Our recommendations

Prioritising to manage biodiversity

We recommend that the Department of Conservation:

1. put in place an implementation and risk management plan for its new prioritisation tools, ensuring that:

• staff have the skills and support needed to successfully use the new prioritisation processes; and
• there is adequate ongoing consultation with communities and key stakeholders and partners as part of prioritisation; and

2. ensure that there is effective long-term monitoring and reporting of the effects of biodiversity management, including through the Ministry for the Environment's national environmental reporting.

Strategic integration

We recommend that the Department of Conservation:

3. renew all conservation management strategies in a timely manner and before they expire;

4. prepare and implement working agreements with local authorities as a standard practice for managing biodiversity in the regions; and

5. establish longer-term plans and resourcing commitments with partners that are working on core biodiversity operations.

Working with others to manage biodiversity

We recommend that:

6. where biodiversity of national significance is at risk and requires timely and integrated responses, the Department of Conservation's national office ensure that effective regional leadership and co-ordination with other agencies is in place to respond to risks appropriately.

We recommend that the Department of Conservation:

7. produce policies, practices, and tools for preparing working agreements and collaborative action plans that would be appropriate for the range of partnerships it will be involved in; and

8. review the criteria for the Biodiversity Advice Fund for larger multiple-year collaborative projects, advocate for using standardised tools and templates, and set out specific reporting requirements for repeated funding applications.