The Sustainable Development Approach
Our natural environment is very much a part of who we are as New Zealanders - it's where we live, work, and play and is at the heart of our economic prosperity. How we use and develop our natural resources is crucial in the longer term to our quality of life and that of our children.
To continue to grow in an increasingly global and competitive environment, we need more skilled people participating in the work force, social stability, a competitive economic environment, and research and innovation to keep us ahead of our competitors. Our primary industries play a vital role in contributing to all these areas and overall economic growth. The growth and productivity of our primary sector is influenced by a number of interrelated factors, the most predominant is the quality and quantity of our natural resources and how we manage these. The way we use and develop our natural resources is becoming more important as locally, nationally and globally we increasingly see the negative impact our actions have on our environment.
We need to take a sustainable approach to development of these resources to make sure they generate benefits not just now - but in the future. Sustainable development is about improving the quality of people's lives while maintaining and protecting the key environmental elements such as clean air, water, and productive soils. These are things which will determine, now and in the future, our economic prosperity and our lifestyles.
A fundamental principle in sustainable development is integrated decision-making. This means when we make decisions about how we use our natural resources we need to think about the connections and effects of these decisions on other aspects that contribute to sustainability. Integrated decision-making is instrumental in the primary sector where the relationships between social and economic wellbeing and a healthy environment are so interdependent. Agriculture, horticulture and forestry cover 52 percent of New Zealand's land area and use about 77 percent of New Zealand's abstracted water. Land and water have interrelated environmental, cultural, recreational, health and economic values, all of which need to be considered when developing policy and regulatory interventions on how we use these resources.
Similarly, biosecurity and food safety decisions, which manage the flow of goods and people across our border, assure our health, and develop domestic regulations to help protect the things we value, need to take account of impacts on all aspects of sustainability. Integrated decision-making for sustainable development is about aiming for win-win solutions without compromising the long term integrity of our natural environment.
There is growing pressure to understand and take action to address the negative environmental impacts caused by the primary industries; these impacts also need to be balanced with the positive contributions they make. Given these pressures MAF has positioned itself as a sustainability agency aiming to help lift the performance of the agriculture, horticulture, food, and forestry industries in a way which is sustainable.
Contact for Enquiries
Strategy and Performance Group
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0738
Contact this person
