Ambitious path outlined for 'carbon-neutral' Hawke's Bay

Rex Graham (left) wants every resident to plant five trees, to help achieve Kahutia Accord joint-project goals. Photo / Paul Taylor

A call for Hawke's Bay to be the country's first carbon neutral province, to fix the "mess" of its waterways, and encouraging an upswell of community action were among the actions outlined for the Hawke's Bay Regional Council this year.

At its first 2018 meeting yesterday chairman Rex Graham welcomed councillors with a 13-minute "state of the union" which touched on many of the actions the council championed in its first year, and talked about the "formidable scale" of problems facing the region - from the state of its waterways and the threat of global warming to challenges with Napier Port.

A key focus of his speech was around the ambitious Kahutia accord project, spearheaded by Ngati Kahungunu Iwi and council, which proposes hundreds of millions of trees be planted over the next decade.

"I want us to be the first carbon neutral province in New Zealand, and that goal is well within our reach."

The project would set the region on this path by reforesting eroding hill country, with help needed from the community, and "our regional prison, every marae and every commercial operator".

"Kahutia will do the grunty stuff in the hills, but the council needs to continue to partner with our farmers and private community endeavours.

"And on top of this we want to encourage everyone in Hawke's Bay to get involved and commit to plant at least five trees a year."

Many water issues also stemmed from the deforestation of land, with Mr Graham calling for the council to continue its work in cleaning up the region's rivers, streams, lakes, and estuaries.

"To be successful we will need to mobilise our entire community in this common cause.

"It is clear that many of our current farming practices are unsustainable and need to change, that our forest harvesting practices need to greatly improve and that our stormwater and wastewater systems are often abysmal."

He also proposed a Karamu Action Group as a sub group of the TANK stakeholder group, and encouraged farmers and businesses to invest in "smarter" water storage.

"Together we can make Hawke's Bay the best place in the world to live and work and that is what we are going to do.

"To greatly enhance and protect our environment so that it supports a dynamic and prosperous economy and is an envied destination."