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.............. working to conserve land and marine habitat, and protect New Zealand's biodiversity

What makes the 'edge ecology' internationally important ...............

New Zealand was one of the very last places on Earth colonized by humans, with one of the worst biological losses.  A series of rare ecological events occurred during the archipelago's 80 million year isolation from the rest of the world, after being the first land mass to break away from the Gondwana super-continent.  As mammals developed in most other places on Earth, a unique and quite odd ecology evolved on New Zealand with just two bats as the only land mammals.

With the world's most extensive collection of flightless birds, 80 percent endemism in plants, gigantism in insects (tusked weta left) and prehistoric living fossils preceding dinosaurs, the country is a biological treasure chest.

Agreement to restrict South Pacific high seas bottom trawling - is it enough?  Nations negotiating formation of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, have agreed to interim measures to control bottom trawling.  See more

The incredible journey of sooty shearwater from New Zealand to the north Pacific for an endless summer  Scientists show the path of shearwater that breed on New Zealand and migrate each year in an incredible transequatoral 64,000 km journey.  See more

UN stark predictions of impact of climate change  The IPCC has issued the second report, providing predictions of the impacts of climate change.  By 2030, drought is projected in some eastern areas of New Zealand.  See more

Global companies, states and city government react to climate change   In the wake of a surge of climate change reports, many global companies, states and cities are taking initiatives that surpass the snail's pace policymaking of national government.  See more

Scientists find lakes and rivers beneath fast moving Antarctic ice that lubricate flow  A vast network of waterways has been discovered beneath an ice stream that provides clues on the impact of sea level rise.  See more

Extremely rare gecko reappears in Coromandel home garden  A Coromandel striped gecko, New Zealand's rarest reptile and the world's rarest gecko, has shown up in a Coromandel suburban garden.  See more

Photo Credit: Crown Copyright © Department of Conservation -  Upper left, tusked weta - Upper right, Cathedral Cove, Coromandel Marine Reserve - Right bottom, humpback whale - Right 5th from bottom, Powelliphanta snail;  Crown Copyright © Ministry of Fisheries - Center bottom and 2nd bottom, bottom trawling bycatch;  NOAA - Top, Giggenbach seamount chimneys - Center 4th from bottom, sea anemone; NASA - Center 5th from bottom, Amazon rainforest - Right 2nd from bottom, arctic polar bear - Right 3rd from bottom, Antarctic ice - Right 6th from bottom, Earth's southern hemisphere; Peter Schouten - Right 4th from bottom, Upland moa.