats to biodiversity like ungulates and carnivores, we’re really investing with local governments, businesses, tribal partners, etc. to really focus on the things that have the greatest impact on biodiversity.”

Potaka said the tool is critical because it does not rely on “the loudest voices in the sector, or the loudest voices in the community” to inform biodiversity decisions.

Toki said investing in conservation is particularly important as the country deals with the impacts of climate change and considers the economic returns from protecting nature and ecosystems.

“It is a disgrace that the Department of Conservation, which is responsible for managing a third of our country’s land and safeguarding the economic asset of tourism, not to mention the 70 per cent of businesses that rely on our natural resources, is currently funded less than the Christchurch City Council budget.

“I think governments choose how to spend money, every government does that. But this government is ignoring the fact that our national identity is built on the natural environment…

“If the government cannot understand who we really are, then as more and more people come forward to reveal the truth, the government will be treated unfairly.”

The total funding of DOC is It will drop from $880 million this year in 2023/2024 to $728 million in 2026/27.