August 23, 2019
Funds needed for kauri die-back action while solutions sought
Waikato Regional Council is pushing for more government funding to address kauri die-back.
Chair Alan Livingstone says it's concerned about the health of its kauri especially within the Coromandel forests.
He says while $20 million has been earmarked over four years for strategic science, there is no operational funding to tackle the soil-borne organism that infects the trees.
"Science is to be done over a period of time to address it but in the interim we have to take every measure to reduce the likelihood of it. That might even mean the government bringing in regulation or enforcement, soil testing, surveillance, just to ensure we keep our kauri alive while the science is being done to hopefully provide a long term solution," Mr Livingstone says.
He says three rounds of consultation by the Ministry for Primary Industries had created an expectation among the public that the government would be doing more than it is doing.
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