Unlocking Global Conservation Insights: Evidence-based funding solutions for DOC

Allen + Clarke's research for the Department of Conservation provided a comparative evidence base to support decisions on future funding and delivery of conservation. Our work helped DOC to consider the opportunities from different conservation funding models and how these models affect priority conservation outcomes.

We completed a review of a sample of literature to identify key aspects of high-performing conservation systems globally. Based on the findings of this review we developed a theoretical framework for high-performing conservation systems which gives a clear structure to evaluate approaches and identify opportunities for improvement in Aotearoa New Zealand.

We also completed a jurisdiction scan focusing on Australia, Canada, Norway, Botswana and the USA as case studies. The scan identified four areas where multiple studies provided evidence of effectiveness or a differing approach from New Zealand for further consideration.

• Our evidence validated DOC’s partnership approach with tangata whenua, confirming the value of mātauranga Māori in achieving effective conservation outcomes.
• We found that New Zealand spends more on conservation as a percentage of GDP than several comparator countries (0.14% vs 0.08 for Canada) but still falls well short of global targets (0.2-0.5%).
• It is common overseas to use third parties to deliver visitor services on conservation land, freeing up government agencies to complete ‘core’ biodiversity conservation. However, we did not find sufficient evidence to determine whether this results in better conservation outcomes.
• New Zealand is unique in having one core government agency responsible for policy and delivery of conservation. In most overseas jurisdictions these roles are separated, although there is no evidence to suggest which approach may be more effective.