Amid swirling reforms, carbon trading still needs scrutiny

Ihave seen most of Southland by air or road over the past couple of weeks, the lush carpet of green underlines the fact that we have enjoyed the best spring weather of anywhere in the country.

Long may that continue! Local body elections are out of the way for another three years with new councils sworn in and being brought up to speed with their governance responsibilities.

While some faces around the table have changed, the challenges we face and the potential opportunities they create, have not.

When I look at the huge raft of legislative reform central government has embarked on, and run the ‘‘what can we do better?’’ ruler across some of the major reforms, a number of questions come to mind.

Perhaps the sequence of change could have been different and the public could have been presented with a vision and a completed jigsaw puzzle, rather than a handful of pieces that often seem to be unrelated or contradictory to other pieces of the puzzle.

I think resource management reform could have followed a similar approach to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.

Then it might have provided clearer national direction and greater consistency, while allowing for regional flavour, recognising one size doesn’t fit all.

This would have offered a more stable platform for the other reform planks.

It would have been better to leave local government reform until last, when its future role had more clarity, and an equitable funding base had been agreed to.

The current rating-based funding model is no longer fit for purpose and desperately needs additional funding streams that are consistently available to deal with resilience related infrastructure projects and other climate-related interventions (not to mention Three Waters).

For instance, if the He Waka Eke Noa discussion (that’s the partnership to reduce primary sector emissions) had fair offsets for carbon sequestration as the starting point, other pieces of the puzzle would likely have come together quite seamlessly.

Encourage riparian planting, putting a value on retaining and expanding native biodiversity, incentivise the establishment of strategically placed wetlands, add in a coordinated pest management strategy, and we would have a winning formula.

It was good to note the update from Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor this week recognising the importance of the sequestration issue to farmers and the next steps to addressing this.

Regional councils tend to have a long-term future focus. Many of the challenges we deal with are intergenerational, whether it is improving water quality or the mitigation and adaption interventions we need to put in place to deal with a changing climate.

Many of us think about the legacy we will leave to the generations to come. With that in mind I, like many others, have increasing concerns about carbon farming and the total lack of any restrictions to moderate the planting of entire farms in exotic trees, with no intention of harvesting them.

The rapidly rising price of carbon trading is fuelling the current gold rush, which, if left unfettered, will dramatically change our landscape, permanently. What we need are some checks and balances that will encourage the right tree in the right place.

Many of us think about the legacy we will leave to the generations to come. With that in mind I, like many others, have increasing concerns about carbon farming . . .

Most people would agree that there needs to be a better balance between respecting property rights, and the loss of highly productive flat to rolling country to exotic trees.

As a first step, central Government could quite quickly include carbon farming into the National Environmental Standard for plantation forestry. It’s almost beyond belief that the large scale planting of any trees are not included. Incorporating fire breaks and access, to better deal with the worst case scenarios, has got to be a bottom line.

Let’s hope our legacy is not, ‘‘we can’t see the forest for the trees!’’.

Environment Southland’s recent community awards was a celebration of positive people just getting on with making environmental improvements. They are often looking ahead and offer leadership by example to us all. Their stories are being shared on our Facebook page and are well worth a look.

With last weekend’s Santa parade heralding the run down to Christmas and everyone looking forward to family time, and hopefully, a summer break, let’s reflect on the fact that we live a very special part of the world.

If we all work together with a positive attitude, the opportunities for Southlanders will far outweigh the challenges in the year ahead.

I wish you a safe and happy Christmas.