By ANNE BESTON environment reporter
Degradation of New Zealand's landscape and the gradual decline of 1200 already-threatened species cannot be stopped without more money and expertise, says a major report released yesterday.
The third annual report on the five-year, $187 million Biodiversity Strategy, a multi-agency Government programme launched almost four years ago, has assessed for the first time whether the strategy will meet its target of turning the tide of biodiversity decline by 2010.
It concluded it will not.
Maintaining "representative populations of threatened species important for indigenous biodiversity" will not be "achieved at the current level of funding and knowledge", it says.
All 1200 of New Zealand's threatened species will continue to decline and freshwater species populations will even decrease at a faster rate, "with a resulting loss of species from some locations and extinction of some species".
One example is the long-finned eel, now on the endangered list and with a 5 to 30 per cent decline forecast over the next decade as a result of over-fishing.
The report says new hydro generation projects threaten largely natural rivers and the state of many lakes remains an urgent issue.
Protecting the marine environment from invasive species remains "extremely challenging" and invasive weeds on land are "spreading unchecked" in unmanaged areas.
The Department of Conservation is struggling to protect kiwi in two sanctuaries at Haast and Okarito in the South Island.
Stoats are the biggest problem facing our national bird, but trapping at the two sanctuaries "may not be sufficient to increase kiwi numbers" at the two southern sanctuaries, a key target of the strategy.
North Island sanctuaries are faring better, with chicks surviving at rates exceeding the 25 per cent target in the Coromandel Peninsula's Moehau sanctuary.
One million hectares of New Zealand forest has possum control but 3 million hectares probably needs to be controlled to halt species decline.
Conservation Minister Chris Carter, whose department is the lead agency for the Biodiversity Strategy, said the report contained good and bad news.
"It's a wake-up call to the community that our biodiversity does face some really serious challenges, but there are some successes, too."
The Government had increased DoC's annual funding from $150 million to $230 million, including some of the $187 million biodiversity package, and Mr Carter said he would be "advocating" for more.
"The report shows we face extremely serious challenges. The Government has already shown it's prepared to resource it.
"I'm going to be there arguing that we've got to at least match that or increase it to win the battle."
One of the biggest hopes was improved technology to help win the battle against pests such as stoats, responsible for decimating kiwi chick numbers.
Mr Carter endorsed his department.
"In a big organisation with a lot of staff and working nationwide, of course you can't be 100 per cent efficient 100 per cent of the time, but I think overall they are doing a good job," he said.
Conservation lobby group Forest and Bird welcomed the report's frank assessment but said the trends it identified confirmed the organisation's concerns.
"What this report is telling the country is that we are not doing nearly as well as we think we are and people need to wake up to that," said spokesman Geoff Keey.
DoC had the job of managing about a third of New Zealand's land but was not being given enough money to do the job, he said.
National Party environment spokesman Nick Smith said the report was "relatively upfront" but contained little hope that native species were secure long-term.
Department of Conservation:
NZ Biodiversity Strategy 3rd Annual Report 2002/03