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Home > Foreign Relations > Global Issues > Environment

Environment

International environment work is expanding, with important environmental and economic implications for New Zealand. MFAT’s particular role in relation to this work is to advance and protect New Zealand’s interests in international environment negotiations, working with relevant domestic agencies with interests in particular areas.

MFAT’s Environment Division (established in 1989 as part of the preparations for the Rio World Summit) leads most of the Ministry’s work in this area. A Climate Change Ambassador has been appointed to lead input to international negotiations on climate change.

Key issues

Some current priority areas for MFAT, working together with domestic departments, are:

Climate change - International negotiations on future action to address climate change post-2012more
Governance - contributing to international discussions on developing strategies to reduce inefficiencies, overlap and poor procedure in international environment institutions and processes and to encourage greater coordination between those institutions, where appropriatemore
Conservation of species - developing a New Zealand position for negotiations on various issues coming up in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), biosafety, trade in endangered species, and conservation of whales and seabirds as well as other migratory species more
Management of the Oceans - coordinating and presenting in international meetings a New Zealand position on protecting ocean biodiversity (including responding to concerns about bottom trawling)more
Hazardous Substances - presenting New Zealand’s views in negotiations on international instruments dealing with chemicals, wastes and pollutantsmore
Trade and Environment - the need to ensure that trade and environment policies are mutually supportive is more pressing today than ever before more

Current Issues:

New Zealand announces Emissions Trading Scheme 20 September 2007 [external link to NZ Climate Change Solutions]
MFAT Post 2012 Negotiations Stakeholder Session
Bioprospecting and Access and Benefit Sharing
NZ leads largest protest yet against Japan's whaling - press release Hon Chris Carter 17 December 2006 [external link]
Joint Demarche - Diplomatic protest against Japanese whaling

Page last updated: Thursday, 04 October 2007 14:21 NZDT

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