Today, the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Air New Zealand announced an extension of their collaboration to work together for conservation. The two organizations will double their annual direct expenditure, and their commitment will last for another five years.
Over the next five years, Air New Zealand will directly invest more than $5 million in DOC biodiversity programs as part of the renewal, building on more than ten years of collaboration.
With this expanded commitment, DOC’s statewide Conservation Dogs Programme will join the airline’s ongoing support for pest control and species monitoring along five of New Zealand’s Great Walks.
The long-standing cooperation with New Zealand’s national carrier, according to DOC Director-General Penny Nelson, is evidence of the importance of wildlife in Aotearoa.
“The foundation of tourism is the environment. People benefit when they are exposed to untamed, wholesome, and distinctive nature. Both foreign tourists and residents of New Zealand are drawn to our landscape.
Unfortunately, almost 4000 species are either imperiled or in danger of going extinct. We can accomplish more for native species thanks to our collaboration with Air New Zealand than we could on our own.
For instance, on the Milford route, our collaboration has reduced the number of predators to the point that we are able to increase the pāteke/brown teal population. Air New Zealand funded radio transmitters to track their success in addition to flying in 60 planes.
Thanks to our collaboration, trampers can now see pāteke together with a variety of other healthy birds, reptiles, and insects when hiking along the track.We can have an effect like this through enduring partnerships with businesses, which is why we are thrilled to be advancing our work with Air New Zealand.
Air New Zealand will offer more than $5 million in in-kind support in addition to the direct investment. As part of this support, conservation dogs and threatened animals are still flown, and campaigns are launched to bring attention to the biodiversity disaster and ways that both New Zealanders and visitors from other countries may help with conservation efforts in Aotearoa.
Kiri Hannifin, Chief Sustainability Officer of Air New Zealand, says the airline is thrilled to add the world-renowned Conservation Dogs Programme to its long-standing relationship with DOC.The distinctive and priceless biodiversity of New Zealand is always at danger. It is essential to keep putting a variety of science-based efforts into action to counter this threat.
“Our enhanced funding will help the DOC Conservation Dogs Programme train, certify, and assist teams of dog handlers in identifying protected species in New Zealand and invasive pests.
“The fight against Aotearoa’s declining biodiversity is being led by these highly trained dogs and their handlers.”
Since the partnership started in 2012, it has flown over 4,300 threatened species and conservation dogs, accomplished more than 42,000ha of continuous pest management alongside some of the most famous Great Walks, and facilitated over 30 million interactions with people through collaborative storytelling.
Source- Travel daily
Link- https://www.traveldailymedia.com/air-new-zealand-and-department-of-conservation-partnership-renewed/