Landcorp’s decision to review its conversion of forestry land to dairy farms in the upper Waikato is a cause for celebration, the Green Party said today. “We’ve been calling for a moratorium on Landcorp’s dairy conversions in the upper Waikato in order to stop the further degradation of the Waikato River and its catchment,” said Green Party water spokesperson Catherine Delahunty. “We hope that, in order to protect the Waikato River from the pollution that would be created by these...

The Green Party is calling for Landcorp to change direction and consider other pastoral uses for Wairakei Estate now that it has been revealed it is not locked into dairy farming the upper Waikato.  Landcorp chief executive Steve Carden told The Dominion Post that the contract Landcorp, a state-owned enterprise, signed with landowners Wairakei Pastoral in 2004 is to convert 26,000ha of the pine forest to “pastoral use”, which could include cropping, beef, sheep, horticulture and forestry. “Landcorp’s financial results,...

Prime Minister John Key and Finance Minister Bill English need to get their stories straight over Landcorp’s large scale dairy conversions, the Green Party said today. While Mr English said on Saturday that the Government is “uncomfortable”  with the extent of Landcorp’s plans to add another 29,500 cows to the upper Waikato farms it is converting from forestry, Mr Key said this morning that Landcorp’s plans were not a matter for Ministers to concern themselves with. “The Green Party are...

Genesis Energy’s announcement that it will end coal-fired generation at Huntly in 2018 is welcome news for the environment and shows leadership where the Government has failed to take action, the Green Party said today. “This is the beginning of the end for coal use in New Zealand. This move by Genesis will reduce our carbon emissions significantly and gives us hope for the future,” said Green Party co-leader James Shaw. “Genesis’ coal use at Huntly generated 1,624kt of CO2...

With the lack of a formal document on climate change from New Zealand’s term as President of the Security Council, the Global Community has lost a critical opportunity to do the right thing on climate change, said the Green Party today.

Legal advice that says Hawke’s Bay farmers might have to reduce stock numbers in order to mitigate pollution to waterways, will have implications for water allocation all over New Zealand, the Green Party said today. Earlier this year, a Board of Inquiry ruled that the proposed $80million Ruataniwha Dam in Hawke’s Bay can only go ahead if farmers taking water from the scheme keep the amount of nitrogen from their farms entering waterways below certain limits. Hawke’s Bay Regional Council...

Forcing councils to contract out regulatory functions such as issuing resource consents is likely to cost the environment and the public, the Green Party said today. When Environment Minister Nick Smith said at this weekend's National Party conference that he could force councils to contract out regulatory functions, he seemed to have forgotten that past experiences doing this very thing has been a disaster. "We need environmental decision makers to operate in an open, transparent and democratically accountable way in...

An ardent advocate of genetic engineering (GE) should not be heading the body charged with protecting the environment, the Green Party said today. Former CEO of Wrightson Dr Allan Freeth has been appointed to head the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), and will take up the post in September. During his time at Wrightson, Dr Freeth was instrumental in pushing their adoption of GE grasses, and saw Wrightson buy into biotech company Genesis to work on GE pasture plants and GE...

Communities are saying no to genetically engineered (GE) trees and pushing back against the National Government’s attempt to remove the right of councils from controlling the release of GE trees in their regions, the Green Party said today. At public meetings held around the country to consult on the proposed National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry, which will replace existing plan rules for many plantation forestry activities, attendees have voiced concerns over allowing the planting of GE trees to be...

The Green Party is welcoming a new system for recycling plastic bags as a useful first step but one that is not by itself enough to solve the problem of plastic bag pollution.   “While the new recycling system announced by the Government is a positive step in the right direction, it won’t fix the problem of plastic bags ending up in our waterways and on our beaches because it won’t actually lead to any fewer plastic bags being used,”...