Napier public meeting
Wednesday 8 November
Waste policy
General comments
- More assistance was requested from MfE to help Nelson-Tasman businesses e.g. Sealord and to help Tasman and Nelson councils.
- There is support for the idea of setting up a waste use and recovery round table for the region involving businesses, the two councils, public representatives and MfE.
- People say the only reason it is not as polluted as everywhere else is because we do not have the high population.
- Who is responsible for the disposal of products such as cars? Seasonal workers buy cars for a short duration and then dump them. This creates large disposal costs and generates a lot of rubbish.
- Deposits could be required on cars at the time of first registration. The deposit would be returned when the car was disposed of at a transfer station. This would provide an incentive to take that responsibility for safe disposal.
- There is concern that more cars will be dumped as a result of being deemed unsuitable for roads. The impact that policies to address vehicle emissions will have on old vehicles needs to be considered.
- It is hard to find the people who dump cars. Those who are caught go to court and get fined but the fines just build and are never paid back and they end up getting community service instead. The penalties are not hard enough to deter people from dumping cars.
National environmental standards
Land use
- There is some natural inconsistency in regional and national messages regarding where trees can and cannot be planted and logged.
- Conversion of forestry in Canterbury to dairy farming has implications on water quality. But what about land owners individual private property rights? There is a potential conflict.
- A standard or national policy statement (NPS) on land use was suggested to identify land that can only be used for a particular land use (e.g. around Lake Turia land should be used only for forestry, not farming).
Water
- Some catchment areas that are contributing high sediment loads to rivers should be converted to forestry (however there is a difference of opinion about regulatory versus non-regulatory approaches).
- Some regulation is needed if farmers will not do the right thing via voluntary approaches.
- National Environmental Standards for water quality would eliminate arguments at a local level as the appropriate number would be recognised by all.
- Discharges should be measured at the end of the pipe. A National Environmental Standard should apply at the end of the pipe.
- Freshwater quality baselines should be set as National Environmental Standards. Why does New Zealand have to re-invent the wheel? We should learn from overseas experience.
- An integrated legislative approach is needed to land use and water quality (e.g. drinking water).
General comments
- The RMA is ambiguous and judgments vary in the interpretation of Section 107. If freshwater quality standards (numeric concentrations) existed, they would eliminate a lot of difficulties in relation to consent decisions.
- Better stakeholder engagement processes are recommended at a local level. The submission process is too adversarial.
- It would be good to see all power lines go underground - do this as an NES.
- There is concern about an increase in irrigation in Canterbury. Irrigating stony land is not sustainable and will contaminate groundwater.
- One difficulty with the RMA approach is that regional councils are given too much freedom for interpretation on local basis. National consistency is needed protection standards. Linkages need to be made with other legislation and groups e.g. the RMA, Ministry of Health, Maori, Fish and Game.
- The council has the power to control and manage the Manawatu River, but is not taking responsibility. This is in contrast with Environment Waikato.
Air quality
- There are only two or three industries in Hawkes Bay. Most emissions in the Hawkes Bay are from home fires in the poorest communities where electricity is not an affordable heating option. If Hawkes Bay Regional Council can not achieve the air quality standards, they will have to come down heavy on industry who are not actually contributing much to problem. How will Hawkes Bay Regional Council deal with this? Could they insulate houses or install pellet fires? Poor communities can not afford alternative heating options. A multi-agency approach is needed e.g. with District Health Boards.
- How should rules and standards be written to account for cumulative effects of activities such as many small home fires which result in air quality problems?
- Educate the public on how to correctly use their wood burners e.g. do not use wet wood as it creates more smoke.
- The air quality National Environmental Standard is not practically achievable by 2013. The council will need to decline consents for industry resulting in massive negative economic consequences.
Water
Flood risk management and catchment management
- Climate change predictions for increased flooding.
- We need to retire land from farming and plant more trees to cope with increased flooding.
- Local initiatives to grow and plants trees should be supported. There should a national policy to retire land.
- There could be a policy for requiring planting when land-use conversions are made, e.g. riparian planting could be required when land is converted to dairy farms.
Land use
- Dairy farms have wider implications when the cows are moved.
- Higher quality water needs to be protected and reserved for domestic use.
- Intensive land uses should require a consent for water use e.g. stock water.
Water allocation and usage
- Freshwater should be owned by New Zealand citizens.
- There should be no transfer of the value of water.
- Meter and charge for the use of water with the money going back into protecting the asset.
- The resource needs to be protected for future generations.
- MfE needs to require councils to enable and support self-sustaining communities.
Water quality
- The quality and quantity of drinking water needs to be protected.
- It is MfE's role to monitor plans and policies.
- We need national policy on drinking water.
- There is scope for MfE to take a leadership role in helping to bring groups together to work out practical solutions going forward.
- Limiting the nutrients going in to waterways is important. Investment in understanding water resources is needed.
- We need water quality standards.
General comments
- Joint management arrangements with Tangata Whenua need to be looked at.
Climate change
Adaptation and mitigation
- New Zealand should strive to be self-sufficient. Exporting will continue to get more expensive.
- We should get the infrastructure now to be more self-sufficient as we may need it the future.
- New Zealand is a technology taker in relation to wind power.
- Local government still allows building in flood plains and other risk areas. Regulations need to be enforced at a national level to reduce the impact of floods.
- The local council is not willing to support the sustainable households programme. How does the region get support for this?
- Wind energy needs to be investigated at a national level, not on a case-by-case regional basis.
- We need to prepare for the inevitable and accept that we cannot control the world.
- The transport issue needs to be sorted. Cleaner smaller vehicles should be promoted.
- Government needs to be careful not to sensationalise events.
- Clarity is needed around carbon, forestry and land use.
- Regulation is not the answer. Incentives are needed.
- MAF needs to build partnerships with industry to move forestry forward.
- Land management practices should be promoted.
- It is a challenge to get funding for local projects.
- The co-benefits associated with wood should be promoted.
Education and information
- People need to be educated about the impacts of climate change.
- Messages need to be conveyed in simple language that the public can understand.
- There is a need for public awareness raising.
- Clear, concise information is needed.
- The Ministry of Education needs to be pushing the environmental message.
- Environmental education should be included in the school curriculum as it is crucial to the future.
General comments
- A sectoral approach to climate change is the most effective way of changing behaviour.
- The issue of building and housing development needs to be addressed.
- A National Environmental Standard is needed for coastal regions.
- Water resources are an issue that needs to be recognised.
Environmental reporting
General comments
- Credibility of councils reporting is sometimes questionable (i.e. weed management successes are often exaggerated). Reporting rarely tells people what is going wrong. Effective reporting comes down to accountability and good communication.
- Information is required for the “average” family. MfE needs to do increased work around environmental education at schools etc. Some schools are doing good work in this area but it is dependent on the school itself.
- There need to be consistent methods for collecting and analysing data – regionally and nationally.
- Why does MfE not run a roadshow for Maori (huis)?
- Information is one thing but we need someone to tell us what to do to solve problems.
ENZ07
- Will ENZ07 tie information back in to previous reports? Use of historical and present photos would be a good way of visually showing change.
- Communities are a key audience for the ENZ07 report. Therefore it must be in a form which they can use. It needs to come in a good package and be distributed to those people who are in key local networks (including schools). It is no good producing a great report if it is not distributed to the right people.
- Classification systems must be updated and maintained.
- MfE has come of age and needs to show leadership and be more prescriptive with councils about data.
- Data must be up-to-date to be credible.
- What indicators are being used to show policy effectiveness and are they working?
General interest
Water
- The water campaign posters mean nothing.
- There is concern about local rivers and raw sewage going in to the rivers.
- Councils are ignoring their role in tackling the hard environmental issues, e.g. rivers and air quality.
- The agricultural industry is the most important sector with regard to water quality in rivers.
Climate change
- More information needs to be disseminated to the public so climate change is more widely accepted.
- The “doubters” need to be countered by providing good science information to the public.
- Offsetting carbon emissions is not a solution to the problem.
- Tree planting should be encouraged to counter the current trend of deforestation.
- Government taking the carbon credits does not encourage the planting of forestry trees.
Education and information
- Environmental education should start at a very young age and focus on school age children.
- An advertising campaign should be run to raise awareness of the importance of the environment.
- Activity based learning, e.g. restoration planting; sponsored care groups
- The environment should be a compulsory part of the curriculum with a focus on:
- growing own food
- outdoor education
- water use
- waste minimisation
Waste
- The recycling and disposal of electronic goods needs to be ongoing (e.g. Dell computer disposal weekends). A greater ability to recycle used electronic and small household appliances is needed.
Land use
- How can the conversion of land from grazed land to forestry or regeneration of indigenous vegetation be supported? Central government policy is required to support land retirement and develop a consistent national policy. Research is needed into appropriate species to be planted in certain areas.
- Forestry companies should be subsidised to move in to erosion prone land and enable existing farmers to move in to the market in other areas.
- Government should support people who want to live sustainably from the land, e.g. a commune or co-ordinated approach to facilitate people to get together to create sustainable communities.
- Has MfE done any research on the effects of the wine industry on the environment? Viticulture industry profits leave the area/even out of New Zealand.
- Rural lifestyle block owners need to be encouraged to act more sustainably.
General comments
- Information is needed for farmers on the economics of sustainable practices and making the dollar values stack up for environmental protection, e.g. fertilizer application rates, riparian planting, tree planting etc.
- There is concern about chemical spray from the agriculture and viticulture industry and its impact on public health and the environment. People ignore Grosafe rules and spray even when it is windy. Spraying is a permitted activity.
- Voluntary community initiatives to address environmental issues should be favoured rather than legislation/regulation.
- Councils should encourage sustainable building in their regions, i.e. solar panels on new buildings.
- The increase in EMF (electromagnetic frequency) is a concern. The public do not know that EMF is an issue and has big health effects.
- Coastal erosion is a problem in the area.
- The Regional Council has a conflict of interest between protecting environment and economic development. For example the Council owns Napier Port, which has a negative impact on the environment. Councils have strong backing and are lobbied by farmers.
- The environment needs to be economically valued. The effects and costs of impacts on the environment and public health should be measured.
- The environment is in such a state that New Zealand needs more regulation, not voluntary initiatives.
- A better land use planning mechanism is needed to protect soil. Development should be concentrated, rather than urban sprawl.
- Government should adhere to and respect the principles of Maori with regard to environmental sustainable managements, e.g. rahui on over fished areas.
- New Zealand should have rules with regard to sustainable building design, i.e. certificates authenticating sustainable practices in the design of buildings.
- A scheme was suggested to partner urban residents with rural land owners to grow and plant/look after trees on their land.
- “Adopt-a” schemes should be encouraged to get people working together and on the land.
- Tree planting in urban areas enables people to get close to nature.
- National networks should be set up to co-ordinate groups for tree planting and restoration.
- Volunteer programmes need to be supported.
- How can more people be encouraged to get involved in environment management and restoration?
Last updated: 27 February 2008
