Lakes and Waterways Action Group to discuss nitrogen study

Lake Taupo

Lakes and Waterways Action Group are hosting Anne Spicer at their March 15 meeting.

This is an opportunity to hear the results of a PhD study assessing the consequences of nitrogen trading on the Lake Taupo catchment.

"Designed to keep the agricultural sector productive as well as within environmental limits, the Lake Taupo Trading Programme is unique," says Anne.

"To date it is the only cap and trade programme in which a limit on non-point source nitrogen discharges is applied at both the watershed and the farm levels," she says.

Consequently, the Taupo case is acknowledged worldwide as an exemplar implementation of a cap and trade for water quality management.

Water bodies, particularly lakes, are vulnerable to excess nutrients.

The cap, in a cap and trade regime, enables an environmental goal (such as the amount of nitrate entering a lake) to be met while the trading part allows flexibility of farm management, encourages technology uptake and innovation, and allows changes that are in line with market signals.

The study found that significant change has taken place since properties in the catchment were benchmarked, and the direction of some of this change was unexpected.
All are welcome at 5.15pm at the Taupo Library on Thursday, March 15.