The Green Party is promising to reverse key conservation and environmental law changes made by the Coalition Government, putting protection of nature and a stronger role for tangata whenua at the centre of its Election 2026 policy.
Announced by Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson at the March for Nature in Auckland, the policy would remove what the Greens describe as an economic imperative for public conservation land and introduce stronger evidence-based limits intended to protect ecosystem health.
The party is also committing to affirming Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the role of tangata whenua as shared decision-makers and kaitiaki within a new resource management system.
The announcement builds on the Greens’ existing conservation policy, which includes reversing the Government’s conservation reforms, restoring conservation as the primary purpose of the Conservation Act, strengthening protections against the sale or disposal of conservation land and prioritising Indigenous-led stewardship of whenua.
Davidson says the party believes public conservation land should be managed primarily for nature rather than commercial development.
The Greens have been strongly critical of the Government’s replacement resource management legislation, arguing changes to environmental limits, public participation and resource-use rules weaken existing protections. Those claims are contested politically, with the Government arguing its reforms are intended to create a more efficient planning system while balancing environmental protection with housing, infrastructure and economic development.
For Māori, the Greens’ announcement places kaitiakitanga and Māori participation in environmental decision-making firmly into the election campaign, alongside the wider debate over Te Tiriti provisions across legislation.
With environmental and resource-management reforms among the major changes being advanced as Parliament reaches the end of its term, the future of conservation law is now shaping up as another clear dividing line heading into the 7 November election.
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