What must be done to protect New Zealand’s wildlife

There is often said about defend primaeval species all around the knowledge domain and New Zealand is no exception. In New Zealand we atomic number 18 facing challenges of our assume when it comes to protecting and conserving our homegrown species. This challenges range from oil spills to climate change to over-harvesting (in detail whale hunting).It is common reality that much needs to be through with(p) to protect our indwelling New Zealand species. And this needs collective effort from from each one and every one of us to protect our native species-the government, NGOs and citizens.in my act I will be emphasising on what we passel do as individuals to bring to protecting and conserving the native species and these includes reducing our carbon footprint, postulateing our lifestyle and finally oral presentation out. I will then conclude by emphasising these points. de theater BackgroundDue to its long geological isolation since breaking outside(a) from the superco ntinent Gondwana about 80 mil social lion years ago, New Zealands engraft and animate being life has developed down a unique evolutionary path. Many of our native endts and animals are endemic that is, found nowhere else in the world. The level of endemism among New Zealand plants and animals is one of the highest in the world. The tuatara, moa, kiwi, kokako, saddleback, huia, kakapo, native frogs and colossus carnivorous land snails are just some of the species that are unambiguously New Zealand. This isolation in the absence of mammalian predators for millions of years analogouswise meant that galore(postnominal) of our native species were virtually defenceless against attack for example, many of our native birds like the kiwi are flightless and nest on the ground.When humankind first Maori and then European settlers arrived in New Zealand, introduced mammals came with them rats, possums, stoats, ferrets, weasels, deer, pigs, mice, cats, dogs and others. These introdu ced species quickly took a heavy toll as they preyed and browsed on New Zealands for the most part defenceless native species, or competed with them. Human activities such as felling and fire vegetation and draining wetlands also destroyed much of the native species habitats. native Australian species such as the moa, huia, and the worlds largest-ever eagle, the Haasts eagle, the South Island kokako and many others became extinct. Many more, such as the Takahe, the Kakapo and the long-tailed bat were radically reduced in number and remain perilously close to extinction today.Against this backdrop, the protection of our native species becomes ever more urgent. Thus this brings me to my emphasis on what we bunghole do as individuals to protect our native species. Protection of our native species doesnt exclusively mean big campaigns by organization such as grand peace o world wildlife fund. It also jobs us as individuals to confer in our own small ways in protecting our native species. Unfortunately, we as individuals dont realise these. Therefore, there are collar things that I retrieve we canister do to help in protecting our native species. They are reducing our carbon footprint, considering our lifestyles and last of all speaking out.Reduce our carbon footprintEach and every one of us can help save the planet from runaway climate change. ascorbic acid emissions have been scientifically proven to be one of the main contributors to ball-shaped warming. And as individuals, we think that releasing of carbon to the atmosphere is mainly disembowel by factories of all sorts without realising that we also contribute to that. Therefore I believe that we have a responsibility to ensure that we minimise this. So this is how it can be done.Ever wondered how much difference your small actions real make? If every New Zealand household took these three simple actions, it could have a big impact. First of all, go car-free one day a week. gestate is a major c ontributor to New Zealands emissions (20%). If everyone in New Zealand who currently drives to scarper were to walk, cycle or take public transport on just one day per week, it would save up to 114,000 tonnes of CO2 alike per year (Landcare look intos carboNZero Programme Dec 2008).Secondly, we essential leaf our bulbs. If every household swapped their remaining old-style light bulbs for new energy high-octane ones, this could save up to 0.6 billion kWh of electricity or 106,800 tonnes of CO2 similar per year (Landcare Researchs carboNZero Programme in December 2008)Thirdly, we must turn un-needed appliances off at the wall. When not in use things like heated towels rails and appliances on standby account for almost 1 billion kWh of electricity per year or 165,700 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (Landcare Re searchs carboNZero Programme in December 2008). If every household only if turned these off, we could make a big saving.So if all of the preceding(prenominal) actions are tak en, it all adds up to us as individually alter to reducing carbon emissions. According to Landcare research, the combined impact of these actions would be an emissions simplification of 386,500 tonnes CO2 equivalent per year. This is equivalent to over 839,000 car journeys from Kaitaia to Invercargill (Landcare Researchs carboNZero Programme in December 2008).Figures are found on work by Landcare Researchs carboNZero Programme in December 2008 fit by WWF-New Zealand.Consider our lifestyleHave we ever wondered how our lifestyles can contribute to carbon emissions which impact on the environment? In our pursuit of pleasure, recreation and expensive lifestyle we have become careless-careless in the sense that we are consuming things that we dont really need. Carbon emissions are created by stuff the more stuff you buy, use, consume and throw away the more youre contributing to climate change. Did we ever known that? I generalise no.Take a look at what we really need. butt end w e cut down on anything? By eating meat and animal products our carbon footprint will be higher than on a vege diet. evoke we eat less meat? Garbage emits methane a greenhouse gas as it breaks down. Can we reduce our waste? Clothes, furniture, electrical goods everything really takes resources to produce and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions as it is moved around the planet. Can you buy less stuff and local stuff instead? Or above all consume only stuff that we really need.You can help Speak outThe last thing we can do is speak out. There are petitions made by organizations such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to the government. The best we can do to help is to sign up. One such petition is the Forest & Birds petition. You can help by signing Forest & Birds petition to save sea lions.In this petition, WWF is calling on the New Zealand Government to immediately take the following action1. Determine the relative importance of the threats facing the sea lions.2. Revise the Department of Conservations Sea Lion Species Management Plan. (The revised plan should provide clear, time-bound actions to address the main threats identified in the comparative assessment.)3. collapse an improved population model to guide sea lion fatality rate limits. (The model should address the flaws in the current model and also consider the effect of food competition and epidemics.)4. Set a precautionary mortality limit for sea lions in the squid fishery. (This limit should be based on the improved population model and on a fusty assessment of the effectiveness of sea lion exclusion devices.)5. Set an expressed sea lion mortality limit in the Campbell southern blueness whiting fishing.6. Set precautionary allocations of squid and other southern ocean fish stocks. (These allocations should be ecologically based and explicitly considers direct and collateral effects of fishing on sea lions.)The numbers of sea lion pups are in freefall estimates from the Department of Conservation show pup output has halved since 1998. So we can play our part by signing the petition. finishTo conclude, we must know that protecting native New Zealand species does not concern only the government or organizations such as WWF. It also concerns us as individuals to contribute in our own small ways. We need a collective effort to protect New Zealands native species.