‘Failure to act is not an option’; land-use report recommendations supported

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Doing little or leaving it for tomorrow will be too late, say Tairāwhiti iwi Te Aitanga A Mahaki, Ngāti Porou and Ngai Tāmanuhiri, who support recommendations made in the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use report.

“We can no longer tolerate the unsustainable practices that degrade the land and continuously place our people, waterways and coastal environments at perilous risk,” says Te Runanganui o Ngāti Porou chair Selwyn Parata.

The report was released on Friday after weeks of public submissions and trawling through submitted documents.

The panel of chair Hekia Parata, Matthew McCloy and Dave Brash made recommendations they see as balancing the needs of the taiao (environment), people and regional economy.

“There is a clear need for immediate action to address the recommendations in the report,” Mr Parata said.

“Failure to act is not an option when the security, safety and wellbeing of the whenua, waterways and people are at stake.”

Responsible ministers, Cabinet and the Government would need to be bold and commit to the full suite of recommendations.

The gravity of the environmental crisis the region was facing and the programme for change required, needed immediate action and unequivocal support.

The wide-ranging recommendations, including enactment of legislation and regulatory improvements, inclusive regional governance arrangements, and responsible forestry planting, felling and management practices were essential.

The appointment of a woody debris taskforce, Resource Management Act and recovery implementation commissioners would provide the additional expertise, bandwidth and resources required.

Ngāti Porou and Te Aitanga a Mahaki have already mapped and costed debris removal and clean-up initiatives for the most vulnerable waterways and at-risk lands in the rohe.

“We look forward to partnering with government, landowners, industry leaders and our communities to implement an integrated approach that includes productive and protective sustainable land uses, finetuning the ETS (emissions trading scheme) and establishing biodiversity credits that will provide much-needed capital to safeguard and future-proof our rohe,” said Ngāi Tāmanuhiri chair Pauline Hill.

As mana whenua/iwi kāinga, they had a duty of care and  responsibility to demonstrate on their whenua and in their rohe how they proposed to give effect to the recommendations.

The three iwi acknowledged all districts and communities across Tairāwhiti and Wairoa were impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle.

“The urgency of the situation is critical for our whānau at Te Karaka,” Te Aitanga a Mahaki trust chair Pehimana Brown said.

“We need immediate resourcing to remove the slash and silt which remains a serious threat to whānau living in Te Karaka.

“The causes of this flooding must be addressed immediately or the essential work undertaken to date will be lost in the next significant cyclone event.

“The resilience of our people has been tested to the limit and they are looking for help.”

Mr Parata said the urgency of the situation across Ngāti Porou “is unassailable”.

“We need proper roading, power, connectivity and water supply to show we are not a Third World nation.

“The report is comprehensive and compelling. It clearly and honestly calls out our current and historical failings, highlights the calamitious impact on environment and people, and challenges us all to do what is right, now,” he said.

Ms Hill said the vision set out in the report resonated with her and she wholeheartedly agreed with the statement, “a vision is not useful unless it is accompanied by action”.

“We accept that the recommended actions may require a phased approach, which in turn requires a long-term commitment from the Government,” she said.