Craig Foss: TPP offers green game-changer

Craig Foss

HAWKE'S Bay is an exporting region - we rely on agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to boost growth and create jobs for our families.

But the benefits aren't limited to business.

The TPP sets a new benchmark for environmental provisions in trade agreements. It does more to address the growing pressure on our natural resources than any agreement before it.

The reality is that environmental issues like protecting our forests, oceans, and wildlife actually do require a co-ordinated international response.

The most significant environmental features of the TPP cover conservation of flora and fauna; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; protection of sharks, seabirds, turtles and marine mammals; transition to a low-carbon economy; and tackling alien invasive species.

The TPP puts an obligation on countries to encourage tools like the Marine Stewardship Council and Forest Stewardship Council certification schemes for fish and forestry exports.

All this is so important for our export and tourism sectors, as well as our families and lifestyle.

Hawke's Bay is an exceptional place and I'm thrilled to see an agreement in place that will not only increase our trade opportunities but also help protect our environment.

We know the challenges we face to protect and preserve our natural surroundings.

This was recently outlined in the Environment Aotearoa 2015 report, released by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand this month.

The report contains comprehensive, independent and nationwide statistics on our environment.

These statistics will help inform our new obligations under the TPP.

This agreement is a game-changer on so many fronts - it locks in international environmental protection for Hawke's Bay, New Zealand and 12 other major countries.

It makes not just economic sense but environmental sense.

I can't understand why Mr Nash and Labour-Greens are not supporting our TPP agreement.

Craig Foss is the MP for Tukituki.
Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz