by Russel Norman
A new study recently released by Lincoln University has found that water pollution is rated by New Zealanders as the most important environmental issue facing our country.
The Public Perceptions of New Zealand’s Environment 2010 study, which surveyed over 2000 people, states:
“It is clear that New Zealanders have a very high desire for a future of largely non-polluted freshwaters, fit for swimming and with abundant aquatic life. They want the most important rivers protected and they do not want to trade off environmental protection for economic growth.”
People don’t buy the tired old rhetoric about “balancing” environmental protection with economic progress by way of more intensive agriculture. The Government is out of step with the values of New Zealanders alleging we can have more cows and cleaner rivers at the same time when scientists have shown it is a trade-off. We know from experience that when this Government talks about “balance”, the environment is always the loser.
The report shows that kiwis want solutions that include stronger regulation of polluters and a price on the use of irrigation water. Both of these approaches feature in our Clean Rivers Plan.
Highlights of the study:
- “Water pollution and water related issues were rated as the most important environmental issue facing New Zealand.” (p. III)
- “It is clear that New Zealanders have a very high desire for a future of largely non-polluted freshwaters, fit for swimming and with abundant aquatic life. They want the most important rivers protected and they do not want to trade off environmental protection for economic growth.” (p. 71)
- “Respondents clearly support futures with largely unpolluted waters that are swimmable – they will not accept the loss of native species and clearly do not believe the main emphasis of freshwater management should be economic.” (p. 68)
- “Respondents disagree strongly with the proposition that ‘we should accept some reduction in environmental values of some freshwater resources in order to enhance economic benefits from their use.” (p. 68)
- “For all three types of water body [rivers & streams, lakes, aquifers] nature, scenic, recreational and community values outrank commercial interests which, in turn, outrank Customary Maori values.” (p. 68)
- “Respondents favour integrated approaches which combine economic, regulatory and voluntary instruments, while in a complementary way they are strongly supportive of charging for the commercial use of freshwater.” (p. III)
- “It is clear that respondents support commercial user pays regimes and limited analysis against some key demographics showed no significant difference between farmers and other occupational classes. Respondents all want commercial water use to be monitored, they all want administrative costs charged to commercial users, and in addition they are all strongly supportive of commercial users being charged for the water they use.” (p. 71)
- 52 percent of respondents perceived farming to be the main cause of damage to fresh waters. (p. 17)
Published in Environment & Resource Management by Russel Norman on Thu, September 29th, 2011
Tags: clean green, clean rivers, Dirty Rivers, environment, intensive agriculture, Lincoln University, public perceptions, Public Perceptions of New Zealand's Environment, water pollution, water quality
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on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
With the move from sheep farming to ever increasing dairy.. I for one am not surprised (millions of cows dumping their ‘waste’ into the environment) Surely there needs to be stricter controls on this, before we face an environmental disaster.. 100% pure cr#p ! Kia-ora
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“With the move from sheep farming to ever increasing dairy…”
I’ve not been everywhere in the world (only the USA, Australia, parts of South America and South-East Asia), but so far New Zealand’s the only place I’ve found in the world where beef tends to be cheaper than chicken. In most other places I’ve seen, chicken is the cheap meat. In some poorer countries, nearly every family has chickens running around the back-yard so they can eat them on demand. Certainly when ordering meals in foodcourts, and such, a beef kebab in NZ will often be $1 cheaper than a chicken kebab. At somewhere like Subway, a roast beef sandwich is the cheap option compared with all the more expensive chicken options — the similar sandwich in Australia is at least as pricey as the chicken options.
I’m presuming this is because New Zealand has a big dairy industry and surplus cows are readily available even if it weren’t for all the dedicated beef farms, but is there a particular reason why New Zealand farms seem to like focusing on growing cows more than other animals, or vegetables or whatever? What are the incentives operating that don’t exist elsewhere?
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And yet the greenz don’t manage to capitalize this concern into votes.
What are you doing wrong?
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From No Right Turn
Dirty dairying means big profits for dairy farmers. But for ordinary people, it means something else: stinky water, and higher rates to clean it up:
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent keeping Invercargill water from smelling and tasting putrid during the past two decades, but the problem appears to be getting worse, according to the city water services manager. Invercargill City Council water services manager Alister Murray said the city had regular problems with a bad smell and taste in its drinking water during summer months since 1995. Between $15,000 and $25,000 was spent each year addressing those problems but it appeared to be getting worse, he said.
[...]
Increases in nitrate levels in Southland rivers was believed to be one of the causes, he said.
And the cause of those nitrates? Dairy farm runoff, AKA cowshit and cowpiss. It makes algae grow, which leads to water that smells so bad you can’t drink it. If you live in Invercargill, you need to have a water purifier on your household tap, and I’ve heard stories of people who are taking containers into their workplaces so they can fill up on filtered water there.
This is just another way farmers dump their costs on the rest of us, and make us pay for their pollution. Isn’t it time they cleaned up their act, and started paying their own way?
http://www.norightturn.blogspot.com/
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But is public cover of negative externalities the only incentive? Because I’m reasonably sure that at least some other countries also don’t force the costs of negative externalities back onto farmers any more than New Zealand does, but apparently it doesn’t lead to disproportionately high amounts of dairy and beef farming elsewhere compared with other sorts of farms. I may be wrong.
Is it just that there’s already so much expertise and existing infrastructure and dairy industry here that it’s easier to get into? Are farmers biased towards dairy farming as being “safer” or “easier” in the same way that novice investors are biased towards the property market over the sharemarket?
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On top of the dirty dairying messing up our waterways, now in Canterbury we have the threat of a Coal Seam Gas industry planting itself in the midst of our communities, with its pollutants, threats to our aquifers by fracking and the destruction of the local character of the place. It’s all too much.
However, this is THE crossover issue to get farmers, who will be at risk of competition for water, to join the movement against this unwanted industry in NZ, and help to get rid of the crazy National Government. Sometimes I think they want us to leave NZ.
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This is something that affects all of us. If we don’t start to take care of planet earth we may find ourselves in those situations we see in movies. So much damage has already been done to the Ozone layer as well as the ocean with the recent oil spills. God help us all.
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“A new study recently released by Lincoln University has found that water pollution is rated by New Zealanders as the most important environmental issue facing our country.”
It is interesting that water quality is what “New Zealanders” decided on, because if you’re looking to measure various kinds of pollution impacts generally, water quality is a good metric for doing so. I believe the Mine Drainage Framework, for one, was built out of a dialogue between lots of stakeholders who more or less determined that measuring the impact of pollutants on water would be a good representation of the damage for all sorts of other things people were concerned about.
So it’s interesting, yet maybe not at all surprising. Good water quality probably translates to higher quality of many other things.
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