Whither NZ?

Tony Holman

Opinion

That New Zealand is heavily dependent on international trade is not news. Nor is the fact this country relies on treaties to further that trade. But the world of trade is becoming increasingly complicated, particularly for us.

International conglomerates exert increasing power over governments through “agreements” such as the discredited TPPA (which the current government meekly agreed to). Then there’s the highly-charged political cauldron of the super powers such as China and the US, and their political trade wars. New Zealand needs the trade of both, but it’s a fragile position we are in. All sorts of pressures can be placed on NZ by both countries — for example, military ties and dependence on the US, while China reveals a worrying expansion of its military and economic interests in the Pacific, including our neighbours in the South Pacific.

Another factor in this swirling mix is the extent to which our primary production and trade will be affected as people are urged to eat less red meat and reduce fats.

Further complicating NZ’s decision-making is the ongoing and increasing momentum of foreign ownership of our assets.

Technological and intellectual property are generally snapped up by US interests. Our basic agricultural assets (eg dairy farms and companies, water, and other productive land and primary industries) are in demand. The latest Chinese acquisition is another inroad into ownership of our dairy industry. Despite a big noise about reform of the Overseas Investment Office from the Government when first elected, little has changed — it continues to allow our production base to be taken over by overseas interests. Large investments in other industries, including building, housing and other infrastructure, are additional important factors in this complex.

An overarching complexity is the planetary emergency which affects us all, and which is still building up without any real, co-ordinated international or even local measures being of any effect. This menace will have immense effects worldwide, including on food production, trade patterns, resource-based water wars and mounting climatic disasters. Only 1 percent of the water in the world is fresh water, and at least half of that is polluted and unavailable for drinking or crops. Of even greater concern is that the 1 percent is diminishing because ice caps are melting and flowing into the saline seas, as are glaciers, which are rapidly diminishing in size and likely to disappear entirely in many places, further reducing river flows.

In NZ, for example, this will not only affect dairying, many crops and other agricultural activities, it could also affect our traditional reliance on hydro-electricity and water supplies to cities.

Democratic countries are finding it increasingly difficult to deal with these rapidly-mounting problems, and reliance on economic growth as a key measure of success, vociferously promoted by sectoral commercial interests, makes their existence increasingly fragile. This fragility means it is unlikely they will take very strong measures to deal with the climatic emergency.

Added to that, there’s a small minority of academics and others who want to debate what an “emergency” is, and the implications of using that term or governmental device. There just isn’t time for polemics or philosophical debate.

On the other hand, totalitarian states do not have this problem. Those that have important resources such as oil can continue to trade with whomever they like. Others can devastate the environment in other ways, such as destroying huge swathes of forest for crops, eg the Brazilian government in the Amazon and palm oil plantations in Indonesia, to name a few — and we are complicit in the latter because of the appetite of our dairy industry for palm kernels.

Over-fishing, bottom trawling, plastics and many other problems, including rising temperatures, also hugely affect the oceans.

These comments can hardly scratch the surface of the problems facing humanity, the planet and most of the creatures we share it with. However, perhaps the greatest problem is that many people either deny climate change, or don’t want to know because the problem is too big to comprehend, or their only interest is the pursuit of profit.

The final dilemma that nobody (especially politicians) wants to talk about is the bourgeoning global population, which is the central reason why so much of the natural environment is past breaking point.

New Zealanders have a great international reputation as innovators and, time after time in our history, as leaders in various fields. It is surely time to act in the interests of our children, grandchildren, our country, and the planet. We need to work co-operatively throughout all sectors and to encourage people from all sectors to provide leadership and outcomes which we can present to the world for the benefit of all. Let’s get to it.

Tony Holman QSO is a former North Shore City councillor (1995-2010), former kiwifruit authority and Royal NZ SPCA chief executive, and a former chairman of Watercare Services Ltd. He lives on the North Shore.