Protecting the health of our soil

Issue

Healthy soils underpin everything we do and the environment we enjoy, but they are vulnerable to some human activities and the effects of climate change.

Causes

Healthy soils can be degraded or lost altogether as a result of how we use and develop land, and as a consequence of climate change.

Why it matters

Soil is a precious taonga, it has its own intrinsic values and is valued for its productive use for growing food. The life-supporting function of soil provides essential ecosystem services that support social, cultural, environmental and economic wellbeing. Healthy soil supports the cultural use of land by Ngāi Tahu who value the mauri or good health of the land. The way soil is managed also impacts on other parts of the environment such as the health of waterbodies and air quality.

Soils are dynamic and, to some extent, can respond to the way we manage them. However, the impacts of climate change may make this more challenging. Degradation of soil quality can also release the carbon that was stored in the soil into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.

Our current goals

Our Regional Policy Statement includes some direction which must be implemented and other direction which should be implemented. We have included these in two categories below:

1. Things we must do

This is very strong policy direction that is required to be implemented:

• Ensure we manage activities to provide for long term soil conservation, such as by managing soil erosion and maintaining soil qualities, for example by managing land to avoid significant induced soil erosion
• Engage with Ngāi Tahu to identify cultural values in relation to soil.

2. Things we should do

This policy direction is strongly encouraged:

• Identify and safeguard important areas of soil for use by primary production and areas at risk of the accumulation of hazardous substances.
• Recognise that the way we manage soils can have impacts on other values such as freshwater and air.
• Look to match land-use activities with land-use capability, for example by allowing the most productive soils to be used for growing and less productive soils to be used for activities that are not dependent on the soil resource.
• Promote further initiatives that encourage activities that support healthy soils in the long-term such as particular land-use practices that maintain and improve soil quality and prevent excessive discharge of hazardous substances that accumulate in soils.

Should we change our goals?

When we consider changing goals, we need to keep in mind that other on-the-ground changes will be required to meet them. We also need to keep in mind that some of our must-do policy direction was necessary to meet the national legislation requirements of the time. Some new must-dos will be needed to meet more recent legislation.

Potential impacts of changing our policy direction

We have outlined some of the potential consequences that could result from changing our policy direction. These are high-level examples, just to illustrate that each change will have flow-on effects.

For example, putting in stronger controls to protect the long-term health of soils in our region is likely to require greater restrictions on the activities that can take place in particular locations. This could reduce opportunities for innovation. However, it is also important we retain good quality soils for growing food.

We are using the feedback we received in July and August to draft more detailed policy options, including detail about the consequences of change. You will get another opportunity to tell us what you think about those options in October this year.