This week the Environment Reporting Bill comes back to Parliament, with two possible outcomes. Both of the outcomes are a step forward, but both of them are also flawed, meaning that the environment reporting framework to be set in place in New Zealand is less than we’d like. It is likely that government will find […]
On Friday, in his post-budget speech to the trans-Tasman business lunch, the Prime Minister told his audience that there would be “no changes to sections 6 and 7 of the RMA as planned”, because government can’t get support. “The probability of us getting our partners to agree to substantial change are very low,” he said. […]
All eyes are now on Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith, wondering what he’ll do with his long-awaited review of Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms. It’s a good time time for a quick update on what’s been happening and a few more things that you can do to help. A week ago our environment lawyer Sally Gepp took a […]
At midday last Thursday, after three-and-a-half days high in the arms of an old Kauri tree, Forest & Bird member Michael Tavares descended to cheers and applause from the crowd. Michael’s feat beyond doubt raised the media profile and contributed to a successful outcome, after a two-year battle through the formal process to save the […]
Valuing nature: not the same thing as pricing it, as TEEB’s Pavan Sukhdev said repeatedly last week. He was giving his keynote speech at Wellington’s “Valuing Nature” conference, convened by the government’s Natural Resources sector, Victoria University, and the Sustainable Business Council. Price is what you pay, or are willing to pay, he said. Value […]
Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley ‘met the press’ on The Nation on Saturday, the day after former Energy Minister and opposition spokesperson David Parker had offered some comments in the New Zealand Herald. I want to respond briefly to Mr Heatley’s comments, and explore Labour’s, because Heatley got an absurdly easy ride on The […]
The Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill, known as the EEZ Bill, is among the most important pieces of legislation being progressed by John Key’s government. Forest & Bird, and everyone who cares about our marine environment, wants to support it. As drafted at the moment, the Bill risks our oceans and […]
TAG Oil is very excited. It wants to turn the East Coast of the North Island – “literally leaking oil and gas”!! – into the “Texas of the south”, hosting thousands of oil wells. If you thought that the EEZ Bill, currently before select committee, would be a major weapon in the government’s armoury to […]
Although a National government has been returned, in a way Kiwis did “vote for nature” as our election campaign asked. The prospects for Nature in the next three years are not all quite as bleak as you might imagine. It is a very interesting Parliament and there are some reasons to hope that Forest & […]