Forest & Bird is alarmed by a steep decline in central government environmental spending for 2025/26 according to the latest estimate from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE).
The 2025/26 budgeted environmental spend is just $2.6 billion, down from $3.6 billion in 2024/25.
“This is a message to all New Zealanders that nature, and the environment that supports us, is being deprioritised as the government continue their 'war on nature',” says Carl Morgan, Regional Advocacy Manager at Forest & Bird.
“To put that in perspective, $2.6 billion is roughly the conservative estimated cost of a single major transport project such as the revamped Wellington state highway corridor from the Terrace Tunnel through to Kilbirnie. New Zealand’s entire environmental budget barely equals one urban roading development.”
Forest & Bird has long maintained that investing in our natural environment is not a luxury, it's essential. The environment underpins our way of life and economy: from tourism and agriculture, to export sectors and community wellbeing.
"While our communities are still recovering from the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle, the Government has slashed climate adaptation spending by nearly 70%. Dropping from $722 million to just $192 million. Our towns, our farms, and our native species need solutions to reduce the damage that will be caused by the next inevitable extreme weather event," says Mr Morgan.
Environmental funding now accounts for just 1.4% of the total government budget, down from 2% in previous years.
It is estimated that Aotearoa needs around $2 billion a year in conservation alone, to prevent extinctions and restore te taiao, a vital investment to safeguard over $134 billion in natural assets on public conservation land that generate roughly $11 billion in ecosystem services each year.
“Having a healthy environment and thriving ecosystems is not an optional extra, it is the backbone of our identity, our economy, and our future,” Morgan says. “By slashing adaptation and biodiversity funding, the Government is weakening our resilience and undermining both ecological and economic security," Mr Morgan says.
“The underinvestment comes at a perilous moment. Our ecosystems are already stretched by climate change, invasive species, and habitat loss. Failure to invest now will cost far more in the long run; in lost native species, ecosystem collapse, and the social and economic toll of environmental degradation.”
Forest & Bird calls on the Government to reinvest in nature in 2026, committing at least $2 billion annually to conservation, while increasing overall environmental spending to safeguard our natural capital and ensure long-term ecological and economic resilience.
The government’s environmental spending reveals worrying shifts in priorities:
- Climate adaptation spending plunges nearly 70%, from $722 million in 2024/25 to just $192 million in 2025/26.
- Mitigation (emissions reduction) also drops by $444 million, continuing a downward trend.
- Key reductions hit land and freshwater management, and pollution and waste programmes.
- In contrast, investment in policy advice and resource management reform has increased.
- The report also reviews the conclusion of the $1.185 billion Jobs for Nature programme, which ended in June 2025.