Aotearoa's native species and ecosystems face a double threat. Habitat loss and introduced predators have already pushed us into a biodiversity crisis: over 80% of native land birds, bats, reptiles and frogs are now threatened with or at risk of extinction, two-thirds of our rare ecosystems are at risk of collapse, and wetlands nationally have declined by more than 90% since human arrival, with Auckland's own wetlands hit especially hard by urban development. Climate change is now adding drought, flooding and more extreme weather on top of that existing pressure.

Protecting nature isn't only about saving species for their own sake. Healthy wetlands, forests, dunes and river systems are also our best defence against a changing climate: they buffer floods, stabilise coastlines, hold water during drought and store carbon. When nature is degraded, our communities lose that protection too.

More than 400,000 homes (worth $218 billion) are currently built on flood plains around the country: land that is well suited to nature-based solutions such as wetlands, widened river corridors and native forest, instead of further development.

More than 75% of New Zealanders live within 10km of the coast, so protecting coastlines (dunes, wetlands, mangroves) is also about protecting the infrastructure and homes behind them.

Central government is currently reforming the resource management system (replacing the RMA) and considering changes to conservation law through the Conservation Amendment Bill. Both will shape environmental protection in the years ahead.

Across Auckland and around the country, hundreds of community conservation groups are already restoring wetlands, forests and dunes, and controlling pests, work that returns roughly $8 to $14 of value for every $1 invested. This is the delivery side of everything above: policy and funding set the conditions, but volunteers and community groups do a huge share of the actual mahi.

Want to get involved? Check out Forest & Bird

Central government has the biggest lever when it comes to protecting nature at scale, through the laws, funding and planning rules that shape what's possible everywhere else. Your local electorate MP can raise these issues directly in Parliament, on select committees and with ministers.

They can help by:

• Investing in nature-based solutions, including protecting and enhancing wetlands, restoring forests and dunes, and creating room for rivers to flow naturally.

• Adequately funding the Department of Conservation and community conservation funds.

• Upholding Te Tiriti obligations in conservation and environmental decision-making.

• Protecting remaining native ecosystems through regulation and incentives.

• Funding conservation and restoration projects.

• Supporting private landowners and community groups to protect biodiversity.

• What's your understanding of the environmental issues impacting NZ and do you think central government's investment in biodiversity is adequate?

• How can the government better enable nature-based solutions around Aotearoa?

• What role should government play in supporting landowners and communities to restore and protect biodiversity?

Where to ask these questions?

Ask these questions and more, at electorate meet-the-candidates events, party policy launches and debates, or send them directly to candidates and parties via email or social media.