New Zealand's environment is in a precarious state and facing an overwhelming number of threats, according to a sweeping government stocktake.
The major issues include thousands of species threatened or at risk of extinction, rivers unsafe for swimming, the loss of productive land due to urban expansion, and a warming climate likely to destabilise many parts of the environment.
The findings were detailed in Environment Aotearoa 2019, undertaken by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and Stats NZ. The agencies are required by law to produce such a report every three years.
The big cause? Farmers. They suck our rivers dry, then fill them with cowshit, while destroying native habitats and the global climate. And they do this not to provide us with food, but to enrich themselves by selling overseas. Limiting their activity and reverting some of their land to native forest would fix a huge amount of our problems. As for how to do it, imposing stocking limits, reducing irrigation takes, and limiting nitrogen-based fertiliser all seem like good starts. But the chances of this chickenshit government doing any of these things is about zero.