Budget 09: Cut in funding undermines Kyoto commitment, green groups warn

Environmental groups fear the Government's reduction in funding for conservation is a ecological and economic misstep.

Yesterday's Budget showed conservation funding would decrease from $423 million in the 2008/09 financial year to $419 million next year and $380 million in 2010/11.

Under Labour, funding for conservation had increased from $280 million in the 2004/05 financial year to $423 million in 2008/09.

Conservationists expressed concern that a reduction in funding would strain New Zealand's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and undermine the protection of native species and forest.

But Minister of Conservation Tim Groser said he was certain the savings would not compromise the Department of Conservation's projects.

"I'm confident that the director general and chief executive can meet those objectives without doing any real damage whatsoever to fundamental conservation objectives."

Two areas have been identified for savings: The Nature Heritage Fund, which is used for land acquisitions, and the Community Conservation Fund, which gave money to community groups to restore public spaces. The community fund will receive $2 million less than the last financial year.

Forest and Bird Society advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell said the reductions were not severe, but the Government had lost a chance to meet several major environmental goals.

"The cuts weren't as big as I was fearing ... but we think opportunities have been missed in this Budget which would meet all sorts of goals the Government has at the moment."

"We would have hoped there would be a significant amount of money spent on pest control."

He said that as well as the biodiversity benefits of rigorous pest control, there was a strong economic argument for protecting native forest.

"In the post-Kyoto period, it gets New Zealand in line with carbon commitments.

"Most of the carbon in New Zealand is in our native forests - at the moment we have all these pests chewing through it. Even the smallest amount of pest control leads to huge amounts of carbon that you sequester [capture]."

But Mr Groser said the reduced budget for conservation reflected New Zealand's general economic situation, and that exhaustive pest control was not feasible.

"The department has $419 million to manage a third of the country plus all the coastal waters. I'm sure if we tripled the [funding] we would still fund pest control and biodiversity that would require more funding."