Stand up against the Government’s land grab under the Significant Natural Area (SNA) proposal and the rest of the unworkable regulations in the National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB).
The SNA policy will take control of private land away from its owners if the land meets broad criteria concerning native plants and wildlife.
We’ve made it easy for you to tell the Government to scrap the whole policy and start from scratch.
We know that landowners are the best caretakers of their land. If, as we agree, indigenous biodiversity like our native bush, as well as our native birds and other wildlife, are so important, then the policy in place to protect it should support and empower those best caretakers to do it.
Instead, the SNA land grab will turn the biodiversity on your land into a liability.
For many, their land values will plummet as they are left owning their land, but in name only. Rather than buy the land off you, the Government is just going to make using it illegal.
Urban landowners won’t get off easy either, as the new rules have broad categories that could catch anyone.
Unreasonable bureaucratic box-ticking and the onerous and expensive mapping requirements under the NPSIB won’t do anything practical to advance indigenous biodiversity, while they will divert scarce time and money from the on-the-ground actions that actually improve our environment.
All this when successful schemes like the QEII National Trust have already shown that working with, rather than against, landowners is the best way to achieve practical and sustainable environmental outcomes.
Your support will dial up the pressure on the Government to scrap this unworkable policy and start from scratch with the sort of approach that Groundswell NZ is advocating.
Our proposal, as part of the Groundswell NZ Integrated Environmental Policy Framework, is to support landowners’ active management of their indigenous biodiversity by:
- Treating indigenous biodiversity as an asset, rather than a liability
- Rewarding those who protect their natural environment, rather than penalising them
- Motivating and empowering landowners to take on-the-ground actions to protect the biodiversity on their land
Thank you for your support.
Kind regards,
Bryce, Laurie, Mel and the team at Groundswell NZ
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