PCE reports underline the need for a rethink on existing environmental rules

// Climate Change

Beef + Lamb New Zealand has welcomed reports by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) that highlight the significant implications for the sheep and beef sector of the centralised approach to environmental regulation that has dominated in recent years, showing that a one-size-fits-all approach to regulation does not work.

image of landscape

The report also highlights issues with the current ETS settings being the main driver of land-use change in New Zealand through afforestation. 

The PCE undertook two catchment-level case studies that used a number of tools to model how these very different landscapes could look in 2030 and 2060 based on different policy scenarios, including the current settings.  

B+LNZ Chair Kate Acland says the results of the case studies are clear. “They show that existing and expected environment-related policies and rules, if left unchanged, could lead to a significant decline in the sheep and beef sector.  

“This aligns with research B+LNZ released last year on the cumulative impact of the last few years’ environmental regulations on our sector, and also our work on how the carbon price has led to significant land-use change.   

“B+LNZ has been calling for pragmatic and enduring solutions that balance environmental progress with sustainable food production.  

“Our sector acknowledges further progress needs to be made. But the PCE reports support the need for a fundamental revision of how that improvement occurs – meaning a more integrated approach to environmental management.” 

Acland says B+LNZ supports the PCE’s recommendation of a catchment-based approach to environmental rules that focus on addressing the risks in that catchment and the targeted actions that need to happen. 

The PCE notes changes need to be underpinned by increased, and enduring, investment in environmental data at the regional level which gives landowners a strong basis for decision-making and can track progress and give confidence that management changes are working. 

“We also support the PCE’s concerns about the impact of New Zealand’s current policy settings around forestry offsetting in the ETS. 

“The PCE modelling shows a high risk that major areas of productive farms will continue to be converted into forestry for carbon credits under current policy settings,” Acland says. 

New Zealand is currently the only country that allows 100 percent offsetting in our ETS aside from Kazakhstan.  

“While there is absolutely a role for forestry in meeting New Zealand’s climate change objectives and we strongly support the integration of trees within farms, some limits on forestry offsetting are essential if we are to balance our climate commitments with maintaining a diverse economic base in our regions.” 

Acland says there is a lot of detail in the PCE reports that B+LNZ still needs to work through. She notes that while B+LNZ agrees with many of the issues with the current regulatory framework the PCE highlights, and its recommendation of a more catchment or regional approach, it does not agree with all the possible policy solutions in the documents, such as those relating to methane.   

B+LNZ will continue to advocate for more targeted approaches to environmental policy, and for the removal of impractical and ineffective rules.  

ENDS 

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