Budget 2020: Environmental jobs

Date:  14 May 2020

This package will benefit local businesses, accelerate regional economic recovery and advance national and regional environmental priorities. It will be delivered by DOC and other government agencies, in conjunction with Treaty Partners, local government, and other organisations.

The investment includes:

• $200 million for DOC to partner with councils, tourism businesses, iwi and hapu and communities to provide nature based jobs
• $154.3 million for enhancing nature and indigenous biodiversity on public and private land with DOC working with Queen Elizabeth II National Trust, regional councils and landholder groups to create jobs in revegetation, pest and weed control, and riparian planting
• $147.5 million for pest control and eradication, including advancing Predator Free New Zealand and working with iwi to prevent the collapse of North Island forests.

The goal is to support as many people as possible and provide a window of opportunity for businesses to find their feet as they recover from the economic impacts of COVID-19.

Number of jobs being created

This investment is expected to support thousands of people over four years.

The jobs will be designed to be temporary, with a higher number of people cycling or rotating through them until their previous employment/business recovers.

Most of the jobs will be delivered through partners, rather than DOC directly employing people.

Work programmes to benefit

The work programmes to benefit from this funding include:

• a new Jobs for Nature programme
• pest control and achieving predator free New Zealand
• protecting kiwi and other native plants and wildlife
• enhancing biodiversity on public and private land
• investing in partnerships to restore habitats and collaborating with others
• restoring rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands.

Jobs for Nature

Jobs for Nature is a programme that will revitalise New Zealand’s communities through nature-based employment.

Hundreds of jobs are expected to be created across New Zealand under this programme for staff with a range of skills from businesses in distress.

This initiative provides a mechanism for businesses and iwi and community organisations that are considering redundancies and downscaling to temporarily redeploy their staff on environmentally focused activities in their home region.  

This investment will see the public and private sector working together to help revitalise communities in a partnership approach on both public and private land.

DOC applied for the funding on behalf of more than 20 organisations (public and private) all of whom believe the concept is strong.

Governance for the establishment phase is being arranged; it will encompass a range of partners and be focused on ensuring the money can be deployed quickly and effectively.

More information

$1.1 billion investment to create 11,000 environment jobs in our regions Media release from the Minister of Conservation, the MInister for the Environment and the Minister of Agriculture