There’s an old saying that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
It’s sort of true with mining in Schedule 4 lands too.
To stretch the metaphor to the case of Schedule 4 mining, getting the ‘bird’ buried under the bush will mean we lose the bird in hand and the two in the bush.
We’ll also badly damage the bush itself, and potentially scare off quite a few of the 1.6 million birds* that fly in to enjoy the bush every year.
This is pretty much the overall conclusion of three economics reports that Forest & Bird commissioned and appended to its submission on Schedule 4 mining.
Update: Celebrated physicist Professor Sir Paul Callaghan concurs. He said last week that the Government’s plans to mine on conservation land are “stupid economics”.
* 1.6 million international tourists participate in nature-based activities in New Zealand each year
Our Ministry of Fisheries has just received possibly the largest wake-up call to fish more sustainably – care of the world’s largest shipping company – Maersk.
Orange roughy: staying put ,
The company announced yesterday* it is refusing to transport Orange roughy, Antarctic toothfish, or any of our shark species, because it believes these fish are being fished unsustainably.
On Radio New Zealand this morning, the Ministry of Fisheries tried to defend the fishing method used to capture orange roughy - a long-lived species (some live up to 130 years) that is caught using highly destructive bottom trawl fishing methods along unique deepwater seamounts, pinnacles and canyons.
Bottom trawling is one of the most environmentally destructive fishing methods in the world.
It employs large nets ranging in size from 4-60m in height and stretching 150-200m in length, in effect taking with it a large amount of bycatch (read: threatened sea-lions, albatross, and other sea-birds). And that’s not to mention what damage it inflicts on our sea-floor.
Blogger: North Island Conservation Manager, Mark Bellingham.
Over the past 60 years, the barn owl (tyto alba) has been spotted on many occasions in New Zealand from Westland (1948) to Auckland (1985), but it’s never gained a good enough foothold to be classed as a native (i.e breeding) bird.
And no wonder. Any dishevelled bird that arrives on our shores care of a rogue wind, must survive on strange foreign tucker, fend off exotic predators and hunt out a suitable mate.
Cue: stomach aches, loneliness, unanswered mating calls and scraps with unknown foes. The odds that are stacked against them are just mind-boggling.
And yet, so many of our birds have done it, even those ones that are challenged in the wing department (read: the pukeko, the fantail, silvereye).
Blogger: Conservation Advocate for Forest & Bird, Karen Baird
Fairy tern – given the name you’d think it was a mythical creature. But no, it’s alive and kicking. Well only just - there are only about 36-40 individuals (and 8 breeding pairs), giving it the unenviable title of ‘our rarest indigenous bird’.
Fairy tern, Pakiri Beach. Photo: Andrew Hogan
Once widespread on both islands, this imperilled bird’s homeland has been reduced to just four breeding sites, the most important at Mangawhai in Northland.
Having bounced back from single digit population figures (eight individuals) in 1983, the population is now crawling back from the brink of extinction, and these sites are suffering from overcrowding. So, we’re looking for new breeding sites.
Over the next few months Forest & Bird will identify potential new breeding sites in Northland, giving young fairy terns the opportunity to occupy sites where they aren’t competing for food, or good nesting sites with their territorial elders.
Blogger: Wellington’s E-waste coordinator Mike Ennis
If I had my way, dumping electronic-waste would almost be as unsexy as smoking. It’d draw furrow brows, pursed lips and derisory snorts from onlookers.
There's gold in 'em landfills
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Around 80,000 tonnes of e-waste gets dumped every year in our landfills, and with the rage that is flat-screen TV, we’re likely to see 2 million TVs being biffed into our landfills in the next 5-6 years.
Most people unknowingly dump their electronic waste blissfully unaware that their computer contains toxic elements such as mercury to lead, but also highly valuable metals such as gold*, copper & silver that can be recycled.
“God has an inordinate fondness for beetles,” British geneticist J.B.S. Haldane once quipped.
That’s because there are more named beetle species than any other form of life. The same might be said of worms. You might not realise it but vermiform (worm-like) is the most widely adopted shape in the animal kingdom.
There are flatworms and tapeworms, ribbon worms, spoon worms, peanut worms, arrow worms, eel worms and round worms, acorn worms, velvet worms, goblet worms, horseshoe worms, bristleworms, penis worms, and even worm-shaped crustaceans (tongue worms), echinoderms (sea cucumbers), fish (lampreys, hagfish, eels), amphibians (caecilians) and reptiles (snakes).
Last week, I met up with frogologist Dr Phil Bishop down at Otago University. In this video he explains how our frogs are going to be affected by the government’s mining proposals. Mandy
There are flatworms and tapeworms, ribbon worms, spoon worms, peanut worms, arrow worms, eel worms and round worms, acorn worms, velvet worms, goblet worms, horseshoe worms, bristleworms, penis worms, and even worm-shaped crustaceans (tongue worms), echinoderms (sea cucumbers), fish (lampreys, hagfish, eels), amphibians (caecilians) and reptiles (snakes).