Media advisory – August 16th 2013

Auckland Council new Weed Management Policy welcomed

The Weed Management Advisory (WMA) welcomes the adoption of Auckland Council’s new Weed Management Policy at the Regional Development and Operations Committee on Thursday 15th August.

Hana Blackmore of the WMA who presented to the committee a petition signed by thousands of Auckland residents that called for Council and Auckland Transport to recognise that chemical weed spraying has a significant impact on people’s health and wellbeing, said the new policy was a great step forward.

“At last we have a policy that should bring to an end the out-of-date practice of spraying glyphosate along road and pavement edges to control vegetation,” she said today.

As the WMA outlines, the policy states that it will use non-chemical techniques whenever they are available and effective (Objective 5).  Objective 2 also states that Auckland Council and its CCOs will set a best practice example for weed management on the land it owns or administers, and that in best international practice agrichemicals are used if non-chemical methods are not practical or adequate. (objective 3).

Scientist and author Dr Meriel Watts from the WMA said that the legacy Auckland and North Shore City areas have enjoyed non-chemical roadside weed management for the last 14 or more years, so it is clearly available and effective.

“Now the rest of the region can enjoy that privilege too.  This should bring a major improvement in the health and wellbeing of all Aucklanders, and a significant reduction in the contamination of waterways and the marine environment.”

Giving evidence to the committee, Dr Watts said that exposure to glyphosate is linked to a number of serious health effects including endocrine disruption, cancer, birth defects, Parkinson’s disease and respiratory problems.  In the aquatic environment it can destabilise the ecosystem resulting in algal blooms.  A NIWA study found that the marine sediment throughout the Auckland region is already contaminated with glyphosate residues and each time there is another spray round, more enters the waterways and sea.

The Weed Management Advisory do not know at this point how long it will take Auckland Transport to shift to a new non-chemical regime, but note that the technology is available as soon as Transport can alter existing contracts or roll out new ones.

Appended

Petition address to the Committee 15.8.13

PETITION TO THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS COMMITTEE – AUGUST 15TH 2013

Hana Blackmore for the Weed Management Advisory

I am honoured to present to the Regional Development and Operations Committee today a petition that has been supported by thousands of Auckland residents and ratepayers. 

The petition urges Auckland Council and Auckland Transport to recognise that chemical weed spraying has a significant impact on people’s health and wellbeing as well as the environment, and calls on them to

A.  Confirm the retention and continuation of the non-chemical roadside weed management in the legacy Auckland and North Shore cities, and

B.  Adopt non-chemical roadside weed management in the rest of the region.

I would like to take a few moments to summarise the background to this petition and why it has been necessary.

For the last fifteen years the huge majority of Auckland Council residents have enjoyed a policy of non-chemical roadside weed management. 

These policies were developed and implemented in the nineties as a result of years of community petitions, letters, presentations and submissions against the toxic chemical sprays like Roundup then being used on the streets and roads of the legacy Auckland and North Shore cities.

Indeed, as many of the community who took the petition being presented to you today out onto the street soon found out, most people in the vast urban area are simply unaware there is any other way.

Not so the people living outside these boundaries, particularly to the north and west.  They have been lobbying and submitting to their local boards and cities for years to have the same effective and sustainable systems implemented in their area. 

Many of the councillors here today are in a similar situation.  New councillors are simply unaware of the health and environmental issues that precipitated the original decision to research and develop the comprehensive and detailed weed management plans that guided the work not only on the streets and roads, but in the parks and reserves. 

But as you do know, under “super-city” amalgamation, weed control was unfortunately split down the middle.  Responsibility for streets and roads was passed to the new CCO, Auckland Transport, and Council retained parks and reserves. 

For their part, Council quickly set in train development of a new weed management plan to unify the region’s parks and reserves policies. 

But concerns rapidly arose when it was realised that the new arms-length CCO structure did not allow for any policy control or participation on what happened to weed management on Transport’s 7,200 kms of streets and roads.  

And THIS is where the vast amount of herbicides are sprayed which absolutely no-one can avoid.  And so it was back to what in effect would be minus square one, and why the petition before you now was started by one of the original Toxin Awareness Groups on the North Shore.

To cut a long story short, once this unique situation was realised, Council moved rapidly to confirm its right to determine overall policy that the CCOs would have to abide by.  And we thank both officers and councillors - (and the Mayor) - for their patience, assistance and support in actioning simple clarifications in the final draft weed management policy before you today. 

As one community representative involved in the formulation of Auckland City’s original weed policy said to us recently - there has been a tremendous amount of expertise built up in the years this policy has been in practice.  It is still a world leader and one that Auckland Council should be proud to build on. 

A similar petition in the Netherlands has just resulted in the city of Rotterdam banning the use of Roundup, or glyphosate on roadsides and pavements.

On behalf of everyone who has signed this petition, thank you for receiving it today.  There are many people who would have liked to be here, but have to work or are too ill to come into the city.  On their behalf, thank you for your support for both this petition and the new weed management policy being adopted later this morning. 

ENDS

© Scoop Media