Theme Ten - NZBS Strategy

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		Theme Ten — New Zealand's International Responsibilities

The NZBS Strategy

	Contents

	Foreword

	Executive Summary

	Part One

	Part Two

	Part Three

	::	Theme One

	::	Theme Two

	::	Theme Three

	::	Theme Four

	::	Theme Five

	::	Theme Six

	::	Theme Seven

	::	Theme Eight

	::	Theme Nine

	::	Theme Ten

	::	Key to Key Players

	Part Four

	Annex One

	Annex Two

	Glossary

	Suggestions for Further Reading

Scope
New Zealand's international role and responsibilities with respect to the global conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the furthering of national biodiversity goals.

Desired outcome for 2020
New Zealand has a visible and effective international role in seeking to ensure improved biodiversity management globally by participating in international forums, sharing information and expertise, and fostering bilateral and multilateral cooperation in biodiversity conservation efforts.

New Zealand has an active role in biodiversity conservation in surrounding marine areas, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica.

Current management
New Zealand's 1993 ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) confirmed our ongoing commitment to the international effort to conserve and sustainably use global biodiversity. The CBD promotes the need for countries to work together and coordinate efforts to tackle biodiversity issues on a number of fronts, including science and research, information exchange, national planning, and education and training. Special provision is made for the support of developing and small island countries to achieve their biodiversity goals.

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is a new programme being coordinated by the OECD. It is a global initiative to provide mechanisms to electronically store, link and search the myriad of biodiversity databases which have been established worldwide.

In addition to the CBD, New Zealand participates in other international organisations and processes relevant to environmental protection and species conservation. International treaties have served to raise the profile of New Zealand's biodiversity (for example, New Zealand's World Heritage and important wetland sites), as well as contributing to conservation outcomes in other countries, for example by prohibiting trade in endangered species.

The level of New Zealand's involvement in international environmental organisations (such as the United Nations Environment Programme and Commission on Sustainable Development) depends on our priorities and particular membership obligations. New Zealand also has an active role in biodiversity conservation in our neighbouring marine areas and the Southern Ocean, and in Antarctica (focused on the stewardship of ecosystems within the Ross Dependency⁶⁴).

New Zealand supports biodiversity conservation in other countries, with a focus on the South Pacific region. This occurs bilaterally through New Zealand's Overseas Development Assistance (NZODA) programme and regionally through the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP). Capacity-building in biodiversity and resource management is a priority for development assistance in Pacific Island countries. New Zealand's ongoing financial contributions to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) assist developing countries to meet the costs of implementing the CBD.

Summary of issues
New Zealand has a strategic interest in effective and ongoing participation in international processes in relation to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

New Zealand's contribution to international biodiversity conservation and sustainable management initiatives is important; and it is critical that this is focused where it can be most effective.
New Zealand has a responsibility to support, and a strategic interest in, biodiversity conservation initiatives in developing and small island nations, particularly in the South Pacific and South East Asian region.
New Zealanders share a global responsibility to ensure their activities do not adversely impact on the biodiversity of other countries or within international waters.
There needs to be consistency between New Zealand's objectives for conserving and sustainably using biodiversity and our trade policies, in particular the international trade commitments New Zealand has made to the World Trade Organisation.
New Zealand has specific responsibilities to promote technical and scientific cooperation with other parties to the CBD using the Internet as a tool to achieve this (that is, to develop an Internet Clearing House Mechanism).
New Zealand has a special interest in Antartica and the Southern Ocean - we have implemented the Protocol on Environmental Protection (Antarctic Treaty) and participate in Southern Ocean fishing management under the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
New Zealand has responsibilties to ensure sustainable fishing under the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement in areas beyond our EEZ and for migratory species.

Working with our Pacific neighbours

Increasingly New Zealand's overseas development assistance in the South Pacific is being channelled into projects where environmental protection goes hand in hand with community development. New Zealand scientists, conservation managers and volunteers contribute to conserving the indigenous biodiversity of Pacific Island countries (including the Cook Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea) by passing on knowledge and skills to local conservation staff and facilitating the development of sustainable income-generating activities.

On the island of Erromango, a southern island in the Vanuatu group, the villagers chose to protect a 3000 hectare area of virgin rainforest, containing the finest remaining stands of local kauri (Agathis macrophylla) in Vanuatu. In 1995 the landowners reached agreement with the Vanuatu Government and the European Union on a five-year lease in exchange for compensation. An improved water supply has opened up possibilities for low-impact ecotourism and a New Zealandfunded management plan aimed at conserving the forest long term has suggested a number of sustainable alternatives to logging, such as ecotourism ventures and sustainable harvesting of forest crops.

The Marovo Lagoon, part of the New Georgia Group in the Solomon Islands, is an immense waterway speckled with hundreds of islands that support a dazzling variety of plants and animals. Through its NZODA programme, New Zealand is assisting the Solomon Islands to conserve Marovo's natural and cultural resources by promoting sustainable income-generating activities.

So far, lodges have been opened for ecotourism-based activities and plans are in place for a kayaking venture. The project also aims to raise local communities' awareness of the benefits of conservation. Marovo's future hangs in the balance. Some villages chose not to accept alternatives to extractive resource use such as logging, while others have embraced a more sustainable approach and are developing resource plans to ensure future generations can share in Marovo's unique biodiversity. A spin-off from this project, however, has been the designation of East Rennell Island as the South Pacific Islands' first World Heritage Site.

Action plan⁶⁵

Objective 10.1 International forums and treaties

Contribute towards the international effort to conserve and sustainably use global biodiversity through participation in relevant international forums and treaty systems.

Actions:
a) Promote and coordinate credible, constructive and sustained government agency involvement in international organisations, programmes and activities to fulfil New Zealand's obligations and responsibilities under the Convention on Biological Diversity and related treaties.

Key players: MFAT*, DoC, MfE, MAF⁶⁶

b) Review implementation of those international treaties relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity to which New Zealand is a party.

Key players: MFAT*, DoC, MfE, MAF

c) Participate in international negotiations, in priority areas for New Zealand as appropriate, on the development of new international environmental instruments relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, such as the negotiation of a Biosafety Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Key players: MFAT*, DoC, MfE, MAF, ERMANZ

d) Promote the development and use of mutually supportive trade and environmental policies for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in international trade and other forums.

Key players: MFAT*, DoC, MfE, MAF, MoC

Objective 10.2 Inter-country cooperation

Seek continued and effective cooperation and support for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, directly between governments and through people-to-people cooperation.

Actions:
a) Enhance New Zealand's information exchange and collaboration internationally in biodiversity science, research and technology through the use of the Internet Clearing House Mechanism, travel grants and involvement in relevant international and regional organisations.

Key players: DoC*, MoRST, MfE, MFAT, research providers, universities

b) Continue to promote policies and programmes for New Zealand's Overseas Development Assistance and the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) for environmentally sustainable development in partner countries, with priority given to assisting developing and small island countries in the Asia-Pacific region to identify environmental priorities and increase their capacity to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity.

Key player: MFAT*

c) Cooperate and work with other countries on biodiversity issues of mutual concern and in areas in which New Zealand has particular expertise or needs, such as research on shared taxa, threatened species management and recovery, prevention and elimination of invasive species, biological restoration techniques, and biodiversity assessment.

Key players: will vary*, DoC, MAF, Mfish, FRST, MFAT, research providers

*Government lead

⁶⁴ The region of Antarctica in which New Zealand has claims and particular scientific interests.

⁶⁵ Actions shown in bold are priority actions (see Part Four).

⁶⁶ See key to key players.