Issues of sustainability

Kaipara Forest and Bird supports the goal of sustainability for the Kaipara Harbour.  The Harbour is a pristine and peaceful environment as well as a highly valued recreation area.  It includes a small commercial fishery that is already under stress from phytoplankton depletion, is an important feeding ground for marine mammals such as orca and dolphins, and is a nationally and  internationally significant roosting and feeding area for migratory and coastal birds. Kaipara environment groups such as Kaipara Forest and Bird, Guardians of the Kaipara, Oruawharo Marae, and the South Kaipara Environmental Protection Trust, are working co-operatively to ensure that development on the Kaipara is undertaken in a sustainable way. These include proposals for substantial increases in sand-mining take in the harbour, proposals for aquaculture in areas of high ecological or landscape values, and proposals for energy generation in the Kaipara Harbour environs.  Kaipara Forest and Bird is not opposed to development, if it is done in a sustainable way that does not affect the balance in the area’s terrestrial and marine ecosystems.		Energy Options: Energy proposals for the Kaipara include a gas turbine power station, a tidal turbine, and several wind farms...more
		Fragile Places: Kaipara's outstanding dune systems are under threat from human impacts ...more
		Ramsar status for the Kaipara: A proposal for status under the criteria set down by the Ramsar Convention....more
		Maui's Dolphin: Marine Mammal Sanctuary proposed for New Zealand's rarest dolphin, .... more
		Aquaculture:   New aquaculture regulations are proposed for the Kaipara Harbour ....more
		Sand mining proposals:  Our branch monitors sand- mining proposals affecting the Kaipara Harbour ....more