Special sessions

Narrative storytelling is a powerful way to engage audiences with science and gives context and meaning to the science that we present. In this session, presenters have the opportunity to practice, or showcase, their storytelling skills and tell the stories behind the science that they do and the places that they visit.This is a session in which the mud is added back into the data, and in which we admit that, sometimes, we were wet and cold and that we missed home. But presenters also have the chance to talk about that time that they watched the dawn break over Fiordland from the deck of the boat while still in their pyjamas or about the first time that they caught their study species.  

Improving biodiversity policy on private land in a time of crisis

New Zealand has an international reputation as a natural, unspoiled country, known for its majestic, cinematographic landscapes. This implies that New Zealand is a model of environmental governance that successfully safeguards its natural resources in light of human and economic development. However, the reality is more complicated and at times paradoxical – for example, New Zealand has one of the largest proportions of protected land in the world but is also experiencing a biodiversity crisis.

Managing indigenous biodiversity on private land is fundamental to addressing this crisis at a national level. Protection and maintenance of indigenous biodiversity would demand

• The limiting of direct and indirect harm to prevent further loss
  
• Sustained and effective maintenance through active pest control and other interventions
  
• Proactive and science-based enhancement and restoration, including the reintroduction of lost biodiversity to places where losses have been greatest
  

Despite frequent acknowledgement of the importance of these imperatives, achieving integration of these goals in practice at the scale required has remained elusive.

This symposium will provide the opportunity to explore how existing and future policy options such as constitutional change, systematic shifts, economic mechanisms, and community-driven conservation could be deployed to improve biodiversity outcomes outside of public conservation land. We also extend the conversation to the tailored responses required to better support Māori as land owners to align with their own defined aspirations for kaitiakitanga, a sustainable economy, and self-determination.

Organisers: Fleur Maseyk and Marie Doole