A proposed new coal mine at Mokau, South Waikato, shows why the Resource Management Act (RMA) should allow local authorities such as regional councils to take the causes of climate change into account, the Green Party said today. Mokau South Resources has applied to the Waikato Regional Council to dam, pollute, and discharge water in relation to a new coal mine it hopes to open under a mining permit it’s held since 1990. Since 2004, the RMA has prevented councils...

Environment Canterbury’s (ECan) lax attitude to cows polluting our waterways is a symptom of a council which is more responsive to central government’s agricultural intensification agenda than the public’s concern for the environment and water quality, the Green Party said today. The comments come on the back of the most recent Environment Canterbury (ECan) compliance report which shows 95 complaints were made to the council about stock entering waterways in 2013 and 2014, with only one resulting in a fine....

An Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report released today, highlights that climate change will expose farmers to more frequent droughts like the one being experienced in the South Island. It confirms that government and farmers must make stopping dangerous climate change a top priority, the Green Party said today. The OECD report concludes that climate change is likely to increase competition for water resources, and exacerbate the challenges of meeting growing global demand for food. The report comes...

The Government’s intention to introduce recreational fishing parks is an attempt to mask the fact it has left New Zealand huge Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to be plundered by oil and gas and seabed mining interests, the Green Party said today. “The Government thinks it can buy off recreational fishers with these two parks, which still allowing commercial fishing for scallop, crayfish and paua,” said Green Party environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage. “The proposed new Marine Protected Areas law, outlined in...

The National Government must honour the Paris climate agreement by setting a deadline for including agriculture as part of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Now is not the time to gamble on “silver bullet” solutions, the Green Party said today. “It has been less than a week since the world signed the historic Paris climate agreement and already the National Government has reverted to its polluting stereotype. We saw Government hock off more of New Zealand’s oceans for oil drilling...

“New Zealanders should be appalled by revelations today that the National Government is denying us deep sea marine reserves so it can promote oil exploration,” Green Party environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage said today.   According to reports by TVNZ, the Minister for the Environment has had to drop planned law changes which could have protected marine life in New Zealand’s deep oceans (known as the Exclusive Economic Zone). “National is saying that all of our deep oceans outside of 12...

The National Government should immediately promise the funding needed by the Department of Conservation (DOC) to save Northland forests from being destroyed by possums, the Green Party said today.    

The Green Party will oppose the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill, Green Party Environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage said today. “National has wasted its opportunity to strengthen the Resource Management Act (RMA). Instead many of the changes proposed to the Act weaken rather than improve the protection of the environment and reduce the opportunities for public participation. “The RMA is the fundamental law that protects the environment that New Zealanders love. Any changes to the law should provide more protection, not less....

The Green Party is calling on the Government to send a navy vessel to the Southern Ocean to ensure Japan adheres to international law when it resumes whaling early next year. Japan has announced that it will resume whaling after a one-year hiatus, which followed an International Court of Justice ruling that its whale hunt for “scientific purposes” could not be justified. “We are glad the Government has spoken out against Japan’s resumption of this cruel and inhumane practice, but...

Locust swarms, invasive ants, tick borne livestock diseases and rampant aquatic weed growth are just some of the potential impacts on our agricultural and horticultural industries that the Government must protect against at the Paris climate talks next week, the Green Party said today.   The comments come on the back of a report soon-to-be released by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) on the effects of climate change on current and potential pests and diseases.   “The MPI report...