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Introduction
Recognising the intrinsic value of biodiversity and its fundamental importance to human life is becoming a key research and policy issue (Jones and Solomon, 2013; Samkin et al. , 2014; Tregidga, 2013). Academic interest in accounting for biodiversity is gaining momentum. Early work by Herbohn (2005), Jones and Matthews (2000), Jones (1996) and Jones (2003) has been recently supplemented by a special issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal dedicated to issues surrounding accounting for biodiversity and a number of papers that have appeared subsequently (Khan, 2014; Samkin et al. , 2014). However, as with the early academic literature on social and environmental reporting, the focus of biodiversity reporting research remains for the most part on the corporate sector (Ball and Grubnic, 2007).
The term "biodiversity" evolved from "biological diversity" which:
[...] describes the variety and diversity of all life on land, in fresh water and in the sea, including the places or ecosystems where they live and the genes they contain (Ministry for the Environment, 2009).
While many definitions exist, the most commonly adopted is that of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD defines biological diversity as:
[...] the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2003).
Biodiversity is important. Not only is it essential to maintaining the life-supporting capacity of the Earth, it provides humans with a source of food, medicines and "ecosystem services" such as purification of air and water, nutrient cycling, waste decomposition, carbon sequestration, pollination and disease control. In New Zealand, it has important social, recreational and cultural values and is an integral part of New Zealanders' national identity (Schneider and Samkin, 2012).
Although New Zealand was one of the last places on Earth settled by humans, it has one of the worst records of indigenous biodiversity loss (Department of Conservation and Ministry for the Environment, 2000; New Zealand Biodiversity, 2014). The timeline corresponding with biodiversity loss mirrors human settlement. Over the past 700-800 years, humans and their accompanying pests have been directly responsible for the extinctions of 32 per cent of indigenous land and...