- Environment of New Zealand
The environment of New Zealand is characterised by unique flora and fauna and a variety of landforms contained within a small island nation.
Biota
The biota of New Zealand is one of the most unusual on Earth, due to its long isolation from other
continent al landmasses. Its affinities are derived in part fromGondwana , from which it separated 82 million years ago, some modest affinities with New Caledonia and [ord Howe Island, both of which are part of the same continental plate asNew Zealand and in part from Australia.More recently a component has been introduced by humans. New Zealand's
biodiversity exhibits high levels of endemism, both in its flora and fauna. Until recently the islands had no native terrestrialmammal s except forbat s (although mammals did exist in New Zealand until 19 million years ago), the main component of the fauna beinginsect s andbird s. Its flora is dominated by Gondwanan plants, comprising historically offorest s, most famously the giantkauri . New Zealand has developed a nationalBiodiversity Action Plan to address conservation of considerable numbers of threatened flora and fauna within New Zealand.Fauna
Birds
Mammals
Flora
Climate
Geography
Protected areas
tate of the Environment reporting
The Ministry for the Environment has produced two
State of the Environment reports to date, one in 1997 [cite web|url=http://mfe.govt.nz/publications/ser/ser1997/|title=The State of New Zealand’s Environment 1997|date=1997|publisher=Ministry for the Environment|accessdate=2008-09-03] and the other in 2007. [cite web|url=http://mfe.govt.nz/publications/ser/enz07-dec07/index.html|title=Environment New Zealand 2007|date=December 2007|publisher=Ministry for the Environment|accessdate=2008-09-03]Environmental law
The roots of New Zealand environmental law can be traced to the
common law of Britain. The increasing environmental awareness of the 1960s led to a specific body ofenvironmental law that developed in many Western countries including New Zealand. Environmental law became more integrated in the 1980s with the passing of theEnvironment Act 1987 and theConservation Act . These Acts set up theMinistry for the Environment ,Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and theNew Zealand Department of Conservation .The most significant Act of Parliament concerning environmental law was the passing of
Resource Management Act in 1991. Issues under the Act are adjudicated by theEnvironment Court of New Zealand .Environmental issues
As with many other countries there are a number of
environmental organisation s that are working towards addressing variousenvironmental issues in New Zealand.ee also
*
Timeline of environmental history of New Zealand References
External links
* [http://www.mfe.govt.nz Ministry for the Environment]
* [http://www.doc.govt.nz Department of Conservation]
* [http://www.ourfuture.net.nz/index.asp ourfuture.net.nz] - a project for mapping environmental initiatives in New Zealand
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