29 Aug 2017

Know your policy: Environment

From Election17 - Policy Comparisons, 11:13 am on 29 August 2017

Photo: RNZ / Hans Weston

From October 2018, international visitors to pay double the fee on the five most popular Great Walks
International visitors would pay 50 percent more for the other Great Walks and back-country hut passes
More than double the amount of funding available through the Department of Conservation Community Fund, from $4.6 million to $10 million a year
Introduce national targets to increase proportions of swimmable waters to 80 percent by 2030 and to 90 percent by 2040
Staggered approach to excluding stock from most lakes, rivers and streams through to 2030
Boost Predator Free 2050 with $69.2 million of new funding over the next four years to ramp up the ambitious, world-leading pest eradication programme.

Ensure rivers and lakes are genuinely swimmable, without trickery around standards
Restore the health of waterways so that fish and invertebrates can thrive in them
Ban farmers from intensifying their operations unless they have a resource consent
Introduce a royalty on commercial water use
Carbon neutral by 2050: - Agriculture would gradually be included in the emissions trading scheme (ETS) by the end of the party's first term, starting with giving the sector 90 percent of emissions free /- Emissions targets would be set in law and an independent body would look at how its zero carbon policy could be achieved.

Create a new marine mammal sanctuary off the Taranaki coast
Immediate 10 cent/litre levy on water bottling and exports and develop a fair way to charge commercial water users
Local councils expected to use that levy to clean up waterways, and protect drinking water sources and infrastructure
Interim ban on new resource consents for water exporting and bottling
Require 100 percent of the country's electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2030

Photo: 123RF

Introduce a $20 Tourism Levy for international visitors, with three-quarters of that levy going towards the Predator Free 2050 Limited project
Set a target to get half of New Zealand's freight moving by rail and sea within 10 years
Introduce a plan to reduce the nation's greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and create a climate commission
Would require environmental measures to be reported on alongside gross domestic product
Would introduce legislation to underground water sources a matter of national importance

Make sure developers are responsible to their communities to avoid, remedy and mitigate adverse environmental effects
Oppose the Emissions Trading Scheme
Advocate the government and industry work together to address pollution
Ensure the Resource Management Act is stringently applied to all fracking operations
Support 'threatened species' recovery programmes
Encourage the development of 'eco-tourism' centres such as Kaikōura
Urgently advance work on the development of rubbish disposal alternatives
Continue the phasing out of organo-chlorides and facilitate the development of safe alternatives
Approach GM/GE with extreme caution, and only under secure confined laboratory conditions
Establish a formal planning process to develop strategies to achieve fossil carbon reduction relevant to New Zealand
Water is a common good and cannot be owned by any person or by the Crown
Priorities for granting water rights must place public benefit before private benefit
Requirements for domestic supply of water must prevail over all other takes and uses

Photo: 123RF

Free markets, far from being incompatible with good environmental custodianship, are essential to it
Introduce better water management so that water rights can be traded
Sell Landcorp and put the proceeds into a Sanctuary Trust
Introduce pricing of road use to reduce congestion and emissions

Legislate to protect freshwater and give it the status of tāonga
Establish a Minister for Freshwater to give priority to addressing freshwater protection, rights and interests
Set up an annual Te Mana O Te Wai funding to support community projects such as planting riparian buffers and establish wetlands.
Make the freshwater standard ‘drinkable’
Support a levy on all tourists entering Aotearoa to improve infrastructure and impacts on the environment
Support research and development of a natural alternative to 1080
Enhance biodiversity within the marine area and prevent the extinction of the Māui dolphin and other marine life
Establish whānau friendly cities encouraging young people to have a voice in the design and planning of their cities starting with green spaces in urban centres
Develop grants to fund mentors to support whānau to develop alternative energy sources
Champion solar panels for government agencies, hospitals, schools and marae
Close all coal fired power plants by 2025
Ensure mana whenua are consulted on all oil and mineral exploration permits

Introduce a royalties regime that attaches a price to water when it is taken
Create a $10 million per year contestable fund for the purpose of funding innovative research into New Zealand's environment
Provide targeted funding for research into didymo with the intention of exterminating it from rivers
Extend the powers of the Walking Access Commission so they can advocate for secure appropriate public access to resources such as rivers
Establish a Public Commission into long term pest control strategies and the use of 1080
Fund community initiatives that seek to aid the Predator Free by 2050 strategy

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