ECO - Environment and Conservation Organisation of Aotearoa New Zealand

What We Do

New Zealand’s national network working to protect our environment

ECO works to protect New Zealand’s unique natural heritage and to foster the relationship New Zealanders have with it. The natural environment is central to our culture, economy and identity. ECO acts to protect it for recreation, for its intrinsic quality and for our children and grandchildren to enjoy.

We strive to empower and inform people to work for better management and protection of New Zealand’s forests, coasts, sea, rivers, land, atmosphere and our unique species.

ECO is a network of sixty-plus large and small environmental organisations based all around New Zealand, as well as over 500 individual members. The core of ECO’s work is promoting and strengthening community environmental action, and working collaboratively towards better government policies and management decisions. ECO also works on global issues such as climate change and oceans.

Community Environmental action

We help people from all walks of life get involved in protecting their local environments. ECO supports communities and environment groups by providing:

• An independant source of information and advice;

• Research and analysis and advocacy; see the Coastal Policy paper we have prepared

• Networking and information sharing.

A fearless voice for conservation of the environment and community rights, ECO’s collective voice has enabled it to successfully press for:

• More community say;

• Stronger laws to protect nature, for example, the Resource Management Act;

• Improvements to the Fisheries Act and Mining Act;

• Putting marine ecosystem management on government agenda;

• World Heritage status for sub-antarctic islands;

• The overturn of the Antarctic minerals regime and its replacement with the Antarctic Environmental Protocol;

• Protection of native forests;

• Species protection;

• Biosecurity laws;

• Increased funding for conservation.

ECO has been centrally involved in campaigns to protect native forests, lakes and rivers, the reform of the Mining Act and defeat of the National Development Act, and in supporting the Resource Management Act and the establishment of the Department of Conservation and Ministry for the Environment. ECO continues to be at the forefront of environmental campaigns on fisheries, mining, transport and environmental management.

ECO produces a quarterly newsletter ECOLink.