National direction

The National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB) is considered an essential part in the Government’s response to biodiversity decline in Aotearoa. It aims to protect, maintain and restore our indigenous biodiversity so that there is at least no overall loss.

Appendix 5 of the NPSIB states that the purpose of a regional biodiversity strategy is to promote the landscape-scale restoration of the region’s indigenous biodiversity.

To achieve this purpose, every regional biodiversity strategy must:

1. set out a landscape-scale vision for the restoration of the region’s indigenous biodiversity
2. provide for resilience to biological and environmental changes, including those associated with climate change
3. recognise biological and physical connections within, and between, the terrestrial environment, water bodies, and the coastal marine area
4. support the achievement of any national priorities for indigenous biodiversity protection
5. record:
   1. the actions and methods intended to promote the maintenance and restoration of indigenous biodiversity, and increase in indigenous vegetation cover, in the region
   2. actions that will be undertaken by local or central government
   3. actions that the community, including tangata whenua, will be supported or encouraged to undertake
   4. how those actions will be resourced
6. specify milestones for achieving the strategy’s purpose
7. specify how progress on achieving the strategy’s purpose is to be monitored and reported on and measures to be taken if milestones are not being met.

A regional biodiversity may also:

1. include measures that are intended to implement other objectives, such as biosecurity, climate mitigation, amenity, or freshwater outcomes, where those measures also contribute to protection and restoration of indigenous biodiversity
2. identify areas intended for restoration in accordance with clause 3.21
3. identify areas in which indigenous vegetation cover is proposed to be increased, in accordance with clause 3.22.

The following must also be taken into account when developing a regional biodiversity strategy:

1. any National Biodiversity Strategy issued by the Department of Conservation: 46 National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity 2023
2. opportunities to engage the community, including tangata whenua, in conservation and, in particular, to connect urban people and communities to indigenous biodiversity
3. opportunities for partnerships with the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust, Ngā Whenua Rāhui and others
4. incentive opportunities specific to specified Māori land
5. co-benefits, including for water quality and freshwater habitats, carbon sequestration and hazard mitigation
6. alignment with strategies under other legislation.