The management of freshwater resources in New Zealand is at a crisis point.
Across the country water quality is declining in rivers and lakes while wetlands and streams are drying up. Freshwater ecosystems have collapsed in many parts of the country and most lowland rivers outside conservation zones are unsafe for swimming in the summer.
We are losing something fundamental to who we are as a people when we no longer have access to the last of the wild places. When rivers are too polluted for people to use they are no longer wild and they are no longer held in common - they are privatised drains.
We need to do a better job of looking after our beautiful country.
The first level causes of this crisis are increased pollution flows into freshwater bodies from agriculture, horticulture and sewerage combined with an increased uptake of water for irrigation, industry and urban use. The large scale conversion to intensive dairy farming - a revolution in agricultural land use in the last 10 years - has been the most significant contributor to this trend.
Standing behind these first level causes is a failed governance system. The Resource Management Act is too weak to deal with the cumulative effects of growing and multiplying sources of pollution and water takes. This is, in part, because it lacks a precautionary principle - something that would allow regional councils to err on the side of environmental caution when they are considering the effects of resource consent applications. Moreover, with no price on water there is little economic incentive to use it efficiently.
Our failure to manage freshwater in this country is in some respects a result of our failure to understand the New Zealand economy. In a finite world, the relative price of primary commodities inevitably increases. This means that those that have an advantage in finite resources have a global economic advantage.
Our advantage in relatively untouched natural environments has fuelled tourism while our advantage in freshwater has fuelled our dairy industry, placing considerable pressure on the environment on which these industries are dependent. In order for the New Zealand economy to perform well we need to get water management right. This is a considerable challenge for the government.
To achieve improved water quality it will be necessary to solve what is a very complex resource management issue while at the same time negotiating with a broad group of actors with considerable political clout who have conflicting interests. One approach worth considering to address this double complexity is a collaborative governance approach. This approach means that the key players sit around a table together and are resourced by government to do the necessary research and to pursue a win-win solution which they then jointly present to government. The key players in this context are industry, Maori and the environment movement - a three sided table.
For the environment movement, regulation with teeth and significant investment in cleaning up our rivers is a must - we cannot continue to treat rivers like drains.
From an industry perspective, the current first-come-first-served system of allocating water consents locks in existing users and fails to provide an easy way for new entrants to access over-allocated water resources.
From a tangata whenua perspective, water is both a taonga, for which they have kaitiakitanga responsibilities, and a resource, the rights to which they never conceded to the Crown.
There is no guarantee that a consensus between these groups is possible. However, a pathway forward will be clearer if this government acknowledges that the economic future of the country is dependent on successful environmental management.
So far, the Government's first round of proposed reforms of the Resource Management Act has been a step backward for environmental protection. They are vigorously opposed by environmental groups, iwi and local communities because they limit the ability to advocate for environmental issues. Water management will be addressed in the next phase of RMA reform. This is an opportunity for National to do something good for the environment and the future of our economy - it's time for them to stop saying we have to trade off one for the other - the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment and the sooner we protect our freshwater the sooner we will protect our long term economic future.
