Conservation Policies
Conservation is an area of great importance to the Otter party. Conservation looks at maintaining New Zealand.
Conserving ecosystems is vital to improving New Zealanders' livelihoods, health and security (Gordan et al., 2011). So much so that studies found that people reported lower stress levels and had lower blood pressure while walking through a bush walk versus a street walk (Shanshan, 2015). Therefore it is important to preserve the eco spaces all over New Zealand.
1
DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF URBAN GREEN SPACES
If the Otter party is elected one of the key new policies will be to double the amount of urban green space across New Zealand’s city centres with native plants. Meaning all city centre residents will have walking distance access to greenspaces. This will improve to reduce air polution and improve mental health. Studies show that increased access to greenspace decreases antidepressant dependency (Taylor et al., 2015). Cities like Shanghai have already seen the benefits of this; they have steadily increased the amount of greenspaces and seen benefits like better air quality (Wu et al., 2019). One green place example is adding a native garden alongside the auckland cycle park. Within these spaces we plan to have diverse native vegetation, that ensures they will be resilient ecosystems. Park rangers will monitor these sites and maintain them. Overall these greenspaces will ensure a happier healthier NZ.
2
INCREASE NATIONAL RESERVE FUNDING
The second main policy the otter party will implement is to increase funding to existing national parks working to protect and conserve species. Thus conserving iconic New Zealand native species like the Kiwi or the Kakapo. Protection of these species is really important to New Zealand's biodiversity. In 2010 there were only 54 Kakapos, and most of the predation was due to stray cats (Clout & Merton). Improving the biodiversity of such native species will have added benefits like increasing tourism and job creation
