Turning the Tide: A Hopeful Path to Restoration

by Grant Webster, Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Holdings Limited

I was recently reminded of a quote that the facts don’t disappear just because they're ignored.

At the Aotearoa Circle’s recent hui at Parliament, James Palmer, Secretary for the Environment, and Chief Executive of Ministry for the Environment, shared that 750,000 New Zealanders, and 500,000 buildings (worth more than $145b), are located near rivers and in coastal areas exposed to extreme flooding. 

James was sharing elements of eye-opening data captured in the recently released Our Environment 2025 Tō Tātou Taiao report. Among them was the fact that nearly 80% of our indigenous terrestrial bird species are facing extinction, and our river health, so important for recreational activities, water supply and vibrant ecosystems, continues to deteriorate.

So many of the report’s data points really hit home to me, bringing the emotion of facts to life.

A clear message from the hui, and the essence really of being a partner of The Aotearoa Circle, is that there is strong collaboration to make things right, to head in the right direction. But sometimes we all need reminding of the facts and why restoring our environment and natural resources should be a priority for us all.

When business leaders think about growth, they don’t always consider the links to nature but it’s more important than before that we prioritise it when we consider our actions, innovation investments, research and development.

If we measure for example what we're emitting; measure what we've got to do and invest in actions that will reduce or mitigate our impacts, then we can grow in a more effective and sustainable way. We can do things that will enable us to be net neutral and enable nature to heal.

But unless we're measuring, we won't know, and unless we pay attention to the signal’s nature is sending us, we won’t grow, and if we're not investing, our current trajectory is not going to change putting our homes, livelihoods, economy and environmental at further risk.