Upscaling restoration of native biodiversity: A New Zealand perspective

Pastoral agriculture, a significant driver of New Zealand's economy, based on an introduced grassland ecology and technological advances

The New Zealand economy is export-driven and heavily reliant on the productivity of the pastoral sector. The transformation of native forest and tussock grassland ecologies to temperate grasslands occurred rapidly with the arrival of Europeans. However, this transplanted ecology required the development and use of plant, microbial, animal and management technologies for successful grassland farming. These have enabled New Zealand pastoral agriculture to compete effectively in international markets, without subsidies. The extensive list of plant-based and associated microbial-based adaptations, and the management strategies that have enabled the development of highly productive grasslands are described and reviewed. Credible science is required to inform the debate on the environmental impacts of pasture production to avoid misinformation proliferating. This needs transparent and objective integrity from the science community using funding that seeks no defined or preconceived outcomes. Critically, much of the success of New Zealand pastoral farming has been due to the willingness and ability of farmers to use, adapt, adopt and integrate new ideas and technologies into their farming systems. Historic, current and future challenges, and threats that impact on the productivity and sustainability of pastoral agriculture are described and the means to achieve further technology development to manage these is discussed.

Vegetation Options for Increasing Resilience in Pastoral Hill Country

Steep, uncultivable hill country below 1,000 m comprises about 40% of New Zealand's land surface area. Hill country farmers require options to increase the resilience of their farms to climatic and economic extremes while addressing soil conservation and water quality issues. We profile and discuss two options that can assist in transforming hill country. The first comprises a simple approach to grazing management in hill country pastures to increase pasture resilience and the second approach focuses on including selected forage shrubs (and trees) to create grazed pasture-shrublands. Deferred grazing, the cessation of grazing from flowering until seed dispersal of the desirable species in a pasture, is an old practice which has novel applications to improve resilience of hill country farming systems. We draw on current research and practitioner experience to demonstrate the impact of deferred grazing on the resilience of the deferred pasture and the farm system. We propose that deferred grazing will: (i) increase resilience of a pasture by enabling it to better recover from biotic and abiotic stresses and (ii) reduce the risk of nutrient and sediment losses in hill country by increasing ground cover, rooting depth and soil structural stability. Introducing woody forage shrubs into hill country pastures is another option that can improve farm profitability and resilience to current and future economic and climatic variabilities. The extensive root networks of shrubs can increase soil structural stability and reduce the risk of soil erosion. In addition, shrubs can supply many other ecosystem services, such as forage and shelter for livestock. In this paper, we discuss: (i) the potential benefits of a grazed pasture-shrubland at farm, landscape and national scales; (ii) candidate woody exotic and indigenous forage species; and (iii) priorities for research.

Forest landscape restoration: state of play

Tree planting has been widely touted as an inexpensive way to meet multiple international environmental goals for mitigating climate change, reversing landscape degradation and restoring biodiversity restoration. The Bonn Challenge and New York Declaration on Forests, motivated by widespread deforestation and forest degradation, call for restoring 350 million ha by 2030 by relying on forest landscape restoration (FLR) processes. Because the 173 million ha commitments made by 63 nations, regions and companies are not legally binding, expectations of what FLR means lacks consensus. The frequent disconnect between top-level aspirations and on-the-ground implementation results in limited data on FLR activities. Additionally, some countries have made landscape-scale restoration outside of the Bonn Challenge. We compared and contrasted the theory and practice of FLR and compiled information from databases of projects and initiatives and case studies. We present the main FLR initiatives happening across regional groups; in many regions, the potential need/opportunity for forest restoration exceeds the FLR activities underway. Multiple objectives can be met by manipulating vegetation (increasing structural complexity, changing species composition and restoring natural disturbances). Livelihood interventions are context-specific but include collecting or raising non-timber forest products, employment and community forests; other interventions address tenure and governance.