The Government is taking action to expand and strengthen the protection for Māui and Hector’s dolphins with an updated plan to deal with threats to these native marine mammals. Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Minister of Fisheries Stuart Nash today released proposals for consultation for a revised Threat Management Plan to protect the Hector’s and Māui dolphins.  “These precious dolphins are New Zealand taonga. We need to act now to ensure their populations increase and both species thrive,” says...

Minster of Conservation Eugenie Sage has commended the work of the Department of Conservation’s Kākāpō Recovery team as it battles a deadly disease threatening to devastate the kākāpō population.

Parliament has today passed legislation enabling the collection of the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) from 1 July 2019. It will also enable digital processing of the New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA), which will be mandatory from 1 October this year.

Action is underway to enhance the protection of our precious marine biodiversity in the face of the global biodiversity crisis. An area of South Island coast and ocean the size of Auckland or three quarters the size of Rakiura/Stewart Island is being tagged for protection under a proposal supported by Minister of Fisheries Stuart Nash and Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. The Ministers have decided to progress a comprehensive marine protection network in the south eastern South Island. Public views...

The Government is backing New Zealanders with innovative ideas to solve our waste crisis Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage said today as she opened a fresh round of Waste Minimisation Funding.  Applications to this funding round of the Waste Minimisation Fund open on today and close on 29 May 2019.  For more information on the Waste Minimisation Fund visit http://www.mfe.govt.nz/more/funding/waste-minimisation-fund. "I am excited to open this new round of Waste Minimisation Funding. The fund backs New Zealanders with innovative ideas for new projects that help tackle...

The Government is going the extra mile backing the Sustainable Business Network’s Million Metres Streams’ project with a $200,000 funding boost, Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. “I am excited to be able to announce this funding from the Community Environment Fund for the Million Metres project in time for this year’s autumn planting season. “The Million Metres project aims to improve water quality by restoring native vegetation along more than 500 kms of New Zealand’s waterways which makes...

Monitoring by the Department of Conservation has confirmed the predicted mega mast or heavy seeding in New Zealand’s forests this autumn, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said today. Results from extensive seed sampling across the country in February and March point to the biggest beech mast for more than 40 years with exceptionally heavy seed loads in South Island forests. Rimu forests and tussock grasslands in the South Island are also seeding heavily. Forest seeding provides a bonanza of food for...

A block of native forest which is home to threatened native frogs /pepeketua and Coromandel brown kiwi will be preserved after being purchased by the Nature Heritage Fund. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage today announced the formal protection of 130 hectares of native forest, at Papa Aroha, 11 kilometres north of Coromandel township.  “The owners offered the Aradia block to the Fund to guarantee it would be protected for future generations,” Eugenie Sage said. The land is covered by logged kauri...

Government Ministers Damien O’Connor and Eugenie Sage are visiting the West Coast to see how flood recovery work is going and hear views of the local community. Rural Communities Minister and MP for West Coast-Tasman Damien O’Connor said good progress was being made in a number of areas and he and Eugenie Sage wanted to see what else needed to be done. “I understand services are being returned and work is underway to restore access. This morning I have been...

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says the latest report on how New Zealand is tracking against national and global biodiversity targets demonstrates the importance of increased investment in conservation. “Earlier this year I announced details of how the Department of Conservation is spending an additional $76 million in Government funding to address New Zealand’s biodiversity crisis. The 6th National Report under the Convention of Biological Diversity shows how desperately needed that investment is. “This report finds progress in some important areas...