HOW are NZ’s key environmental assets stacking up in comparison to the world? Here is a Green / scientific view.

KIWIS love to go bush and eat fresh kai.
We have a direct interest in protecting the country’s wildlife, landscapes and coastlines, so the Department of Conservation is working on a “report card” for New Zealand’s natural assets.
“It will be used as a benchmark for how well we are managing our country. We have a lot at stake in protecting the natural environment,” says DoC spokesperson Rory Newsam.
DoC won’t pass ratings on how we manage our environmental household until the report card is complete. Capital Times compiled our own simple survey of how we are faring as planetary managers, both locally and globally. We talked ratings with Victoria University School of Biological Sciences head Wayne Linklater, and Green Party co-leader Dr Russel Norman.

OCEANS: THE state of our oceans has declined rapidly over the past few decades. “In the past heavy metals and sediment entered Wellington’s harbours, but now we are improving our treatment,” says Dr Norman. However, offshore the situation worsens. Dr Norman explains: “We are at the cutting edge of un-sustainable fishing practices.” Deep-sea trawling and over fishing has reduced the bio-mass of our seas to 20% of original stock. The low numbers of Orange Roughy is an indicator of our poor rating, says Norman.
The United Nations Scientific programme suggests that within 40 years 90% of the ocean’s edible species may be gone.
OCEANS:  Score (Norman)   LOCAL: D          GLOBAL: F

WATER: THE health of our nation, both physically and economically, is inextricably linked to water, says Victoria University Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology leader Wayne Linklater. “We rate poorly in terms of protecting our waterways,” he says. Large and growing nutrient inflows threaten the quality of our agricultural and drinking water supplies. “Our drinking water quality is good but threatened.” Linklater says to better manage our water we need extensive riparian protection of waterways, and use of wetlands to protect water quality.
Water shortages on a global level are becoming more common; and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says “water wars” are the century’s pre-eminent threat to humanity.
WATER:  Score (Linklater)   LOCAL:  C+          GLOBAL: D

LIFE: A key indicator of planetary well-being is the health of the species that inhabit the Earth. The planet is loosing an estimated 30,000 species a year, which breaks down to about three species per hour.
Dr Norman says we are heading into the sixth great mass extinction – the largest since “an asteroid crashed into Mexico and caused the last one 65 million years ago.” The Maui dolphin is one critically endangered species, with population estimated at 111. “Places like Mana Island are especially important to save species like the takahe,” Norman says. Wayne Linklater explains: “The health of citizens depends on a functioning ecosystem because that ecosystem provides essential services (clean air, water, food etc). A functioning ecosystem that is resilient to change depends on biodiversity – you can’t have one without the other”.
LIFE:  Score (Linklater)    LOCAL: E          GLOBAL: F

FOREST: AT home, we have gradual reafforestation occurring says Wayne Linklater. And with billions of tons of CO2 entering the atmosphere every year, our forests are vital to fighting climate change. However, globally forests are in rapid decline and massive swathes of Amazon and other forest has been cleared for farming and logging. Rainforests that used to cover 14% of the Earth’s surface now cover less than 6%.
FOREST:  Score (Linklater)    LOCAL: B          GLOBAL: D-

SOIL: IT takes 1,000 years to grow an inch of soil, so how do we sustain current usage? Norman says our massive agricultural industry replaces natural fertility with nitrogen fertiliser. “The fertiliser is made using cheap natural gas, so we have a dependence on oil,” says Norman. Soil loss and sedimentation into waterways and the ocean are major issues, as the deposits laced with fertiliser settle on the sea floor and starve our fish nurseries.
The Green Party co-leader says the global soil situation is dire; with increasing desertification, and with pesticide use doubling since the 1950s.
SOIL:  Score (Norman)    LOCAL: D+          GLOBAL: E+