Child and youth voice research findings

Insights from rangatahi on Aotearoa New Zealand’s Biodiversity Strategy

AUTHOR: The Hive | Department of Conservation

In 2019, The Hive project generated 281 submissions from young people on the government's Biodiversity Strategy

General themes from the young people's submissions included:

  • 49% of question respondents described NZ’s environment as either ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’, with only 37% describing the environment as being in a good state
  • A third considered their local environment had undergone negative change over time, while a third said their local environment had experienced positive, or very positive, change.
  • Young people’s vision for Aotearoa is focused on being clean and green, with less pollution, more flora and fauna, greener cities, and changes to the attitudes of New Zealanders that will best enable this vision to become a reality.
  • Many of the submissions indicated that New Zealanders’ attitudes towards the environment and sustainability are improving.
  • Suggestions for how NZ might improve its levels of biodiversity included
    • education programmes
    • each individual taking more responsibility for their environmental impact
    • promoting strategies and policies that encourage biodiversity to flourish
    • innovation and technology
    • businesses stepping up to play their part.

Contact The Hive for more information:  [email protected] 

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