Climate change models predict a staggering increase in the number of rats expected to exist in New Zealand by 2090.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) has announced that rat numbers could double by 2090 if climate change follows predicted models.
“What we’re seeing through some of the research that we’ve done in terms of climate change impacts, under a high-climate scenario, we’re potentially looking at having, I think, rat populations doubling by 2090,” said DOC’s director-general Penny Nelson in February.
She said the $360m currently spent annually on biodiversity would not be enough to manage the greatest threats to species and ecosystems – wilding pines, goats and deer, and pests and diseases.
Modelling shows that it would take $2 billion a year to ensure nature would thrive, but that was not realistic. Radical prioritising of finances was the only solution.
“If we don’t invest in nature-based assets, the country will look vastly different in the next 20 to 50 years,” she said.
DOC will soon publish a report on the likely climate change impacts on the demography of ship rats, mice, hedgehogs, rabbits, hares and wasps to give a clearer view of what the next 10-20 years might look like.
