North Island flora
Despite surviving for 150 million years one of the worlds most endangered frogs could be facing a losing battle and heading for extinction. Archey’s frog has the misfortune to live on New Zealands north Island in an area that has been earmarked for mining. If plans to mine for gold, coal and other rare minerals are given the go ahead it’s not just the Archey’s frog that will lose out.
Archey’s frog is a highly endangered species that is almost indistinguishable from frogs that hopped around 150 million years ago when dinosaurs ruled the plant. It’s considered to be one of the most endangered amphibian species on the planet. Also threatened by the plans is the endangered Hochstetter frog.
Other species will be impacted by the plans. the development area on North Island covers 7,000 hectares of West Coast’s Paparoa National Park, Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula. species affected include:
- North Island brown kiwi
- long-tailed bats
- striped geckos
- Helm’s butterfly
“In the year when reducing biodiversity loss is high on the political agenda, it is inconceivable to think that we’d put the nail in the coffin of some of our rarest and most extraordinary frog species,” say Helen Meredith, EDGE of Existence amphibian conservation projects coordinator at Zoological Society of London.
Dr Phil Bishop, leader of the University of Otago’s frog research says “Only four species of frog survive in New Zealand, and this proposed mining activity could cause the extinction of one of New Zealand’s native amphibians, and a severe decline in another – a devastating blow to global amphibian conservation.”
