New laws to protect species habitats?

Press, 19 December 1981, Page 14

New laws to protect species habitats?

Parliamentary reporter

The Government may introduce legislation to protect endangered species and habitats in New Zealand. The Minister for the Environment (Dr Shearer) told guests -at the opening of a new wildlife sanctuary at Waikanae that New Zealand had virtually no legislation protecting the habitat of a threatened species except if it were incidentally protected under acts setting up reserves.

A model for such legislation might be the American Endangered Species Act, 1973, Dr Shearer said. New Zealand’s wetlands were more at risk than its shrinking native forests, he said. Less than 10 per cent of indigenous wetlands were in a virgin state. The rest had been drained and developed for farmland, urban development, or excessively altered by fertiliser run-off. Engineering projects altered entire drainage systems.

Hydro lakes and artificial wetlands might be fine recreational amenities but almost always were not good habitats for aquatic plants and wildlife. New Zealand had drawn sharp criticism from overseas because of its poor record in preserving endangered wetlands. Dr Shearer said.

The lack of legal protection of Lake Ellesmere had been remarked upon by the international bureau administering the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. It had described Lake Ellesmere as a "wetland of exceptional importance to birdlife,” and called on the Government to add it to the international list. Dr Shearer said the New Zealand acclimatisation societies had placed Lake Ellesmere second in a list of 10 wetlands to be preserved as a national priority. New Zealand could take a lead from the growing number of

nations putting a stop t conversion of wetlands ti farmland by deliberal policy.

The Government needed t seriously consider an end b } financial incentives en couraging further drainage of New Zealand's shrinking ' wetlands.

An impediment to this wa the area of endangered we< land in private hands, but possible solution was to ex tend the covenant systen protecting indigenous forest: , in private hands to wetland: : also.

Dr Shearer said the need to preserve wildlife habitats was the single most significant issue facing all Government agencies in wildlife management.

Eleven per cent of the more than 300 species and sub-species of rare and endangered birds listed in the » International Red Data Book were from New Zealand and its outlying islands. Dr ? Shearer said.