NZ Predator free by 2050?

yeah right.... what planet are they on.

That should be a B It is possible but I cant see the resources to make it happen being made available. Lets face it no Govt will increase tax as that is political suicide but if they dont the money has to come out of a different budget ie health care education of social welfare. They are losing tax take on ciggys these days

They're selling a dream. They want business money that the Govt matches (1$ for each $2 corporate). The cause also adds license to whatever measures they may want to take. But it's a worthy cause if they can clear large swathes of wilderness areas. They wouldn't have announced their 4 goals without having a plan for achieving.

over estimation of what science can do... at this stage it may still be a pipe dream..

The 'fact' which stood out for me was that predators "kill around 25 million native birds every year". Can this be true? I would have thought there aren't 25 million native birds in the whole of NZ, certainly on land anyway, in that its easy to go for a whole day in some areas and see no birds. If 'they' (whoever they is) took into account introduced birds then maybe - but 25 million????? I thought i heard the $28,000,000 was for the next few years only - was it for 4 years. Doesn't seem to be in either of those links.

Lets roll out some feel good factors, especially as it is election year next year. Then expound at great length on how great it will be. I will be over the moon and apologising profusely if it should ever happen. The logistics however are somewhat more difficult than anyone is giving credence to. Plus Public/Private partnership to achieve it, doubt this will attract too much from interest from the private sector unless the private organisation involved gets an agreement to be let loose on a project that will be of significant benefit to themselves, and don't expect a whole lot of shouting and praise upon themselves to tell the public what that might be. As for the Greens supporting it? Wait until they find out that 1080 is being used to see how strong their support will be. Would love to see it happen, but the Government, irrespective of what colour they might be, hasn't got too much of a record for making things like this a reality.

"As for the Greens supporting it? Wait until they find out that 1080 is being used to see how strong their support will be." The Green Party has a policy of supporting 1080 at present because it's necessary, although it wants to invest in research for alternatives, particularly for use near where people live. As far as I can tell from the limited info, a substantial part of this is intended to be investment in developing many different methods. Last time I saw Eugenie Sage speaking about it, a few years ago, she was generally indicative of the support. https://www.greens.org.nz/sites/default/files/Green%20Party%20Conservation%20Policy.pdf (End of page 6 onwards.) NZ First is the political party that's gone out to attract the anti-1080 brigades. Richard Prosser's already been in media this morning screaming how we're probably going to end up with an unprecedented ecological disaster by trying to wipe out all predators.

"The 'fact' which stood out for me was that predators "kill around 25 million native birds every year". Can this be true? " Absolutely. Most birds (the smaller ones at least) lay 3-4 eggs at a time. When they're all cleared out when the nest is raided then that's entire generations being destroyed. The politicians are putting a lot of faith in science coming up with sterilization genes for the likes of possums in the next few years. They will also have to seriously up the amount of country that gets 1080 from the current 3% total land mass if they want to get results. I'm cautious but optimistic.

@izogi thank you for that correction and the link, interesting document. Yes, the support appears to be on the basis that they have no viable alternative to suggest.