A new legal approach to the protection of species and habit

Abstract

The title of this conference “Growing Green” and its by line, suggests transformative measures for primary productive industries with a view to securing gains for the environment and potentially for the industries as well. The need for transformation is clear. It is widely accepted that human activities in the environment require constraint in order to decrease the levels of unsustainable activity in terms of resource quality and quantity (United Nations General Assembly, 2011:16). There is acceptance of this position within industry, in many instances. However, the sticking point appears to be the level of constraint required and the methods to achieve the related gains for the environment. The topic assigned for this paper is a new legal approach to the protection of species and habitats, but arguably what this paper will do is affirm an existing approach that appears to be being swallowed by a high tide of mitigation and associated cumulative effects driven by pressure for economic growth. The focus will be upon threatened avian species in Aotearoa New Zealand. The underlying thesis of the paper runs against the dominant political mood of these times and advocates the exercise of precaution and detailed attention to those spaces where the impacts of industry and the needs of biodiversity collide.