Land use and biodiversity/Te whakamahi i te whenua me te rerenga rauropi

Soils are a fundamental part of all land-based ecosystems and are vital to primary production and the economic wellbeing of Waitaha/Canterbury and Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Drivers for change

Central government direction on highly productive land requires us to look again at the way we ensure land use is well matched to what it is best suited for, and that the best soils don’t disappear under subdivisions or industrial developments, for example.

We also need to understand how land and soil is used has an influence on water health and air quality. Soil could have an important role as a carbon store to reduce the impacts of climate change.

What we heard

• Good healthy soil should be used for growing food. Zone less productive land for development.
• We need better management of forestry in the hill country.
• Solar on homes and businesses would be better than large-scale farms.
• Keep soils healthy by avoiding disturbing the soil structure and planting a 'green manure' between crops.

What we can influence

• We must map productive land and create policies that support appropriate land use that maximises the potential of highly productive land.
• We can incentivise effective land-use planning to reduce future risk and improve outcomes.
• We can recognise and plan for how soil can best be used as a carbon store, reducing the quantity of greenhouse gases in the air.

The Waitaha/Canterbury region faces a variety of natural hazards that significantly impact infrastructure, communities, and ecosystems – many of which are worsened by climate change.

Drivers for change

New hazards have arisen from changes in the environment and climate as well as how we interact with our environment. We are already experiencing more extreme weather events more frequently. Other imminent hazards, such as a rupture of the Alpine Fault, become more likely as time passes.

The needs of our communities are also changing in a way that potentially increases our exposure to hazards.

What we heard

• Identify areas at highest risk and make a plan to protect them better or to relocate.
• Don’t build in areas at high risk from fire, flood and earthquakes.
• Move or upgrade critical infrastructure to withstand extreme events.

What we can influence

• We can be more directive and precautionary about where development should be avoided.
• For areas that may need to relocate we can consider where they may need to move to, engage with communities, local authorities and government agencies on how and when that might occur, and ensure enabling policies are in place to support managed relocation.
• We can also support and encourage the restoration or creation of natural barriers such as wetlands and dunes.

Ngāi Tahu as mana whenua often have difficulty establishing papakāinga housing and marae and the activities associated with these kinds of development on Māori reserves and Māori-owned land.

Drivers for change

Current plans limit the potential development of Māori land, sometimes because it isn’t zoned for development and because there isn’t the infrastructure to support it. This has become increasingly important more recently, as a number of our current Waitaha/Canterbury marae are subject to the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels. Because of their location on the coast or close to lakes or rivers, some are already looking at relocating to avoid the risk of flooding.

Development is crucial to accommodate population increase, allow our population to move and change, and to support our economy. If these demands are met in the right way, they support our well-being. However, poor planning or mismanagement can harm the environment, infrastructure and the character of rural areas and landscapes.

Planning for strategic and integrated land use and infrastructure is vital for sustainable development, but it requires coordination and cooperation between infrastructure providers and the agencies responsible for growth in the region. At the same time, we need to create accessible and liveable spaces that promote and support environmental sustainability.

We have a number of heritage sites and sites of cultural significance in Waitaha/Canterbury that also need to be protected from inappropriate development and access that might compromise their values.

Development also needs to align with existing significant infrastructure such as strategic transport networks, airports and airfields, ports, bulk fuel supply, Defence Force facilities, telecommunication, electricity distribution, sewage collection and treatment, community land drainage, community drinking water supply, community-scale irrigation and stock water.

Drivers for change

Central government direction, population growth, and the need to reduce emissions from transport and home heating are all important factors. We also need to enable and encourage affordable housing, with appropriate public green spaces that assist in creating biodiverse habitats, provide shade and make other contributions to liveable spaces. Land-use intensification also plays an important part in ensuring development and not competing for space with existing infrastructure.

We know we need to take further steps to identify and protect cultural and heritage items, places and landscapes.

What we heard

• Let’s have regular and reliable public transport.
• Give rivers room to move.
• More cycleways, fewer cars.
• Identify sites of historical significance or that are important to Māori and protect them.

What we can influence

• We can clearly describe, for development purposes, what a well-functioning built environment should look like. We can enable a wider variety of housing options with urban green spaces, promote sustainable practices that support resilience, and give direction that ensures the right land use in the appropriate place.
• We can prioritise strategic infrastructure over amenity value, natural character and other desirable outcomes.
• We can change criteria that help define significant cultural or heritage sites and work towards identifying and protecting more of them.

Energy

The availability of energy and the impacts of its production and distribution are vital to support the people of Waitaha/Canterbury to live and prosper. The main issues to be considered or resolved include our current inefficient use of energy, the adverse effects of its production and distribution, maintaining a reliable supply, and balancing the potential conflict between the benefits of more renewable energy and the impacts of the necessary infrastructure.

Drivers for change

Central government direction, climate change and the increasing natural hazard risk as a consequence. There is also a strong need to support ongoing social and economic wellbeing by providing reliable and sustainable energy in the right places.

What we heard

• Reduce use/reliance on fossil fuels.
• Make it easier for households to generate electricity. The consents process is too difficult!
• There should be no new buildings without solar/wind energy gathering.

What we can influence

• The extent to which we prioritise renewable energy over other social and environmental values, such as landscape or amenity values.
• We can also give policy direction through regional and district plans to manage how we generate, distribute and use energy more efficiently and sustainably.

Areas across Waitaha/Canterbury have been identified as having had potentially contaminating land uses in the past, a process that is on-going. This might include sites where certain hazardous chemicals had been extensively used in the past such as pesticides or herbicides, ex-landfill sites or old industrial sites where soils could contain hazardous chemical residues.

When we identify this land, we write to property owners to provide information on how this potentially affects the way the land can be used and their responsibilities for managing contaminants in order to protect human health.

Drivers for change

• Central government on assessing and managing contaminants in soil to protect human health.
• What we know about the current state of the environment, including land that is included on the Listed Land Use Register.
• Increased risks due to climate change, such as flooding of contaminated areas or wind-borne dust during periods of drought.
• The need to ensure the management of contaminated land works well alongside other waste management strategies.

What we heard

• Continue to identify land that was contaminated in the past and take steps to contain it that protect human health.
• Harsher penalties for people that contaminate land or waterways.

What we can influence

• We can set stronger controls where high-risk activities are proposed for sensitive locations, so that land use has less of an impact on air and water quality.
• We can require, enable or encourage priority actions that reduce the potential spread of contaminants from high-risk legacy sites (sites that are contaminated due to activities in the past).
• We can assist with better education on risks and best-management practices.

The amount of waste we generate and how we reduce and manage it has a huge impact on our carbon footprint, our greenhouse gas emissions and our ability to operate a sustainable economy.

Drivers for change

We have a national waste strategy and an emissions reduction plan.

We know that our ability to export our products overseas depends increasingly on our reputation for managing resources responsibly and sustainably and that extends to how we manage our waste.

We also know that the way in which we dispose of our waste and the effects that has on our environment should be culturally appropriate.

What we heard

• Make it easier and cheaper to recycle or dispose of waste responsibly.
• Ensure landfill and recycling facilities can't pollute nearby land and water.

What we can influence

• We can advocate for and contribute to better education about reducing waste generation and best-practice recycling, re-use or disposal.
• We can give stronger direction and provide more support for appropriate waste facilities in the right places.
• We can give greater recognition to, and help educate people about, the role of waste management in reducing our contribution to climate change.

Protecting the region's unique landscapes and outstanding natural features requires us to manage and avoid activities such as inappropriate subdivision, use or development. This is a matter of national significance under the Resource Management Act (RMA). To achieve better protection we need greater consistency in how such areas are identified.

Drivers for change

There are increasing risks from changing land uses, increases in population and the rise in exotic plantation forestry.

Climate change and sea level rise may also put outstanding natural features at risk.

What we heard

• Identify and protect unique landscapes in a cost-effective way.

What we can influence

• We can require the protection of culturally significant sites.
• We could also require landscapes at risk from climate change to be identified and restrict land uses that threaten landscapes and features.
• We could better target protection.

Clean air can make a huge contribution to people's enjoyment of outdoor spaces and quality of life. Poor air quality can have an impact on people's health and make homes close to sources of odours and dust less liveable. Together these issues can have significant negative effects on people’s wellbeing.

Drivers for change

New central government direction on air quality and a national emissions reduction strategy are aimed at reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,

There are also strong health-driven guidelines on particulate matter (smoke and dust for example) in air.

In Waitaha/Canterbury we have made great progress on reducing the impacts of solid-fuel home heating and we now have some low or zero-emission buses, but we still have work to do.

What we heard

What we can influence

• We can set a more consistent approach for managing dust effectively and give clearer direction for managing particulate matter.
• We can also give greater recognition of, and stronger direction on, the need to manage sources of greenhouse gases.

Biodiversity across the region has continued to decline, despite strong regulation and initiatives undertaken by iwi and land-owners to support healthy ecosystems for native species. This is mainly due to development in both urban and rural settings and more intensive land-use overall.

Drivers for change

We have central government direction on indigenous (native) biodiversity and continued demand for more intensive use of land, including development, which often encroaches on or degrades neighbouring habitats.

Regarding pest management, there is significant cost to landowners and a more integrated or region-wide approach could help reduce those costs and increase the effectiveness of their collaborative efforts. Pests and invasive species often out-compete, and introduced predators may directly threaten native species.

Increased mobility and globalisation increase the likelihood of new invasive species reaching our shores and efficient transport can help them spread more easily.

What we heard

• Incentivise land users to retain native forest and wetlands.
• Consider habitat protection when zoning for development.
• Better education on the importance of biodiversity through eco-tourism.
• Create and enhance spawning sites for fish and birds.
• Find the right balance to protect native species as well as fish and game species for recreation.

What we can influence

• We can assist in better identifying Significant Natural Areas as well as taonga (treasured) species and create supportive and enabling policies and legislation that ensure they are protected.
• We can provide direction to reduce threats to biodiversity and prioritise actions and set targets, for example, for the percentage of a given area that should provide healthy habitat for native plants and animals.
• We can take more of an incentivise/enable and encourage approach for people who want to do more for biodiversity – which might include targeted funding, and we can facilitate nature-based solutions. For example, planting raupo (reeds) and harakeke (flax) in the right places can act as a habitat as well as a filter to protect waterways from sediment and unwanted nutrients. Targeted biological control, rather than pesticides, can be used to control pests and invasive species.
• We can give stronger direction to district councils and require the development of a better understanding of where invasive species occur, as well as prioritizing which areas need attention soonest.
• We can clarify who is responsible for what in terms of management or control.