New Zealand’s leading environmental conference is being held this week in Auckland, and is focusing on the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, and the land use changes needed post Gabrielle.
Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle have wrought havoc across the country and are leading many to question whether we need to think differently about land uses, especially in the hill country and the origin of the massive volumes of slash and sediment that inundated communities and caused terrible damage in the coastal marine area.
This year’s conference: Pivot Point: Deep Environmental Change, will drill deeply into those matters as well as evaluating the freshwater and resource management reforms.
There will also be consideration to the implications the Ukraine war, international trade and climate change obligations have for the environment.
This includes the major challenges we face and identify solutions, like stimulating re-establishment of native forest cover in places where it should never have been cleared.
The programme includes a moderated political discussion with representatives from the main parties debating their respective environmental and climate change policies.
The conference will be held at Grand Millennium, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, March 22-24 2023
Keynote speakers include:
Professor Robert Patman
Vangelis Vitalis
Dr Rod Carr
George Monbiot
Hon David Parker
Rt Hon Simon Upton
Raewyn Peart
Professor Jacinta Ruru
Manu Caddie
Professor David Norton
Annette Lees
Dame Anne Salmond
Vicky Robertson