New Zealand cannot save the kiwi, kererū and thousands of other endangered species without gene editing, say experts.

And attempting to do so without the technology is likely to cost the country "a significant proportion of our national budget".

New Zealand's biodiversity crisis has been addressed by a new national Predator Free 2050 plan.

But a number of academics and researchers claim it wrongly rejects the "most promising" new technology in pest management - gene editing.

"Under current technology, achieving the Predator Free 2050 goals would not only be unlikely to succeed, but also extremely expensive, costing us a significant proportion of our national budget," says University of Otago professor of philosophy and politics Lisa Ellis.

"Of all technologies on the horizon today, only gene editing offers the prospect of potentially affordable and effective eradication."

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More than 4000 native New Zealand plants and animals, including the kererū and the kiwi, are at risk of extinction.

Ellis says without attention to other factors, such as habitat loss, the ultimate goal of restoring native species will not succeed.

The new strategy, called the Strategy and Action plan, identifies investment, collaboration and planning as essential - but does not acknowledge the former facts, she says.

123rf More than 4000 native New Zealand plants and animals, including the kererū and the kiwi, are at risk of extinction.

University of Auckland environment and George Mason Centre research fellow Dr Brendon Blue says a significant challenge will be getting people to genuinely want a predator free New Zealand.

"It requires a willingness to build trust by genuinely listening to people's values, questions and concerns, rather than using psychological tricks to persuade them to care.

"For example, killing predators is unlikely to be a high priority for the substantial numbers of New Zealanders who are living below the poverty line."

Currently, there is no gene-editing research under way in New Zealand, and the Government has previously said Predator Free 2050 can't research genetically modified organisms and technologies such as CRISPR as a tool to eradicate pests.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ University of Otago professor of philosophy and politics Lisa Ellis says without attention to other factors, such as habitat loss, the ultimate goal of restoring native species would not succeed.

At the New Zealand Biological Heritage conference last year a panel of experts said it was time to at least discuss the technology's potential.

Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage says a lot of research would be needed before gene editing technologies could be implemented.

However, a public conversation on genetic technologies would be important to have.

Since the Government announced Predator Free 2050 in 2016, one of the biggest criticisms has been that there's no national strategy to achieve it.

PETER DRURY/STUFF Kiwi are New Zealand's national bird, yet they're declining at two per cent each year.

Sage says without a plan, Predator Free is only a dream.

"This strategy will help us go further and faster to give nature a helping hand and save more than 4000 of our native plants and wildlife that are threatened or at risk of extinction."

In 2018, the Government approved $81.28 million over four years to help wipe out predators, she says.

The strategy also coincides with a Predator Free 2050 research strategy, to be released later this year.