 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand abstractsGondwana invaded: an address on distinctive features of managing indigenous biodiversity in protected areas in New ZealandHugh Logan**Director-General, Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 10 420, Wellington, New Zealand.Despite its relatively small size, New Zealand has highly heterogeneous landscapes, distinctive ecosystems, and many endemic indigenous species of animals and plants. Its "differentness" results from isolation, distinctive environmental history over 80 million years, and absence of human occupation until about 800 years ago. Since then, two-thirds of the original forests have been lost, and many species have become extinct. Today, 1000 species require active conservation management to survive. Major institutional and legislative change has slowed the decline of indigenous biodiversity, and 30% of New Zealand's land mass now has some form of legal protection. Weed and pest control remain high priorities, especially in "mainland islands". Public support for environmental conservation is high and Maori involvement is increasing. National parks and reserves are the common heritage of all New Zealanders, rural and urban.Keywords conservation; biodiversity; indigenous species; extinction; environmental management; Maori people; New Zealand R00017 Received 22 July 2000; accepted 25 May 2001 (c) Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 31, Number 4, December 2001, pp 813-818
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (718K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process) This year's abstracts | Journal home page | All abstracts | Publishing home page |