New Zealand accused of ‘waffle’ and no plan to hit targets for global biodiversity agreement

New Zealand has no action plan to meet its commitments towards a global agreement, likened to the Paris Agreement on climate, that aims to halt biodiversity loss.

Environmental advocates say the lack of a plan is disappointing and proposed legislation, such as the Fast-track Approvals Bill and RMA reform, puts the country even further at odds with reaching its targets.

New Zealand was one of 196 countries to sign the United Nations Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022. The overarching goal of the agreement is to halt and reverse the loss of nature.

A summit underway in Colombia until 1 November is a chance to check on what progress countries are making towards the 23 targets they signed up to, and for countries to present their plans on how they hope to achieve them by 2030.

WWF-New Zealand chief executive Kayla Kingdon-Bebb said the biodiversity framework was nature's equivalent to the Paris Agreement for climate. Unlike the Paris Agreement, the framework is non-binding, but Kingdon-Bebb said she was disappointed in what New Zealand submitted.

"New Zealand's rocked up with a bunch of waffle and some empty, high-level platitudes with zero financial commitment and no action plan about how these targets are going to be made manifest in our domestic policy."

Forest & Bird's Richard Capie said while the government was waging a "war on nature" domestically with changes to environmental safeguards, it was turning up to a global meeting with a plan that was unlikely to reach targets.

"It's the environmental equivalent of the emperor's new clothes."

Department of Conservation's director of policy (biodiversity, international and funding) Siân Roguski said New Zealand had submitted national targets to contribute to the biodiversity framework.

While the targets were submitted, a fully-fleshed out action plan for reaching the targets was not.. That was still being worked on by local and central government, she said.

"The plan will include actions to deliver on our national targets. Once the next implementation plan is finalised, this and the existing ANZBS (Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy) will be submitted to the Convention on Biological Diversity as our national biodiversity strategy and action plan."

Staff from the Department of Conservation (DOC) are attending the conference as part of New Zealand's delegation, along with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Environmental Protection Authority.

Conservation minister Tama Potaka did not attend the conference. He said he was confident the officials attending were well-placed to represent the government's position on how targets will be achieved.

Capie was unimpressed with the lack of ministerial attendance at the conference. "Other nations are sending their ministers and heads of state. We're sending a tiny delegation. It speaks volumes."

Policy target mismatch

One of the agreement's key targets is the '30 by 30' target to conserve 30 percent of land, water and sea by 2030.

Both Capie and Kingdon-Bebb said government policy was at odds with achieving this.

Around 30 percent of the country's land mass is managed by DOC, and has some level of protection.

Marine protection was different, Kingdon-Bebb said.

"Despite having the fifth-largest ocean territory on the planet, New Zealand currently protects less than one percent of our marine environment, which is pretty shocking," she said.

Plans to create a Kermadec marine sanctuary were halted in March. Had the sanctuary gone ahead, the percentage of protected marine areas would have jumped to close to 15 percent, Kingdon-Bebb said.

Proposed protections for the Hauraki Gulf have also been weakened, with commercial fishing to be allowed in some protected areas.

Fast-track legislation and proposed reforms to the Resource Management Act are at odds with some of the targets, Capie said. Part of one target calls for no loss to the extent or condition of indigenous land, wetland, freshwater ecosystems, and marine and coastal habitats that have been identified as having high biodiversity value.

"We are currently putting through changes in our [resource management] system to enable mining and quarrying in wetlands," he said.

Projects that had already been rejected due to environmental concerns may still be able to go ahead under the proposed fast-tracking legislation.

Kingdon-Bebb said Trans Tasman Resources' plan to mine the seabed off Taranaki was among the projects previously rejected due a lack of controls to protect the environment

Potaka said the Fast-track Approvals Bill excluded a range of land, including high-value conservation land, national parks, national reserves, nature reserves, scientific reserves, wilderness areas, sanctuary areas, Ramsar sites, and marine reserves.

Under the proposed legislation, expert panels will assess each application.

"For land and waters that are in scope, the Bill provides the ability for the panel to decline where adverse impacts are significant enough to outweigh the purpose of the Bill," Potaka said.

"In their assessment, the panel must consider reports from DOC, with advice on relevant conservation matters. The panel can consider and set conditions to manage risks to species and conservation values, as they see appropriate.".

There is no penalty for failing to meet the 2030 targets.

However, previous concerns have been raised that allowing further degradation to New Zealand's environment could butt up against free trade agreements with the UK and European Union.