A garden city internationally renowned for the conservation, restoration and display of its unique natural biodiversity.

That’s the vision the Christchurch City Council has for our city in its proposed Biodiversity Strategy, due to be released for public comment in June.

Maintaining biodiversity is now a core function of the Council required under the Resource Management Act 2003. The proposed strategy is about celebrating the plants and animals that are special to Christchurch and puts particular emphasis on species that are native to our region.

Partnerships will be needed with a wide range of community groups, government or ganisations and others for the strategy to work but there are high expectations for its long-term influence on Christchurch’s natural landscape.

Along with indigenous species, the proposed Biodiversity Strategy looks at the roles of introduced species including those that exist in Christchurch but may be extinct or endangered in their homeland. The final sections of the proposed strategy are being completed this month. The full document will be available for public comment from the Civic Offices, service centres and Christchurch City Libraries from the last week of May.