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Andrea Vance (Senior Journalist, Stuff)
This story by Stuff journalist, Andrea Vance, exposes the government’s recent softening of rules to protect our precious wetlands. Vance reports that this change occurred following lobbying by property developers and the mining and quarrying sectors.
Previously, under the government’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM 2020) wetlands could only be drained, or partially drained, for the building of critical infrastructure.
However, information obtained under the Official Information Act reveals that submissions were made by 21 industry groups and companies, including from mining lobby group Straterra, gold mining company Oceana Gold, Fulton Hogan, Fletcher Building and various farming lobby groups. In response the government has amended the rules which now allow entities to apply for consents to build housing, mines or even waste landfills over or near to wetlands.
As an example, the Upper Hutt City Council recently lodged a proposal to allow housing to be built on the Waipango Swamp, the largest peatland (300 ha.) in the lower North Island
Aotearoa/New Zealand has less than 10% of its original wetlands left. Wetlands are a natural buffer for floods, and are a crucial tool in climate change mitigation as our densest carbon store. The majority of drained peatland is used for various types of intensive farming.
This move by the government was uncovered and is being questioned by the Environmental Law Initiative (ELI), tireless legal advocates for our environment. Spokesperson, Anna Sintenie, highlighted the need to protect our ‘natural infrastructure’ in the aftermath of the Auckland Anniversary Day floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.
Wise Water Use concur that we need to be protecting our natural environment and ecosystems, not encouraging their destruction and fueling climate change. In the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, is anyone in the Beehive listening?
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