FOR many farmers, receiving notice from a council that they have a "significant" piece of bush or a special plant that requires protection on their farm would evoke a mixture of pride and dread. On one hand they feel proud to know they are looking after something special but experience
also warns them that the pleasure will be accompanied by the pain of regulation.
Councils have an obligation under the Resource Management Act (RMA) to identify significant indigenous biodiversity, but their definition of "significant" and what they do with the identified areas is largely up to them. The expectations on councils and landowners may change again under a proposed National Policy Statement (NPS) on Indigenous Biodiversity. The proposed NPS sets out the Government's expectations for managing New Zealand's indigenous biodiversity under the RMA. A NPS requires district and regional councils to "give effect" to its objectives in all their polices and plans.
A worrying aspect of the NPS for many landowners is that it potentially requires councils to introduce more rules protecting vegetation that would not be considered significant under the Resource Management Act.
Federated Farmers believes that truly significant indigenous biodiversity is worthy of protection. However, not all indigenous biodiversity is significant and the NPS should provide clarity on what our priorities are for protection. It doesn't do that well enough now. What people often fail to understand when it comes to looking after stuff, is that rules turn assets into liabilities. Treasuring and supporting their assets is what landowners do well. The NPS needs to support and foster those ethics if it is to succeed in encouraging the protection of biodiversity on private land.
The Environment Ministry is holding a number of meetings across the country about the NPS. These include a meeting in Palmerston North from 11am-1pm on March 25 at the RSA, and in Stratford on March 28 from 11am-1pm at the Taranaki Regional Council.
If you have any native vegetation on your land, you should attend.
