Aquatic Environment and Biodiversity Annual Review 2012

AEBAR 2012: Appendices: Past projects
12.8. Other strategic policy documents
12.8.1. Biodiversity Strategy
New Zealand’s Biodiversity Strategy was launched in 2000 in response to the decline of New
Zealand’s indigenous biodiversity — described in the State of New Zealand’s Environment report as
our “most pervasive environmental issue”. It can be found on the government’s biodiversity website
at:
(http://www.biodiversity.govt.nz/picture/doing/nzbs/contents.html)
The Strategy also reflects New Zealand’s commitment, through ratification of the international
Convention on Biological Diversity, to help stem the loss of biodiversity worldwide. Strategic Priority
7 of the strategy was “To manage the marine environment to sustain biodiversity”. Fishing practices,
the effects of activities on land, and biosecurity threats are identified as constituting the areas of
greatest risk to marine biodiversity. Pertinent objectives and summarised actions from the strategy are
as follows:
Objective 3.1: Improving our knowledge of coastal and marine ecosystems (Substantially increase
our knowledge of coastal and marine ecosystems and the effects of human activities on them,
especially assessing the importance of, and threats facing, marine biodiversity, and establishing
environmental monitoring capabilities to assess the effectiveness of measures to avoid, remedy or
mitigate impacts on marine biodiversity).
Objective 3.4: Sustainable marine resource use practices (Protect biodiversity in coastal and
marine waters from the adverse effects of fishing and other coastal and marine resource uses,
especially maintaining harvested species at sustainable levels, integrating marine biodiversity
protection into an ecosystem approach, applying a precautionary approach, identifying marine species
and habitats most sensitive to disturbance, and integrating environmental impact assessments into
fisheries management decision making.)
Objective 3.6: Protecting marine habitats and ecosystems (Protect a full range of natural marine
habitats and ecosystems to effectively conserve marine biodiversity, using a range of appropriate
mechanisms, including legal protection, especially establishing a network of areas that protect marine
biodiversity.)
Objective 3.7: Threatened marine and coastal species management (Protect and enhance
populations of marine and coastal species threatened with extinction, and prevent additional species
and ecological communities from becoming threatened.)
In addition to its annual reviews (http://www.biodiversity.govt.nz/news/publications/index.html), the
Biodiversity Strategy was reviewed by Green and Clarkson at the end of its 5-year term. This review
was published in 2006 (http://www.biodiversity.govt.nz/pdfs/nzbs-5-year-review-synthesis-report.pdf). Most
relevant to this synopsis were their findings on Objective 3.4 (Sustainable marine resource use) where
they cited “Moderate progress”. “The policy move towards adopting a more ecosystem approach to
fisheries management should be encouraged and strengthened. We acknowledge, however, the
difficulties associated with obtaining the necessary information to make this approach effective. There
are links to Objective 3.1 and the need for a more coordinated approach to identifying priority areas
for marine research.”
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