Conservation, environment, water and wildlife

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RMA update

The Government’s contentious proposed rehaul of the Resource Management Act (RMA) has finished its first public consultation phase, with hundreds of New Zealanders contributing their views.

Slippery slope for eels

Dr Jan Wright, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, says New Zealand’s native longfin eel is on the path to extinction, and a moratorium on commercial fishing should be put in place to help save ...

Museum looks forward

Auckland War Memorial Museum is looking after the future as well as our past by cutting its carbon emissions.

New reserves for West Coast

Conservation Minister Nick Smith has approved five new marine reserves for the West Coast of New Zealand.

Fracking FAQs

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a technique for extracting gas from rock layers where a mix of liquid, sand and other chemicals (typically lubricants) is injected into the rock at high pressure. The injection causes ...

Rena update

More than a year after the container ship Rena became lodged on Astrolabe reef in the Bay of Plenty, spilling containers and venting oil into the sea, questions remain about the impact of the disaster ...

The toast of the coast

Green Ideas contributor Sam Judd hates seeing rubbish at the beach. He and some mates have been cleaning up coastlines since 2007, pulling 118 tonnes of debris from our shores – but, he tells Nicola ...

Wetland wonders

A group of inspirational Bay of Plenty locals has turned a rat-infested swamp into a haven for rare birds and a breeding ground for whitebait. Jim Robinson reports.

Good news for Gotham

Conservationists were excited to discover three new bat colonies on the fringes of Auckland. Now an investigation has been launched to find out how these mysterious denizens of the night have survived – and how ...

What the frack?

As the search for oil and gas gathers pace in New Zealand Sam Judd investigates the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing.