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Otago Daily Times
17-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Working together for the wellbeing of the Manuherikia River
Clare Hadley reflects on the first year of the Waiora Manuherekia project. Waiora Manuherekia, a project of the Manuherekia Catchment group, was launched last July with $1.9 million from Ministry for the Environment Jobs for Nature funding. Jobs for Nature has an environmental focus — with many projects having the additional benefit of building community. We received this funding because the ministry recognised that our community has the most interest in the improved and sustained health of the catchment. The Manuherikia River is important to everyone in the catchment — whether it is for recreation, irrigation or for amenity. But here's the kicker — we only had one year to allocate the funding and deliver the project. It felt like a mammoth challenge. However, what we've achieved is testament to what a community, experts, farmers and our local stakeholders can do when we have a united focus, and we work together to find solutions. The starting point was to bring representatives from the Department of Conservation, Ministry for Primary Industries, NZ Landcare Trust, Otago Regional Council and Aukaha together and share a united determination to make something happen in this timeframe. We then connected with people across the catchment to guide us — and these people were invaluable because of their range of skills and experience. The first significant piece of work was wetland restoration. After a contestable process, 12 wetlands were identified to receive support for fencing or planting (or both). One of the farms will host a trial for the Otago Regional Council on different restoration methods. In other work, we've heard a clear message that continuing the trail alongside the river to Riverside Park is a high priority. Thanks to Phil Murray (Central Otago Environmental Society) for bringing mountain bikers and kayakers together to identify what's important to them. Together with the Central Otago District Council we're working with Contact Energy to try to make this a reality. We had a vision to connect with younger people and link them to the Manuherikia River through a River of Dreams competition. It was inspiring to see the ways that younger people showed their love and appreciation for the river. A significant focus has been on willow trees in the catchment. I think we can all agree that willow trees are a blessing and a curse. In the right place they can have a stabilising influence on the land and provide shade in the heat of the summers of Central Otago. In the wrong place they affect water quantity and flow. Over the past six months, we've removed willows from a range of places — including Riverside Park at the confluence in Alexandra — and sprayed willows in the headwaters of creeks. At a few sites where willows have been removed planting of native plants is already under way, including at Poolburn Gorge, Hills Creek rest area and Lauder Creek at the Rail Trail bridge. It doesn't stop there. Waiora Manuherekia has funded work to understand sediment loss, erosion and flow paths in our catchment. We will be sharing all this great data with farmers and landowners in the coming months, giving them information to help their decision-making. Most importantly in my mind is that this project, Waiora Manuherekia, has created a place for people with different views to contribute to common goals — especially related to a river we all appreciate. It has initiated conversations across our community on what's important for and around the river. It's a well-known adage that old men plant trees whose shade they will never sit under, and I feel like that's true for this project. The work we're doing now will have long-reaching and lasting impacts. Thank you to those who have supported, advised, contributed, challenged — this truly was a community effort. • Clare Hadley is general manager of the Manuherekia Catchment Group.
Scoop
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Biodiversity Credit Won't Fix Damage Done By Luxon Govt
Press Release – Green Party This is a bandaid on a gaping wound which does nothing to address a deepening crisis and runs the risk of being mere greenwashing, says the Green Party spokesperson for Agriculture Steve Abel. The Green Party says the Government's newly announced Biodiversity Credit scheme is a tiny positive that doesn't undo the biodiversity harm caused by the Luxon Government. 'This is a bandaid on a gaping wound which does nothing to address a deepening crisis and runs the risk of being mere greenwashing,' says the Green Party spokesperson for Agriculture Steve Abel. 'While credit schemes and covenants are an important pathway to protecting vital biodiversity on farmland, these alone are not nearly enough to address the biodiversity crisis in Aotearoa. 'One tiny step in the right direction does not make up for the significant damage this Government is doing to the environment in many ways including through cuts to the Predator Free programme, Department of Conservation funding, significant natural area identification, and Jobs for Nature. 'You cannot pretend to care for biodiversity while openly making policy that destroys it, targeting wetlands as a cash cow through tax deductibility, weakening or removing protections for freshwater, and allowing significant pollution to be permitted in our most vulnerable waterways. 'Furthermore, market and corporate driven biodiversity credits can be little more than a greenwashing tool – and there's proven to be very little demand without regulatory requirements for them. 'Protecting biodiversity is in everyone's interests, especially farmers. Our Green Budget proposed significant investment in supporting landowners to protect and restore their environments, rather than leaving it to the corporate world to pick up the slack in light of extensive government cuts,' says Steve Abel.
Scoop
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Biodiversity Credit Won't Fix Damage Done By Luxon Govt
Press Release – Green Party This is a bandaid on a gaping wound which does nothing to address a deepening crisis and runs the risk of being mere greenwashing, says the Green Party spokesperson for Agriculture Steve Abel. The Green Party says the Government's newly announced Biodiversity Credit scheme is a tiny positive that doesn't undo the biodiversity harm caused by the Luxon Government. 'This is a bandaid on a gaping wound which does nothing to address a deepening crisis and runs the risk of being mere greenwashing,' says the Green Party spokesperson for Agriculture Steve Abel. 'While credit schemes and covenants are an important pathway to protecting vital biodiversity on farmland, these alone are not nearly enough to address the biodiversity crisis in Aotearoa. 'One tiny step in the right direction does not make up for the significant damage this Government is doing to the environment in many ways including through cuts to the Predator Free programme, Department of Conservation funding, significant natural area identification, and Jobs for Nature. 'You cannot pretend to care for biodiversity while openly making policy that destroys it, targeting wetlands as a cash cow through tax deductibility, weakening or removing protections for freshwater, and allowing significant pollution to be permitted in our most vulnerable waterways. 'Furthermore, market and corporate driven biodiversity credits can be little more than a greenwashing tool – and there's proven to be very little demand without regulatory requirements for them. 'Protecting biodiversity is in everyone's interests, especially farmers. Our Green Budget proposed significant investment in supporting landowners to protect and restore their environments, rather than leaving it to the corporate world to pick up the slack in light of extensive government cuts,' says Steve Abel.
Scoop
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Biodiversity Credit Won't Fix Damage Done By Luxon Govt
The Green Party says the Government's newly announced Biodiversity Credit scheme is a tiny positive that doesn't undo the biodiversity harm caused by the Luxon Government. 'This is a bandaid on a gaping wound which does nothing to address a deepening crisis and runs the risk of being mere greenwashing,' says the Green Party spokesperson for Agriculture Steve Abel. 'While credit schemes and covenants are an important pathway to protecting vital biodiversity on farmland, these alone are not nearly enough to address the biodiversity crisis in Aotearoa. 'One tiny step in the right direction does not make up for the significant damage this Government is doing to the environment in many ways including through cuts to the Predator Free programme, Department of Conservation funding, significant natural area identification, and Jobs for Nature. 'You cannot pretend to care for biodiversity while openly making policy that destroys it, targeting wetlands as a cash cow through tax deductibility, weakening or removing protections for freshwater, and allowing significant pollution to be permitted in our most vulnerable waterways. 'Furthermore, market and corporate driven biodiversity credits can be little more than a greenwashing tool - and there's proven to be very little demand without regulatory requirements for them. 'Protecting biodiversity is in everyone's interests, especially farmers. Our Green Budget proposed significant investment in supporting landowners to protect and restore their environments, rather than leaving it to the corporate world to pick up the slack in light of extensive government cuts,' says Steve Abel.
Otago Daily Times
10-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
QEII National Trust set to dramatically scale back work
The Remarkables Station near Queenstown is protected with a QEII covenant - having been gifted to the QEII National Trust in 2022. Photo: Supplied Landowners are being told their requests for help conserving precious native land may have to wait, as the QEII National Trust faces a funding crunch. The conservation organisation said it would have to dramatically reduce the number of new covenants it was protecting across the motu from next month, when the Department of Conservation's Jobs for Nature funding ran out. Makarora resident Gary Charteris was among the thousands of landowners who have protected pieces of wetland, grassland or forest under a QEII covenant since 1977, to prevent it ever being developed, cleared or subdivided. Charteris said he wanted to ensure his beloved 30 hectares of pasture, beech forest and native mistletoe would never be sliced up or sold. "At some stage in the future, someone, some property developer, might decide to develop it and subdivide it and build little houses all over it. And I wanted to prevent that," he said. He said the process was straightforward and - with the addition of a walking track last month - gave everyone a chance to enjoy the land. "I've lived here for 40 years and I've had a lot of enjoyment out of just wandering through the bush, and I can't see why other people can't," he said. For each covenant, the Trust helped out with the legal paperwork, survey costs and boundary fencing, and offered advice for pest control, weeding and long-term land care. Despite strong demand for new covenants - with waitlists in some regions - QEII National Trust chief executive Dan Coup said the Trust was preparing to dramatically scale back its work. The Trust relied largely on government funding, and its budget was set to shrink. It protected 141 new covenants in 2024, 153 in 2023, and 170 in 2022 - but next year could look a little different, Coup said. "Next year we will be lucky to be able to do a quarter to a third of the number of covenants we have done over the last few years. So it does mean that there's going to be quite a number of more people that we're going to be turning away or at least saying we can't afford to help you right now," he said. The Trust received annual funding of just over $4.27 million. In February, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced a new $4.5 million funding package over three years. But that coincided with another key funding source coming to an end - the Jobs for Nature programme, funded by the government and administered by the Department of Conservation. It gave the Trust $8 million over four years, from 2021. Coup said the Trust would soon have just a little more than it needed to cover its core operations and support existing landowners. Environmental Defence Society chief executive Gary Taylor - a former QEII National Trust director - was appalled. "I think I think it's ridiculous that QEII is struggling on around about $5 million a year. It should be on $25 million a year and then it would be able to do proportionately a lot more and and do it in a way that's consistent with the government's overall political philosophy and direction," he said. Coup said the Trust had been looking at ways to avoid cutting back on new covenants. "We're obviously talking to officials and politicians as much as we can, and crowdfunding," he said. "We think this is a really effective investment of Crown money to improve both biodiversity but also ecosystems service outcomes for communities." Taylor believed crowdfunding and bequests wouldn't cut it. "I think there's a lot of demand on philanthropic and private investment in conservation at the moment. DOC itself is looking to bulk up its revenue sources with philanthropic support. There's only so much that philanthropy can do," he said. "This is something that requires so little additional funding to make it really roll that we should look to government to support. We could take $25 million out of Shane Jones's $200 million for oil and gas and that would give us something meaningful." In a statement, Potaka reiterated his support for the trust and its important mahi protecting landscapes and ecosystems. Asked if the government would consider additional funding for QEII, he said like with many other important conservation projects, further budget investments would be "considered in due course".
