KEY POINTS:
'Missing' section of Environment Ministry report tells
how much pressure we're putting on our environment
After initially deleting an entire chapter from a report about the New Zealand environment, a Government ministry has done a U-turn and released the sensitive section.
The chapter details the most intense pressures on the New Zealand environment, and identifies dairying, over-fishing, wasteful consumption and the growth of cities as having the biggest effects on the environment.
The Ministry for the Environment released chapter 13 of the State of the Environment report, saying it wanted transparency over the issue.
Announcing the decision, the ministry's communications manager, Todd Krieble, said the "conclusions chapter" was pulled because a decision was made to let the facts in the report speak for themselves.
Here are the chapter's highlights:
A VULNERABLE LAND
While we are exposed to much lower levels of pollutants and legacy contamination from industrial sources than other OECD countries, New Zealand faces proportionately higher levels of pollutants and contaminants from our primary production. Around 50 per cent of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions come from the agricultural sector, compared with an average of 10 to 15 per cent for most developed countries.
Decades of land-based primary production and its associated reliance on fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and other agrichemicals, many of which are now known to be harmful to humans and the environment, has left New Zealand with a suite of legacy pressures on the environment.
New Zealand is not alone in facing these changing pressures on our environment. But our stunning wilderness areas and rural landscapes are particularly vulnerable to increasing pressures. That is where New Zealand differs from other developed countries: they do not rely so heavily on the preservation of their natural environment for economic wellbeing.
MARINE RESOURCES
The number of species in New Zealand's quota management system has more than doubled in the past ten years as the fisheries sector has begun to fish new species. Sixty-five per cent of the commercial catch is from fish stocks that have been scientifically assessed (those about which we know enough to be able to determine the sustainable maximum yield). Accordingly, there is more to be done to understand the impact of commercial fishing on a number of fish stocks.
It is clear that pressures on our marine resources remain and will continue to need careful management into the future. In addition, as long as knowledge of our marine ecosystems remains incomplete, it is difficult to accurately assess the impact of human activity on the marine environment.
INTENSIFIED LAND USE
Land use - particularly pastoral land use - has intensified significantly over the past 10 years.
This has led to sharp increases in the development and irrigation of high-producing exotic pastures on suitable land. New Zealand currently uses two to three times more water per person than most other OECD countries. Allocation of water in New Zealand has increased by about 50 per cent in little more than a decade, driven mainly by an increase in land area under irrigation. Irrigation now uses almost 80 per cent of all water allocated. Demand for water is also increasing, mostly in already dry areas: Canterbury and Otago account for three quarters of all water allocated in New Zealand.
There also has been a noticeable increase in the use of fertilisers. Total fertiliser use has doubled and the use of nitrogen fertiliser has increased tenfold in New Zealand in the past two decades.
This, combined with increased animal wastes from higher stocking rates, has affected the quality of our surface waterways, groundwater and coastal marine environment in many areas around New Zealand. Both the Government and industry have recognised the importance of the farming sector adopting more sustainable land use practices.
Despite these positive initiatives, the scale of existing pastoral land-use in New Zealand combined with recent record dairy returns mean that intensification of land use is likely to continue to pose a serious challenge to our environment for some time, even if stringent pricing and regulatory regimes are agreed and put in place.
MARKET PUSH
The present rapid shift towards more intensive land use reflects the fact that land use decisions in New Zealand are primarily driven by socio-economic forces.
High market prices at any given time for particular commodities can cause farmers to convert between land use types. As an example, the national dairy herd has grown by around a third in the past 15 years as farmers have responded to economic signals by converting exotic forestry, suitable drystock pasture, or existing dairy farms into more intensive dairy farms.
THE IMPACT OF CITIES
Eighty six per cent of our population now live in towns and cities. This makes New Zealand one of the most urbanised nations in the world and presents some significant environmental pressures. For example, urban waterways are often the most polluted of all waterways in New Zealand and transport high levels of bacteria, nutrients (such as nitrates and phosphates) and sediments from built-up areas into the marine environment.
URBAN SPRAWL
The challenge for New Zealand decision-makers is to lighten the impact of an increasing urban population by encouraging higher density buildings and more sustainable urban lifestyles, particularly in our main centres. Auckland is a particular case in point, with over a third of New Zealand's total population residing in an area larger than Los Angeles. While good progress has been made in Auckland in investing in public transport and rejuvenating urban centres, a new approach may be needed to tackle the pressures of a growing population. CARS, CARS, CARS With the fourth-highest rate of vehicle ownership among OECD countries, we now have three times as many vehicles as we did in the 1950s.
We are also tending to buy larger vehicles and use them more: the total distance travelled by vehicles on our roads more than doubled over the past 20 years. Recent years have shown, however, large increases in the use of public transportation.
This is putting pressure on the environment and human health.
'CLEAN AND GREEN'
Our 100 per cent pure image is used to promote New Zealand internationally, attracting overseas visitors through marketing of our unique scenic landscapes and outdoor activities. This image creates an expectation of a clean and healthy environment.
Consumer attention to the carbon footprint of goods and services is an emerging value for the environment which has implications for New Zealand, as a nation a long distance from any of its major markets.
New Zealand products compare favourably to their international counterparts, but incorrect consumer perceptions about food miles in some key markets do have the potential to damage consumer confidence in some export products.
CHANGING OUR WAYS
Smart buying
As consumers, by buying only what we need, choosing products with less packaging, and choosing durable products instead of disposable ones, we can reduce the negative impacts of our consumption on the environment. The challenge will be to achieve this without sacrificing living standards.
Green transport
The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport, one of our fastest growing emissions sectors, is likely to drive greater effort to improve vehicle technology (hybrid vehicles, greater fuel efficiency) and increase the use of alternative (non-fossil) transport fuels (such as biofuels and electric vehicles).
Conserving energy
A sustainable energy future - and the prospect of long-term rising energy costs and the need to combat climate change - demands a further intensification of the current emphasis on efficiency, conservation and renewable energy.
Clean streams
The increase in recent years in the volume of water allocated underscores the urgency of balancing the competing needs of water users, recreational users, town water suppliers, hydroelectricity generators, tourist operators and farmers and reconciling these with the needs of aquatic species.
Protecting unique NZ
Native plants and animals that survived the initial habitat modification caused by human settlement continue to be threatened by predators and competitors. What has changed in the past 10 years, however, is the greater area under pest control on both public and private land, much of it especially targeted at the habitats of the most threatened species.
* The chapter is online at: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/state/reporting/enz07-draft-conclusion-chapter.html
