New Zealand is rich in endemic flora and fauna, it has also established a unique suite of environmental institutions and legislative arrangements designed to protect the natural environment. The response to climate change has also emphasised the utility of native forests as sinks in the suite of measures designed to address New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions. Successive reports from the OECD however record continued failure to address habitat and biodiversity loss. These issues have been brought sharply into focus by recent cases involving coal mining proposals and destruction of habitat in which communities of rare giant carnivorous land snails reside. Most recently government proposals to release protected conservation land for mining has added to the controversy. This paper will critically analyse the current debate and the dichotomy between environmental aspirations and the reality of practice.