5 April 2007

OECD Environmental Performance Review Of New Zealand

Fish & Game notes yet another independent report calling for an urgent need for progress in water management, in the OECD Environmental Performance Review Of New Zealand released recently.

"The OECD's Review is yet another wake-up call for us all," said Bryce Johnson, Chief Executive, Fish & Game New Zealand. "The issues are complex, but the report, again, calls for effective and immediate action on managing the environmentally destructive consequences of our farming practices. It notes water quality in rivers and lakes continues to decline in regions dominated by pastoral farming, where high nutrient inputs and faecal contamination destabilise natural ecosystems and pose risks to human health."

"The report reminds us that in lowland areas, water quality regularly fails national water quality guidelines, mainly due to run-off and leaching from pastoral farming, and that particularly in water-stressed regions such as Canterbury, there is an urgent need to rationalise the allocation of water for irrigation."

"That the facts are inconvenient or unwelcome does not negate the report's findings or recommendations. Indeed, global attention on New Zealand's environmental performance provides an excellent opportunity for Kiwi farmers to take the lead in environmentally sustainable agriculture, and quickly develop a positive point of difference for their products."

"But to do so, agriculture must surely now move beyond the historical rhetoric of 'more education leads to voluntary change' which has repeatedly been shown to be inadequate, and to take far greater responsibility for their adverse environmental affects. Local and overseas markets are demanding greater environmental accountability through mandatory and measurable farming practices."

"This is yet another independent report pointing to the need for urgent action. When will we acknowledge that central and regional government must take action to protect our fragile and finite waterways and that farming must be required to be environmentally sustainable?"

"One useful new step the Government should urgently consider is holding an "Agriculture and the Environment Summit' to bring together all the key players to map out an mutually acceptable way forward that all can commit to."

ENDS

© Scoop Media