User:Alan Liefting/Articles/Environmental issues in New Zealand
As with many other countries there are a number of environmental issues in New Zealand that are of concern to environmentalists. There has been increasing environmental awareness in New Zealand and a 2008 report shows that 53% of New Zealanders' are deeply concerned that not enough is being done to protect the environment for future generations.[1]
As of 2012[update] there are concerns about conservation, water pollution, mining, climate change, and the construction of dams.
History
[edit]New Zealand was one of the last major land masses to be settled and the human impact on the environment is well documented. Oral histories and archaeological evidence has been used to build up a picture of the impact of Maori during their 800 year presence, and when European settlers began arriving in the 19th century they wrote about the country and the ongoing changes. Respected figures from the scientific fraternity, including Charles Darwin, settled in New Zealand or came to visit.
The Save Manapouri Campaign, which ran from 1959 to 1972, is considered to be a defining point in the environmental history of New Zealand. In the 1970s and in the late 1990s campaigns were organised to protect the beech and podocarp forest in the central North Island and the West Coast of the South Island. During the 1980s there were protests against nuclear testing and gold mining in the Coromandel area.
By the 21st century there was a wide range of concerns raised by the environmentalists, including genetic engineering, sand mining, pesticide use, seabed mining, coal mining, and water pollution.
Issues
[edit]There are ongoing environmental issues that are of concern to environmentalists.
Biosecurity
[edit]New Zealand has a high level of biological diversity (biodiversity) and biosecurity measures are used to protect indigenous flora and fauna from exotic pest and diseases. Being an island nation with millions of years of isolation from other land masses New Zealand species have evolved without defence against introduced organisms. Strict controls are placed on any requests for the importation of any new organisms and inbound tourists are under tight surveillance for breaches of biosecurity. Although there are strict controls there still is accidental and deliberate introductions of unwanted organisms.
Climate change
[edit]The New Zealand government signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol but greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing.
New Zealand is in a unique position of having a high proportion of methane, a greenhouse gas, emitted due to the large number of farmed animals. The government proposed an Agricultural emissions research levy, popularly called a "fart tax", to fund research into reducing these emissions but opposition by the farming community forced a back down by the government. Mmmmmmmoooooooorrrrrreeeee
Conservation
[edit]Being a country that is separated from the continents by open oceans has led to New Zealand's species evolving in isolation since splitting from Gondwana about 65 million years ago. With the arrival of humans, initially the Māori people then later by Europeans, many changes were made on the natural environment. Two thirds of the forest cover was burnt off and numerous exotic plants and animals were introduced. These plants and animals threaten the indigenous species with birds being particularly vulnerable due to predation by stoats.
High country land is going through a voluntary process of tenure review enabling the leaseholders to negotiate free-holding a potion of the land. Environmentalist have raised concerns about a ........
- Birds
Due to habitat loss, their historical use as a food source by the Māori and predation by introduced species some birds are threatened with extinction.
Huge conservation efforts are being made to save the takahe, kakapo, mohua, kokako and the kiwi. One well documented conservation success story, due in a large part to the efforts of Don Merton, is the saving of the black robin on the Chatham Islands.
Since human settlement a total of 43 (33%)[2] bird species have become extinct, 16 of these have been since 1840.[3] Under the New Zealand Threat Classification System 153 out of a total of about 200 species are threatened with extinction.[3]
- Forests
There has been a long history of campaigning for the protection of native forests and since 2000 all of the forests on public land gained protection from logging.
One third of the forests were lost during Maori settlement and a further one third was lost after settlement by Europeans. Fire was used extensively to remove the forest cover to create pastoral land but in the latter decades the forests were felled for lumber.
- Invasive species
- Marine mammals
- Wetlands
In the past 150 years New Zealand has lost about 90% of its wetlands due to draining for farming. Many remaining wetlands are also degraded due to pollution, grazing, drainage and presence of invasive plants.[4]
Fishing
[edit]
Genetic engineering
[edit]There has been opposition to growing genetically engineered (GE) crops in New Zealand. Experimental GE crops have been destroyed by protesters and there have been nationwide marches expressing opposition to any GE crop introductions.
Mining
[edit]Non-governmental organisations have raised issues with gold mining in the Coromandel area and coal mining in the upper Waimangaroa River (actively opposed by the Save Happy Valley Campaign) and at the Pike River mine. In 2011 an application for open cast coal mining on the Denniston Plateau attracted nationwide interest.
One legacy of past mining activities is the Tui mine tailings dump. This site has recently received government funding for a clean up operation. Coal mine fires have been ignited through mining activity resulting in greenhouse gas emissions. These fires are difficult to extinguish and some have burnt for decades.
Nuclear
[edit]During the 1980s the was opposition to nuclear testing in the Pacific and there were calls for the establishing New Zealand as a nuclear free zone. A legacy of the protests was the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, the passage of the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987 and a split in the ANZUS military alliance.
New Zealand is nuclear free for armaments and propulsion, however the use of nuclear energy has been mooted on a number of occasions.
Toxic substances
[edit]New Zealand, being a country with an economy that is heavily reliant on agricultural production, has lead to the use of large amounts of agrichemicals.
The site of a factory that produced horticultural chemicals in Mapua is in the process of being decontaminated.
Ivor Watkins Dow (now Dow Agrosciences), a chemical manufacturing company in New Plymouth, was embroiled in controversy over dioxin emissions affecting local residents.
Water/pollution/usage????
[edit]Water issues include damming of rivers, aquifer overuse and water pollution. There are plans for dams to be constructed on rivers with resulting ecological degradation and loss of recreational use. These rivers include the Arnold River, Mokihinui, Wairau and the Waitaki Rivers.
Nitrate contamination and over drawing of water in the Canterbury region has resulted in ?????????????
NIWA reported that 95% of the lowland rivers and streams have water quality issues.[5]
Current issues
[edit]Some of the specific issues that are being highlighted in the the media of the 2011-2012[needs update] period are:
- Mining on public conservation land
- Hydraulic fracturing
- The environmental effects of agriculture
- Water pollution of lowland rivers and streams
- Lignite mining in the Southland Region
- Mining on the Denniston Plateau
Environmental movement
[edit]The environmental movement in New Zealand started in the 1960s, a period of rapid social change. Since then numerous high profile national campaigns have contested various environmental issues. Forest and Bird, formed in 1923, is a major environmental organisation in New Zealand. International environmental organisations such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund have New Zealand branches.
Politics
[edit]Green politics has a long history in new Zealand. The Values Party, what would now be referred to as a "green party", formed in 1972 as the first ever national level political party with a strong environmental policy. Due to the lack of proportional representation it never managed to gain any representation in Parliament even though they received 5.19% of the vote in 1975. The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand formed out of the Values Party in 1990. Initially they were a part of the Alliance but gained representation in Parliament as a separate party in the 1999 elections.
The two major political parties have environmental policies, with the incumbent[needs update] right-wing National Party having policies that give less protection to the environment than the centre-left Labour Party. The Green Party has policies that afford the highest level of environmental protection.[6]
See also
[edit]
- Environment of New Zealand
- New Zealand environmental law
- Timeline of environmental history of New Zealand
- 1080 usage in New Zealand
- DDT in New Zealand
- List of environmental issues
References
[edit]- ^ "Household Sustainability Benchmark Survey". 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
- ^ Taylor, Rowan (1997). The State of New Zealand's Environment 1997. Wellington, N.Z: Ministry for the Environment. p. 1. ISBN 478090005.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: length (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Hitchmough, Rodney Arthur (2007). New Zealand Threat Classification System Lists, 2005. Wellington, N.Z: Science & Technical Pub., Department of Conservation. p. 194. ISBN 0478141289.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ State of New Zealand's Environment 1997 - Chapter 7: Key points [Ministry for the Environment]
- ^ NIWA
- ^ "Vote for the Environment". Vote for the Environment. 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
Further reading
[edit]- Lockely, R Man Against Nature. Andre Deutsch: London. (1970) ISBN 0-233-95996-3
- Young, David Christopher (2004-10). Our islands, our selves: a history of conservation in New Zealand. University of Otago Press. ISBN 9781877276941.
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External links
[edit]- Ministry for the Environment
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Department of Conservation
- Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
- Greenpages - a database of environmental organisations