Resource library

Please find Forest & Bird's guidance on writing a submission on the Department of Conservation's Implementation plan for New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy is available below.

New Zealand’s environment and communities will face greater pollution, increased biodiversity loss and environmental damage, with a long-term cost to the economy, if today’s Government rollbacks come into effect. 

Forest & Bird is calling on the Government to create a new scientific reserve covering the Denniston Plateau on the West Coast to save it from being mined for coal. 

Forest & Bird says the Government’s lack of investment in New Zealand’s environment in Budget 2025 is deeply concerning given the importance of the environment to our economy and society. 

The week after the Government published an action plan which skirts around a $1.5 billion gap in funding for conservation, Forest & Bird is baffled by the prioritisation of government time and energy into helping 512 hunters shoot 86 deer in a natio

Rat footprints have been discovered inside Tarapuruhi Bushy Park, near Whanganui, during a major incursion response, Forest & Bird confirmed today. 

Aotearoa New Zealand needs a nature-based solutions approach to climate change. Forest & Bird urges the Government and decision-makers to prioritise planting, restoring, and protecting native forests as a key climate action. 

April 2025 | Forest & Bird submits that proposed amendments to the Fisheries Act 1996 reduce transparency and represent a backwards step for ecosystem-based fisheries management. 

Forest & Bird says the need to urgently increase planting and regeneration of native forests as permanent carbon sinks and for native biodiversity is backed up by a report out today from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE),

Encouraging insects and other critters to your urban garden is key to creating a healthy habitat for birds, lizards, and other native wildlife. By Geraldine Canham-Harvey

Forest & Bird is concerned about modelling revealing that meeting the Government’s climate commitments would require planting vast areas of conservation and other Crown land in permanent pine forests, in a desperate attempt to meet Aotearoa New Zeal

More than 600,000 tonnes of carbon worth an estimated $32m were lost in fires at two of New Zealand’s most important wetlands. By Caroline Wood

There are things conservationists can do make our land more resilient to fire risk in the future. By Caroline Wood

Ongoing 1080 operations contributed to a stunning display of red rātā flowers in Paparoa National Park this summer. By Dean Baigent-Mercer

Forest & Bird says the resource management reforms announced today need to protect, restore, and enhance the things that matter to Kiwis. New Zealanders care about the environment, they love our quality of life. 

In our Autumn issue, we highlight some unusual and quirky endangered native plants and meet the passionate conservationists trying to protect them from climate impacts such as storm surges and wildfires.

Forest & Bird volunteers and staff worked hard over summer to protect and monitor precious long-tailed bat roosts in Marlborough. By Lynn Freeman

Western Pacific leatherback turtles are in big trouble. Peter Langlands looks at how we can better protect these giants of the ocean when they visit our waters.

February 2025 | Forest & Bird made submissions on two Department of Conservation consultations. 

A treasure trove of letters and other archives has shed new light on the fledgling Society’s efforts to engage with Māori on shared conservation goals. By Michael Pringle

Forest & Bird emphasised the following.
 

Forest & Bird Youth believes the Treaty Principles Bill - introduced in 2024 - 2025 for public consultation - redefines or diminishes current Treaty principles and threatens the regenerative approach that Māori environmental values can bring.

Adding climate-damaging coal to a critical minerals list ignores climate change, flies in the face of New Zealand’s national identity, and is internationally embarrassing for our environmental reputation, says Forest & Bird’s Chief Executive Nicola

Forest & Bird is deeply concerned that politicians are continuing to misrepresent the value of stewardship land.

A twin assault on the future protection of conservation land by the Prime Minister and Minister for Resources is cause for alarm, says Forest & Bird’s Chief Executive, Nicola Toki. 

Forest & Bird is pledging to oppose environmentally damaging projects that are put through the fast-track environmental override voted on in Parliament this afternoon.

This year, the entire Forest & Bird whānau – members, supporters, staff, branches, youth, and children – stepped up to fight for te taiao as the coalition government attempted to reverse four decades of vitally important environmental laws. 

A version of this story was first published in the Summer 2024 issue of Forest & Bird magazine.

Volunteers working to restore flora and fauna in an outstanding natural landscape are heartened by the return of local birdlife. By Louise Porteous

Epic efforts are underway to save the last 101 pukunui southern New Zealand dotterels from extinction. By Kerrie Waterworth

A quiet Forest & Bird volunteer effort in Wainuiomata is helping restore native forests and wetlands in the Greater Wellington region. By Caroline Wood