At this rate, kauri will be extinct in 30 years, a kauri and biosecurity expert says.

The Government is reviewing the kauri dieback programme, following widespread concerns not enough is being done to stop the spread of the disease killing the native trees.

The kauri dieback response will also be included in a new national pest management programme to be developed by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

Former Auckland Council biosecurity manager and kauri expert Jack Craw said at the current rate, Kauri would be extinct in 30 years.

CHRIS McKEEN/Stuff Kauri dieback is proving to be a disaster for NZ's native tree population.

Kauri dieback, or Phytophthora agathidicida, is caused by a microscopic spore in the soil that attacks the roots and trunks of kauri. It damages the tissues that carry nutrients within the tree, meaning they starve to death.

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The disease is easily spread by human movement as it can be carried in soil on footwear. It's also spread by pigs.

ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF Forestry Minister Shane Jones says the lack of effective response to the kauri dieback issue is "galling". Jones says the in-depth review of the programme's delivery is long overdue.

Some say the disease was first discovered in 2006, but researcher Peter Gadgil reported it (as Phytophthora heveae) on Great Barrier Island in 1974.

In the past decade, kauri dieback has killed thousands of trees. The origin of the disease is not yet known, and there's no cure.

Craw likened the disease to HIV: treatment can keep the trees alive but there is no cure. As the disease lives in the soil, it stops regeneration and affects the kauri population.

SIMON SMITH/STUFF The programme has been running since 2009, but in recent years it has been ineffective as the disease continues to spread, Jack Craw says.

The upper-North Island is the natural kauri area, with Northland and Auckland, particularly Waipoua Forest and the Waitākere Ranges particularly affected by the disease.

The Kauri Dieback Programme, which included a five-year plan for research, surveillance, treatment and containment, launched in 2009.

Craw said in those first five years, the co-management system between Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), Department of Conservation (DOC), affected local councils, and iwi, worked well.

However, after the programme came up for renewal in 2014, the programme became less effective, thanks to poor management on the part of MPI, he said.

Craw, who has now retired and does private biosecurity and kauri-related consulting, said he was "dismayed" by how the programme had been handled, and believed not all of the money allocated was being spent.

The programme had also recently lost another experienced scientist, and iwi were "ready to walk", he said.

During the last financial year, $2.1 million was allocated to the programme. About $1.4m came from MPI, with the rest coming from DOC, local councils, and charitable foundations, according to the programme's financial statements.

In 38 years working in biosecurity, this was the "most daunting pest" Craw had encountered.

He said there was a way to contain the disease and work to regenerate the population, to a point where it could be milled again, but only with the right funding, programme and ambition.

Craw estimates an effective programme would cost about $8m a year.

The scale of the issue had increased recently, with more trees dying.

If the kauri were to become extinct, it would be devastating for Māori, he said.

The Kiwi and the kauri were the two most important things to Māori, and if kauri died, so would the ecosystem created by the ancient giants - some of which were thousands of years old.

Craw said he believed there was an opportunity for the programme to be managed by a private trust, but if it was looked after by government, he would prefer for it to fall under the control of the soon-to-be re-established Forestry Service.

Forestry Minister Shane Jones said he found the situation was "particularly galling" given he was from Tai Tokerau - the home of the kauri.

The kauri was iconic in Northland, so from a personal level, the lack of progress and issues with the programme's management grated him, Jones said.

"It's not just a Māori thing. My view is at the heart of what it means to be a Kiwi."

The issue was inherited from the previous government, but that did not make a difference to the fate of the kauri. "Government's come and go, but the kauri still lives and dies, irrespective of what government is in place."

Jones said the review was "urgently needed", and he was open to suggestions.

"The review will be a root and branch review, not a once over lightly brush...

"I've made it absolutely clear to the forestry officials that everyone can be better and we must be better."

Jones said National's legacy was "fetid water and diseased kauri". "As long as Fonterra keeps the milk squirting from the udder these other things appear to have lost priority."

He also warned that any bureaucrat who had been "fiddling around" would be gone faster than the kauri.

Jones said an overarching pest management programme was also being developed, and would be co-ordinated by MPI.

The programme would include a detailed response plan for kauri dieback, which would be a "galactic improvement to what's been happening over the past several years", he said.

"The tragedy of the matter is that the kauri has not only suffered because of a natural pest, but the pest that has been delivering the programme to date."

Jones said the programme was an "overdue development". He expected to receive further briefings on Monday, and after discussions with the prime minister, he expected to be able to announce further details of the programme and the review.