Pledge buried in the garbage

By SIMON COLLINS

Ten years ago, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, New Zealand signed up to "reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption".

Supporters acclaimed the meeting's Agenda 21 declaration as a sign that humanity was at last willing to work together to look after the planet.

A decade later, as Prime Minister Helen Clark prepares to attend the first follow-up summit, in Johannesburg from August 26 to September 4, it is time for a stocktake.

A 182-page report issued today by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Morgan Williams, shows Clark will have little to boast about.

"Sustainable development has not progressed in New Zealand in a co-ordinated and meaningful fashion over the past 10 years," the report says.

"Successive governments have largely ignored the Agenda 21 commitments made in 1992 and, until very recently, have not provided the leadership necessary to support and guide sustainable development."

New Zealand's population rose by 19 per cent in the 20 years to last year.

In the same time, we used 61 per cent more energy, registered 67 per cent more cars and, in Auckland, threw out 162 per cent more rubbish.

The rubbish figure, Dr Williams said, "must be some kind of record".

In the year to June 2001, Aucklanders put out an average of 801kg of rubbish each, compared with a New Zealand average of 350kg and an average for the developed world of 500kg.

The trends, says the report, show that "New Zealand is not functioning in a sustainable manner".

It recommends a fundamental shift in the country's priorities from economic growth to "sustainable development".

Sustainable development is defined by the United Nations as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".

That means shifting from quantitative growth - simply producing and consuming more - to qualitative growth, or "development that improves quality of life, produces less waste, adds more value to goods and services, and manages in a sustainable way".

The report challenges the key goal in Helen Clark's strategy on Growing an Innovative New Zealand unveiled in February, "to return New Zealand's per capita income to the top half of the OECD".

"A key to sustainable development is integration of social, economic and environmental concerns," Dr Williams' report says.

"An analysis of the strategy indicates that the economy will take priority over the other two."

The report says this priority must be changed to seeing the economy as part of a finite ecosystem.

"Growth can become uneconomic when ... it increases environmental and social costs more than it increases production benefits," it says.

"These include the costs of depletion, pollution, disruption of ecological life-support services, sacrifice of leisure time, dis-utility of some kinds of labour, destruction of the community in the interests of capital mobility, takeover of habitat of other species, and the running-down of a critical part of the inheritance of future generations."

The report recommends policy changes to take account of these costs.

The changes include taxes on environmental "bads" such as pollution, and subsidies for "goods" such as recycling schemes.

AGENDA 21

Agenda 21, as signed by New Zealand and other countries in 1992, was a balance between the conflicting interests of environmentalists and business, and of rich and poor countries.

All countries promised to "co-operate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem".

A key principle said: "To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all people, states should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and promote appropriate demographic policies".

Another principle was "the precautionary approach", defined as: "Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."

The declaration also said "the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution".

It recognised the interests of poor countries by guaranteeing a "right to development", and committing all countries to eradicating poverty.

And it acknowledged the interests of businesses in rich countries by committing to an "open international economic system that would lead to economic growth and sustainable development in all countries".

THE RECORD

Among key trends since 1992, the report lists:

Globalisation: "Globalisation can be defined as a process in which economic markets, technologies and communications gradually come to exhibit more 'global' characteristics and fewer 'national' or 'local' ones," the report says.

Globalisation has cut the costs of transport and communications, and made trade cheaper and easier.

But it "can bring to individual regions less local integration, collaboration and employment".

Cities: "With a few notable exceptions at the city level, the concept of sustainable urban development is largely being ignored in New Zealand."

Waitakere's "eco-city" strategy, Manukau's "Sustainable Manukau" plan and Auckland Regional Council's "Big Clean-up" campaign are all given honourable mentions, but Auckland's extraordinary increase in rubbish is seen as a sign that fundamental changes have not been made.

Throughout New Zealand, the report says, "93 per cent of the materials we use are thrown away during production", and "80 per cent of what we produce is thrown away after use".

This implies that we are still using far more material resources than we need, and chucking them out rather than recycling them for use by future generations.

Kerbside recycling schemes, introduced since 1992 in all four Auckland cities, have helped flatten out Auckland's waste mountain in the past two years.

But Aucklanders are still throwing out almost twice as much rubbish per person as they were 20 years ago.

Cars: New car registrations have increased sharply since restrictions on used car imports were relaxed and protection for the local car industry was abolished in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The number of registered vehicles rose from 2,227,100 in 1992 to 2,633,200 last year.

A study quoted in the report found that 400 New Zealanders aged over 30 die each year earlier than they would have otherwise because of vehicle emissions they have absorbed. Of these deaths, 64 per cent are in Auckland.

Carbon monoxide concentrations in Auckland are now "higher than those in London and other larger cities".

"As older vehicles are replaced with newer, more efficient ones, carbon monoxide concentrations should begin to decrease, but increasing congestion may affect this decline."

Benzene and nitrogen dioxide concentrations have also risen in Auckland and often exceed safe guidelines.

Again, "benzene levels should decline over the next few years as the amount of benzene in petrol is reduced".

Water: The report expresses concern about a dramatic expansion of dairying. The amount of land used for dairy farming is up from 1.05 million hectares in 1990 to 1.64 million in 2000, and cow numbers have risen from 2.31 million to 3.27 million.

Seepage from cow wastes and nitrogen fertilisers is causing "increasingly severe degradation of rivers".

Nitrogen levels in the lower Waikato River have been measured at 0.6 grams per cubic metre - above the 0.5g level at which the water is considered "nutrient-enriched".

"This excess of nutrients promotes algal blooms and the growth of nuisance plants that can choke waterways," the report says.

As well, levels of enterococci bacteria (an indicator of health risk) in the lower river "have often been recorded at levels that are not good enough for swimming".

Greenhouse gases: Between 1990 and 1999, carbon dioxide emissions increased by 20 per cent, and nitrous oxide emissions by 5 per cent. Methane and fluorocarbon emissions dropped.

The report notes that the Government has announced measures to cut emissions, including subsidies for renewable energy to begin in the next year and a tax on carbon dioxide emissions from 2007.

But it condemns "silo thinking" which has allowed other state agencies to ignore the need to cut emissions by conserving energy. For example, Housing NZ policies "do not incorporate sustainable architecture/design requirements".

Taxes: "New Zealand's proportion of tax revenue collected from so-called environmentally related levies is about half the average for the OECD."

And the "eco-taxes" - petrol tax, car licence fees and road user charges - "have not been specifically introduced for the purpose of environmental protection".

"In contrast, Denmark has a wide range of environmental taxes, including specific taxes on liquid and solid waste, hazardous materials and water use."

Education: The Government adopted an environmental education strategy in 1998, the report says, but schools are free to decide whether and how to implement it. Little has been done beyond the schools.

SOLUTIONS

Helen Clark announced a year ago that the Government would produce a "sustainable development strategy" before the Johannesburg summit.

In May, the Cabinet abandoned this goal and decided instead to draw up a draft strategy after Johannesburg and circulate it for public debate before adopting it.

Vision and goals: The report recommends that the strategy should include a "vision statement" with clear goals for sustainable development, measurable targets and a timetable for achieving them.

Laws: It recommends that Agenda 21 principles should be included in reviews of environmental, economic and social laws, and in guidelines for local bodies under the Local Government Bill.

Natural capital accounts: The report says "natural capital", such as land and water, contributes 20 per cent of New Zealand's wealth, compared with 5 per cent in North America and 2 per cent in Western Europe.

It recommends that "a statement on the state of natural resources" should be included in the national accounts, with the usual statistics on production and consumption.

Development, not growth: "Growth is not an end in itself, but simply a means to achieve what most people want - quality of life," the report says.

"The challenge of sustainable development is maintaining and enhancing quality of life that may or may not necessitate economic growth in its traditional sense, i.e. an endless expansion of the economy."

The report recommends shifting society's goals away from growth and towards "development that produces less waste, adds more value to goods and services, and manages rather than 'quarries' resources".

"Sustainable urban development, for example, creates rather than destroys communities, and connects people with natural surroundings instead of isolating them from nature."

Taxes: The report urges the Government to re-examine the imposition of environmental taxes on issues of national significance, such as:The impact of tourism on biosecurity and threats to biodiversity.

Energy consumption (to encourage energy efficiency).

Non-renewable resource consumption (to avoid unsustainable "quarrying").

Wasteful packaging.

Subsidies: The report suggests a "sustainable development fund" for local and private sector plans that "meet combined environmental, social and economic objectives".

Regulations: "A package of policy instruments needs to be considered, including voluntary approaches, regulations and tradeable permits."

The report does not recommend specific regulations, but notes that some countries have passed laws requiring companies to recycle or reuse the cans, plastic bags and other packaging in which they sell their products.

Education: "Education for sustainability is needed:So the whole population understands what sustainable development is and why it is important.

So everyone understands the ecological limits in place on our planet.

To challenge our consumerist, individualist, democratically apathetic culture.

To foster a new sustainability ethic that includes responsibility regarding individual behaviour.

To train young people to think and behave in sustainable ways as second nature - to consider the consequences of their actions.

To enable individuals and communities to become ecologically aware ... "

Advisory body: The report recommends an advisory body to oversee implementing the proposed sustainable development strategy.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

nzherald.co.nz/environment