stopping the rot

There are many big issues at the moment and two of the most important are the weakening of the RMA, and the Claim put to the Waitangi Tribunal today on Māori rights and ownership of water.

Both of these issues are interrelated and they are both connected to the exploitation of our natural resources for the illusory benefit of a few and the detriment of the many. 

The report released last week by the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) outlines substantive changes to the principles of the RMA and as Green spokesperson Eugenie Sage says

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The TAG recommendations are weighted towards facilitating development. This Government’s agenda is to weaken the RMA to advance its dig it, drill it, mine it, irrigate it agenda for resource exploitation. The proposal to drop the requirement for councils and decision makers to provide for the “preservation” of natural character and the “protection” of outstanding landscapes and significant indigenous vegetation and habitats as matters of national importance ignores Environment Court case law which had built up over the last 20 years. Changing these fundamental parts of the RMA will cause unnecessary litigation and tilt the playing field heavily towards development.

Yes this weakening of the RMA is a pretext for lowering standards to facilitate exploitation of our natural resources.

Fish & Game NZ chief executive Bryce Johnson has commented

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The technical advisory group (TAG) seems to have gone way beyond its terms of reference, and indeed it smacks of political opportunism to fit a perceived Government ‘economic growth’ agenda,” Mr Johnson says removing the clause 7(h) – which specifically references ‘protection of the habitat of trout and salmon’ – would lead to further water quality decline.

“This would remove what water resource developers see as a roadblock to environmentally unsustainable development, enabling further and faster decline of freshwater quality. Make no mistake – any attempt to lessen the protection of trout and salmon habitat in the RMA is full-frontal attack on the environment.”

Very strong words indeed, highlighting the real concerns and danger of these recommendations from TAG. They need to relax the laws so that they can really get the exploitation ripping along – the Greens and Fish and Game NZ are fighting hard to stop them and Māori are too – just not the Maori Party.

And this issue directly relates to the other big issue of the moment. As The Māori Council nicely states

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“Maori interests in national freshwater and geothermal resources will be crystal clear when Maori and specialist experts present their evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal hearing,” say New Zealand Maori Council co-chairs Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie and Maanu Paul.

 “The claim sets out what interests Maori had and continue to have in springs, rivers, lakes, aquifers, waterways and geothermal resources,” said Sir Edward.

“The Council became concerned when Government announced its intention to sell off some of its assets without full consideration of the impact on Maori interests in water resources,” added Mr Paul. “The NZMC has a statutory responsibility to advise Government on behalf of all Maori.”

The Mana Party support the claim

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"Government has consistently refused to deal with the Maori interest in water, instead running the line that "nobody" owns the water, while maintaining all rights of management and jurisdiction over it" said Harawira "but if that was the case, then what gives them the right to sell shares in power companies that use that water""

"Maoridom will be pleased to know that newly appointed Council co-chairman Sir Taihakurei Eddie Durie is spearheading the claim. Taihakurei Durie is one of this country's pre-eminent jurists, and has a greater understanding of the Treaty law than anyone else alive".

"I suspect that there will be many Pakeha supporting this claim as well" said Harawira "as more and more of them come to realise that The Treaty is the only chance of keeping our power companies in the people"s hands".

This line "nobody owns the water" that key is using is a smokescreen especially when in his next breath he says

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"The Waitangi Tribunal's rulings are not binding on the Government, so we could choose to ignore what findings they might have - I'm not saying we would, but we could."

Get it? That is the key way - threats and spin. This will be a very interesting hearing and the report that comes out will show the truth, but the truth is irrelevant to key and his cronies. It is money they want and they will destroy us all to get it - well fuck them I say - we will stop them and we will do it with integrity and honesty - the two qualities our opposition lacks.

destruction of wetland

There are many idiotic things we do to the land and draining wetlands is well up there. Unacceptable news that a wetland in the Catlins has, somehow, been drained.

From ODT

Fish and Game hired a helicopter last week to investigate reports the Lundy Marsh (formerly the Cairns wetland) had been drained and the peat bog and tussock vegetation destroyed.

"You'd hardly recognise it, it's been drained, the vegetation is gone, and from the helicopter it looks like grass on top," Fish and Game Otago officer Morgan Trotter said.

On a scale of one to 10, he described the destruction of the wetland as a seven or eight.

Bloody hell - this is really bad.

Wetlands acted as a sponge, absorbing water in winter and releasing it during dry conditions in summer, keeping rivers flowing, he said.

Mr Trotter said he had laid a complaint with the Otago Regional Council about the damage to the wetland, which he believed had taken place in the past year, although drainage of the area had been an ongoing issue.

He had also made an Official Information Act request to the council for all information it had on file regarding the wetland.

Thank goodness for the Morgan Trotter's of the world.

Otago Regional Council resource policy director Fraser McRae said the damage done to the swamp was of concern and the council would be making inquiries to see whether the work was done legally or illegally.

"The current plan does not protect all wetlands, nor will it in the future stop people from draining everything people might see as a wetland."

Taking and draining water from a wetland was a permitted activity (did not need a resource consent) if it was not in the schedule 9 of significant wetlands.

The wetland was on leased council-owned Kuriwao Endowment Land but under the 1948 Act governing the land, the council had no control over what was done on the land by the lessee.

The wetland was not in the current water plan so was not subject to any protective measures, he said.

Yep - you don't even need a resource consent to drain a wetland or starve it of water, then you can watch it slowly die. We need to help this wetland - I'll keep you posted on what we can do.

running free

Frog at Frogblog has some great news about the Nevis River.

"A special tribunal has agreed to a variation on the Kawarau Water Conservation Order that would prohibit the damming of the Nevis river , a tributary of the Kawarau. The variation was sought by Fish & Game back in 2008.

One of the key factors in the tribunal’s decision was the recent discovery of a rare species of galaxiid known as the Gollum Galaxias in the Nevis, the only place it has been found in Otago.

It has been eyed up for a hydro dam by Pioneer Generation for years, but now thanks to the efforts of Fish & Game, and of course the Gollum Galaxias, it will run free forever."

Thank you Fish & Game.

working together to save wetlands

It's a funny old world sometimes. You can end up being on the side of groups that may be unexpected.

Fish and Game is one group in that catagory for me.

The fact that Fish and Game want to save waterways and wetlands, so they can hunt and kill things there, is a little difficult to stomach but at least they are fighting hard to save our wild places. I sincerely thank them for their efforts.

We have to save our wild places, we have to protect our rivers and nurture our wetlands. There is no choice - we have to. So any group that is working to protect these places, is in alignment with our goals. We need all groups that are in alignment with our goal of protecting our wilderness from dams, from mining, from commerical activity and from unnecessary roads to work together.

Wetlands are a great example where mutually aligned groups can work together to make a difference. I hope some other groups join the call from Fish and Game.

From Rebecca Fox at the ODT

"Fish and Game Otago is calling for answers as to why some wetlands are being drained and their vegetation destroyed in South Otago.

Fish and Game Otago chief executive Niall Watson said they had yet to get an answer to their concerns that the rush swamp areas on the margins of Lake Tuakitoto were being developed into pasture.

"We want to stop any further development."

Fish and Game was also concerned about Cairn Swamp in the upper Waipahi catchment which it considered to have been "whittled away over time", Mr Watson said.

"Its drainage and destruction is not a desirable thing."

I totally agree Fish and Game.

Otago Regional Council manager support services Gerard Collings said the council was aware of one instance at Lake Tuakitoto where a farmer, who had a grazing lease, regrassed an area. It was questioned whether or not it was wetland area.

As a result the council was considering reviewing the conditions of the grazing leases.

The council was also aware of another incident on Kuriwao Reserve land, but in that situation the council was bound by the perpetual leases the landowners held."

"considering reviewing" doesn't mean much, does it. Hopefully this call from Fish and Game will get some action so that these farmers cannot drain wetlands to make more pasture. We collectivelly need wetlands much more , than a farmer individually, needs the extra income from putting some more dairy cows on their land.