Environmental policy decision-making needs to get back to grassroots, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton says.
Speaking to a packed Tauhei Memorial Hall in Waikato, Upton told the audience of mostly farmers that policymakers have to get closer to regions because the regions are so different when it comes to making policies.
It was one of the conclusions he found from a report he released in May on land use change on catchments in Southland and Northland.
That same month, he released Going with the grain: Changing land uses to fit a changing landscape, which examined how New Zealand can respond to the environmental challenges while looking after the economic, social and cultural life of the regions.
“The reason I’m here tonight is that if I’m going to tell Parliament, ‘You need to rethink this, you need to get back to the grassroots more,’ I’d better walk the talk and talk to audiences like you.”
The event was organised by the PCE with assistance from the Waikato Regional Council.
As well as more local involvement, Upton said quality information about the environment has to be more easily accessible to landowners. It is an investment that has to be made by the government as a public good.
“I keep saying to politicians, if you want to make good quality decisions, you have to have much better information.”
Having that information will allow politicians to focus on the worst areas that need progress.
A great example of where it could be invested is the Māori-owned marginal land on the east coast, which is predominantly in forestry, he said.
Upton also reiterated his stance on stopping tree planting to curb carbon dioxide emissions and to manage methane emissions differently.
While he called the previous government’s call to put agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme “nuts”, an ETS solely for methane emissions made sense with trees being used as an offset.
Upton said there are four problems New Zealand cannot walk away from when it comes to the environment: the way land is used needs to change if environmental progress is to be made; the impact of climate change; the siloed nature of government policy landscape and spending; and the emphasis of property boundaries in policy.
For the latter, environmental management have to go beyond this because landscapes do not recognise such boundaries.
“What goes onto your property and leaves it, is not all under your control. When governments want to do things, where do they go? The first place they go is the landowner.”
Local dairy goat farmer Richard Cookson told Upton land use change was the biggest trend he had seen in his lifetime. He said the recent financial struggles the goat milking industry had found itself in have seen some exit the industry.
This was a real-life example of the roadblocks to change farmers faced. These farmers, having converted their farms to cut and carry systems now find themselves with limited options, he said.
“They can’t go back, the door has been slammed behind them.
“They can’t go back to dairy, which is what these farms used to be.”
Cookson said catchment groups only work if there is a burning issue that unites them, which Upton agreed with.
One audience member asked him to comment on the environmental impact of urban New Zealand to which Upton replied:
“What worries me most – and this is a global issue – more and more people are living in cities, they have never been more concerned about the environment and they know less about living in it.”
Reon Verry, who chairs both Waikato Federated Farmers’ meat and wool section and a local catchment group, agreed with Upton’s call for better environmental information being made available.
Verry also supported his view on pine trees, saying it is a massive issue in King Country, where he farms.
“Those settings, they are hurting our community. We’re losing a lot of jobs because of it.”
Verry told Upton he was one of the few people who had raised the discussion of how catchment groups could be funded.
“Catchment groups are voluntary by nature and if they are going to be set up to do a whole lot of tasks then that’s not voluntary – that’s a job.”
Upton urged the audience to speak to their elected representatives if they want change, saying NZ has very significant environmental problems that have been a long time coming.
“You can’t fix them alone, but collaboratively, we can do a better job.”
