MAF Policy News
Issue 3, April 2007
In this issue:
Guidelines for sustainable development
Permanent Forest Sink Initiative moves ahead
Climate change consultation closes
The future for the primary sector as seen by MAF's Director-General
Clarifying access to waterways and unformed legal roads
Guidelines for sustainable development
Economic development and growth and environmental quality are compatible. This is one of the guiding principles of a new framework for sustainable development that will shape policy thinking within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF).
The framework is outlined in a new MAF publication: Sustainable Development of New Zealand Agriculture and Forestry: A framework for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. "MAF's view of sustainable development does not focus on win:lose trade-offs between economic growth and the environment," says Peter Winsley, MAF Policy Strategy Development Director. "We argue that a high-quality environment is dependent on appropriately managed economic growth."
More information
Permanent Forest Sink Initiative moves ahead
The PFSI promotes the establishment of forests on previously unforested land. As the rollout of the PFSI nears, we are finalising the regulations and administration details.
We are now seeking feedback from potential participants on the proposed regulations, fees and covenant. If you would like to know more, please take the time to read our consultation document, The Permanent Forest Sink Initiative: A consultation document on the proposed regulations, cost recovery methods and forest sink covenant.
More information
- Read the latest PFSI Bulletin
- Read the consultation document
Climate change consultation closes
Reports of the sustainable land management and climate change consultation public meetings are now available on our website.
Thank you to all of you who took the time to attend a meeting or make a submission. We are now beginning the process of analysing the submissions and preparing a report for Cabinet.
More information
- Read the meeting reports
Opportunities, threats and sustainability: The future for the primary sector as seen by MAF's Director-General
MAF's Director-General, Mr Murray Sherwin, outlined his perspective on the challenges facing farmers and growers when speaking to delegates attending the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society's annual conference in Queenstown.
"The trick," Mr Sherwin said, "will be to pay real concern to a range of values that are becoming increasingly important to our customers and to meet those market demands more efficiently than our competitors."
Mr Sherwin outlined the challenges to primary producers as: a rise in discerning global consumers; the emergence of new forms of trade protection; increasing competition from low-cost producers; and growing pressure on New Zealand's natural resources.
More information
- Read the speech
Clarifying access to waterways and unformed legal roads
The Walking Access Consultation Panel presented its report to the Minister for Rural Affairs on 7 March. The Panel's report was accompanied by two research reports written by Brian Hayes, a former Registrar-General of Land. Mr Hayes' reports provide an interesting historical and legal perspective on unformed legal roads and access along waterways.
Roading law as it applies to unformed roads explains the nature of the "Queen's highway", what the free right of passage is, why the current statute law is dominant in roading practice, why the statute law does not differentiate between formed and unformed roads, and the special character of roads along rivers, lakes and the sea.
Elements of the law on movable water boundaries highlights elements in our waterside law that detract from a stable legal environment where the landowner and recreational user may have a mutual understanding. It also shows that we need legislation to protect landowners and the recreational users from inadequacies in such law as we now have.
More information
- Read the Panel's report to the Minister for Rural Affairs
- Read Roading law as it applies to unformed roads
- Read Elements of the law on movable water boundaries
New reports and publications
The dairying and clean streams accord: snapshot of progress – 2005/2006 [493K PDF]
This report shows the progress Fonterra farmers have made towards meeting The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord targets during the 2005/2006 season. It records a continuation of the significant progress made towards the targets since 2003, but also highlights areas for concern with regard to compliance with resource consent and regional plan requirements.
The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord is an agreement between the Ministers of Agriculture and for the Environment, Fonterra Co-operative Group and regional councils. Signed in May 2003, its aim is to achieve clean healthy water, including streams, rivers, lakes, groundwater and wetlands, in dairying areas.
Sustainable Farming Fund E-News Issue 14
The latest issue of E-News has information about the 2007/08 SFF funding round and reports on SFF projects: growing wheat and feeding sheep; economics of varying levels of herd reproductive performance; and developing information resources and training workshops about managing internal parasites.
Area of forest "at risk" from deforestation
Large-scale deforestation of planted forests is a new phenomenon. This report uses a range of methods to determine the "profitability" of switching land use from forestry to agriculture.
2006 deforestation intentions survey results
This report provides a structured review of the deforestation intentions of large-scale forest owners (owners with more than 10,000 ha of forest).
Coming soon
In late April MAF Policy will release the latest edition of our annual National Exotic Forest Description.
Later this month the MAF Policy will be releasing PFSI: A guide to eligible land. This short publication will help landowners decide if their land can earn carbon credits under the PFSI.
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