This year’s Environmental Defence Society (EDS) conference – Our Place: State of the Environment 2013 – aims to facilitate an informed and highly topical national forum on the environmental challenges we face as a nation.

EDS is planning to examine the way land and sea resources are used and reach some science-based conclusions about the state of New Zealand’s environment right now. The goal is to then examine problem areas in some depth and ask what should and can be done to remedy shortcomings.

An investigation of current and future human impact on lakes, rivers, lowland streams, oceans and coasts, as well as a stocktake of our terrestrial and marine biodiversity will be carried out and examined to see if they really are in crisis, as some have claimed. Best-practice management techniques for the ongoing care of our coastline and outstanding landscapes will be identified and an analysis of our energy future examined to determine whether New Zealand’s approach is tuned to climate change.

Information on registering for the conference, which will be held at the Aotea Centre in Auckland from 7-8 August, can be found here.