5 August - Wellington
PCE's sustainable development report: Government should release its own sustainable development draft strategy
Forest and Bird today urged the Government to release its own draft sustainable development strategy.
Forest and Bird's call came in response to the substantial report of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the
Environment's (PCE) on the need for a sustainable development strategy in New Zealand..
"Eric Pyle, Forest and Bird's Conservation Manager said We understand that the Government has developed a draft strategy
which was all ready for release on 17 June.
"The Government should release this draft strategy now, in the lead up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(Rio + 10) conference in South Africa later this month, so that New Zealand's performance can be assessed."
"Sustainable development is common sense," says Mr Pyle. "New Zealand's prosperity is reliant on its clean green image
and its environmental resource base. It is in our interest to look after our environment well and develop in a
sustainable way."
The PCE report notes that after an exceptionally quick start in the 1980s on implementing a sustainable development
agenda, New Zealand is now a laggard. "This report confirms Forest and Bird's view that we need to make more progress on
environmental issues. For example, water quality in New Zealand's streams and rivers has got worse during the 1990s."
The PCE's report stated that the Government's priority on economic growth "has the potential to accelerate us towards
unsustainability if it simply means escalating energy consumption, waste and pollution problems". The Government should
reflect on this and the point that a clear "challenge of sustainable development is maintaining and enhancing the
quality of life that may or may not necessitate economic growth in its traditional sense, ie an endless expansion of the
economy".
"The problem is GDP tells us little about our overall wellbeing", says Mr Pyle. "What's the point in having the highest
GDP if New Zealanders can't safely swim in rivers or breath the air without coughing."
"More than any other country in the world, New Zealand has a major opportunity to show some international leadership on
sustainable development", says Mr Pyle. "Our international credibility will continue to fall if we don't finalise a
robust sustainable development strategy.
Barry Weeber Senior Researcher Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society PO Box 631 Wellington New Zealand Phone
64-4-385-7374 Fax 64-4-385-7373 www.forest-bird.org.nz