Fact Sheet 10 : The Environment

This Fact Sheet was prepared for the July 2002 General Election Campaign.

There have been significant environmental issues highlighted in this term of Government. The decision to stop native logging on the West Coast of the South Island and pay compensation, the debate about the Kyoto Protocol, and the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification are some major examples.

Genetic Engineering

The Government established a Royal Commission to make recommendations on genetic modification. The major theme of the Royal Commissions report was "preserving opportunities". The Commission thought it unwise for New Zealand to turn its back on the potential advantages on offer from genetic modification, but recommended that New Zealand should proceed carefully and implement genetic modification cautiously, minimising and managing risks.

The Government supported the overall strategy of preserving opportunities suggested by the Royal Commission, stated it is primarily concerned about the health and safety of all New Zealanders and their environment, and wants to take a precautionary approach to how to proceed with genetic modification. The Government differed with the Royal Commission's recommendations in two main areas:

- the extent to which commercial release should be possible in the immediate future
- the conditions under which research should be able to proceed.

The Government therefore went further than the Royal Commission and announced a legislated two-year constraint period during which time no applications can be lodged with the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) for release of GMOs except those that provide direct benefits to human health or animal health, or in accordance with the existing emergency provisions of the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act.

The Government also went further than the Royal Commission by clarifying its expectation that all research must meet strict safety standards. This includes specific mandatory conditions to be applied to any research approval to ensure that appropriate environmental and health safeguards are imposed.

This will include explicit conditions on contained field tests of genetically modified plants and animals to ensure that :

- Once a plant reaches the stage where it is capable of releasing heritable material (eg, seed), any reproductive structure above the ground must be securely contained or immediately removed and destroyed.
- Any plant heritable material beneath the ground (eg, potato) must be either destroyed once the test is complete or retained in conditions of high security. All material associated with the trial must be removable from the site by destruction or otherwise.
- Any animals involved in field tests, including their offspring, must be held in secure containment and clearly identified.
- Appropriate inspection and monitoring conditions will be compulsory.

The Greens argue that the moratorium should be extended as there is no way back once commercial release is allowed. They have made that a bottom line issue in terms of any future Coalition with Labour and have said they will not support the Government on confidence and supply (i.e. its ability to govern) if the moratorium is lifted in October 2003.

National supports lifting the moratorium.

ACT say that biotechnology, and in particular genetic modification technology, is becoming increasingly important, world-wide, to the production of food (as it already is with medicine). ACT say they can see opportunities for NZ's farmers and growers to both use and further develop these technologies but only if caution is exercised. ACT say however that provided reasonably safety criteria are met, it is then a matter of producer choice as to what production technologies will be employed.

ACT however attack the operation of ERMA NZ (Environmental Risk Management Authority) which they say is imposing prohibitive regulatory costs on the primary sector. ACT supports much greater use of the principle of equivalence whereby products that have satisfied regulatory scrutiny in other countries are accepted here. This could expose New Zealand to a high level of risk.

Kyoto Protocol

This Government supports the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. This is because there is significant scientific evidence that carbon and other greenhouse gases are warming the earth's surface and affecting our climate. The policies announced by the Government to implement the reduction of emissions includes a carbon charge from 2007/8. Because of our forests New Zealand has a high level of carbon sink credits.

The Government has decided these should belong to the country, not forest owners. The Government has exempted methane and nitrous oxide from any charges. This assists the agricultural sector. Most of our emissions are from methane (belched from livestock) but there are no easy ways of reducing this.

The Government has agreed that firms at risk of disinvestment and loss of jobs due to a carbon charge can negotiate a greenhouse gas agreement with the Government that will remove a carbon charge in return for an agreed programme to reduce emissions.

National do not support the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. This is despite the fact that they signed the agreement in 1997.