Resource library

Government Ministers need to review their decision to leave out nitrogen pollution limits from last year's freshwater law reform.
 

New Zealand’s peat wetlands are more powerful than tropical forests at absorbing carbon.  

Forest & Bird congratulated He Pou a Rangi – the Climate Change Commission for delivering an ambitious, achievable plan to tackle climate change and endorsed its call for a stronger climate change target.  The key takeawa

Lake Clearwater in Ashburton Basin lakes is closed as of yesterday until further notice due to terrible water quality from a potentially toxic algal bloom.

Four-wheel drive vehicles are destroying fences aimed at protecting nesting birds and driving over entire areas of beach, after a bylaw to ban vehicles from a stretch of Marlborough's coastline south of Marfells Beach has failed to progress.

As the whitebait season closes for 2020, Forest & Bird is looking for changes before the next season to help our native fish recover.

The nation has voted and Aotearoa New Zealand has a new Bird of the Year.  

As the West Coast white-baiting season closes for the year, the Government and new Minister for Conservation must heed overwhelming public support for better white-baiting rules.  

Forest & Bird has discovered over 1500 fraudulent votes for the kiwi pukupuku/little-spotted kiwi in Bird of the Year/Te Manu Rongonui o te Tau.  

Forest & Bird is warning the incoming Government that nationally critical Antipodean Albatross will go extinct unless urgent action is taken.   
  

Forest & Bird’s annual Bird of the Year/Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau begins 9:00 am Monday, 2 November. 

Hundreds of areas of native habitat are being deliberately and unlawfully harmed around the country with near impunity, a report released by Forest & Bird has found.   

An international report says the world has failed to meet any of its 2020 biodiversity targets for birds.
 

Forest & Bird has released photos obtained through the Official Information Act of 29 species of coral fished up from the ocean floor around New Zealand in the last 18 months.

Link to coral images here.
 

A camera trial in the Hauraki Gulf has found inshore fishers reported twice as many seabird captures when a camera was on board.     

Forest & Bird says the Green Party’s Farming for the Future policy, released today, is the kind of economic transformation all political parties should be offering as part of New Zealand’s COVID recovery.

Following comments by the Prime Minister about the part of the public conservation estate known as stewardship land, Forest & Bird is rereleasing a report on value of conservation stewardship land, available here.
 

New mining activities have been approved across more than 150,000 hectares of public conservation land since 2017, OIA documents obtained by Forest & Bird reveal. 

Forest & Bird is welcoming new protected areas as a starting point for improving protection of the Mackenzie Basin, but lamenting the vast areas which remain unprotected. 

Forest & Bird welcomes this morning's announcement that the Government intends to put cameras on boats on over 300 commercial fishing boats, but warns that the industry and Government needs to get on with job. 
 

Forest & Bird is urging the National Party to rethink many of its conservation policies, which will let pests run rampant on conservation land, allow grazing in precious high country areas supposed to protect native species, and weaken National Park

Commitment from all political parties to implementing the new Te Mana o te Taiao - Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy is vital to protecting our future, says Forest & Bird.  

Forest & Bird is calling for all political parties to back an end to mining conservation land, after a permit was issued to mine the home of a critically-endangered native animal.

Most of our rivers, lakes, and wetlands have better protection from new freshwater rules announced today, but a few key omissions leave our fresh water at risk. 
 

A new Bill before Parliament needs to be strengthened before it can stop long-term biodiversity loss on New Zealand’s nationally-treasured high country landscapes, says Forest & Bird.
 

Fisheries NZ Minister Stuart Nash’s 2019 decision to allow East Coast tarakihi stocks to remain overfished for the next 25 years is not environmentally sustainable or legal, Forest & Bird will argue in the Wellington High Court from July 22nd.

Forest & Bird and Federated Mountain Clubs are taking court action over management of Paparoa National Park.
 

Forest & Bird has won in the Supreme Court against a coal mining company trying to push through an opencast mine near Westport, in a ruling which has implications across the whole of New Zealand.

Forest & Bird is pleased Friday’s High Court ruling on the introduced tahr population control is clear - Himalayan tahr must be reduced to 10,000 animals, removed entirely from National Parks, and the Department of Conservation (DOC) can get started

Forest & Bird welcomes a new sustainable vision for the primary sector, but says it needs to be backed up with strong rules, meaningful support, and a change of attitude from industry laggards.
 

The Government has listened to public demands to save Māui and Hector’s dolphins, but loopholes remain in the Threat Management Plan announced today.

Forest & Bird is seeking a declaration from the High Court that an operational plan to control tahr is illegal, and fails to meet the requirements for national parks and wilderness areas.

Without change, the RMA fast-track bill will sacrifice environmental protection to speed up projects which may not even help with the economic recovery, Forest & Bird told the Environment Select Committee today.
 

Forest & Bird is calling on the Government to reinstate a freshwater nitrogen limit of 1.0 mg/l into its proposed freshwater reforms, after the organisation obtained alarming readings of nitrate-nitrogen in public drinking water supplies.

Forest & Bird is calling on Aucklanders to tell their council to reinstate protection for nature in this year’s budget.
 

Liz Carter has been awarded Forest & Bird’s prestigious Old Blue for outstanding service to the Napier branch, including more than three decades as a committee member.