| 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.” |
