Aotearoa is facing a biodiversity crisis of epic
proportions – with some of the highest numbers of
threatened species in the world and continued ecosystem
loss.
The Government’s proposed Natural Environment
Bill and Planning Bill will have significant implications
for how indigenous biodiversity is protected, managed and
restored.
New ‘regulatory relief’ frameworks could
see councils having to compensate private landowners when
applying indigenous biodiversity rules to their property,
including Significant Natural Area overlays, urban tree
protections and vegetation clearance rules. Will this chill
planning controls for indigenous biodiversity, leaving
vulnerable species and habitats
unprotected?
Environmental limits will have to be set
for indigenous biodiversity, but only after balancing
economic and social considerations. Regulators are then
constrained in how they defend those limits. Does the system
truly create an environmental bottom-line for indigenous
biodiversity?
A specific aim of no net loss of
indigenous biodiversity is ambitiously proposed, but how
strong will this direction be in practice when it has no
priority in the shopping list of other system goals? How is
no net loss even calculated?
This session will unpack
what the resource management reforms mean for our precious
flora and fauna. Will the Bills be positive, or a step
backwards? How can we ensure that the new system adequately
safeguards indigenous biodiversity?
Session 3:
Indigenous biodiversity under the new
system
Wednesday 24 June 2026, 11.40am –
1.00pm
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International keynote: How
biodiversity net gain became law in the UK, Professor
David Hill, Founder of the Environment Bank and architect of
biodiversity net gain (via livestream)
What are
the implications of the new resource management system for
indigenous biodiversity? Greg Severinsen, Reform
Director, Environmental Defence Society
No net
biodiversity loss: How will this work in practice? Matt
Baber, Principal Ecologist & Director, Alliance
Ecology
Regulatory takes and indigenous
biodiversity: Will there be a chilling effect on council
regulation? Rehette Stoltz, Mayor, Gisborne District
Council
EDS speaks for the environment. It has influence.
Since 1971, EDS has been driving environmental protection in Aotearoa New Zealand
through law and policy change. That’s why it’s one of this country’s most influential non-
profit organisations when it comes to achieving better environmental outcomes.
EDS has expertise in key disciplines including law, planning, landscape and science. It
operates as a policy think-tank, a litigation advocate, and a collaborator – bringing together
the private and public sectors for constructive engagement.
EDS runs conferences and seminars on topical issues, including an annual Environmental
Summit and the Climate Change and Business Conference.
EDS is a registered charity and donations to it are tax-deductible.
