11 February 2008
Media Statement
Ministry stands by decision to drop conclusion chapter
The Ministry for the Environment is releasing the draft conclusions chapter of the state of the environment report
Environment New Zealand 2007 to provide transparency around its content. Todd Krieble, General Manager Reporting and
Communications, says the Ministry stands by its decision not to have a conclusions chapter in the report. "The decision
was made to let the facts in the report speak for themselves. The substance of the draft conclusions chapter is
contained in the Minister's foreword to the report, the separate summary document, and throughout the report itself."
"The pressures on the environment from intensification of land use and agriculture are widely covered in the report.
They were highlighted in a summary of key findings when the report was released, and reiterated publicly at the launch
event in January," Mr Krieble said. "We made it clear then, and I will reiterate now, that the report identifies some
serious pressures on New Zealand's environment. Land use intensification, both urban and rural, is one of those, along
with household consumption, transport, energy use and waste." Mr Krieble says the original project scope for Environment
New Zealand 2007 did not include a conclusions chapter.
Well into the process, the team preparing the report drafted a conclusions chapter to help readers understand its
complex content. But a peer review of the draft conclusions chapter by central government agencies and regional councils
made clear that it qualitative content was not in line with the factual nature of the report, he says.
"A cardinal sin of environmental reporting is to let comment and qualitative analysis go further than can be supported
by the facts." Within three weeks of the peer review, a decision was made by the Ministry to take out the conclusions
chapter. This happened well before the report was shown to Cabinet in October. "No Ministers saw the draft conclusions
chapter. Nor was it distributed to any group associated with the agricultural sector. It was sent to the Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry's peer reviewers.
From March 2007, early drafts of all chapters were given to peer reviewers, solely to check that the Ministry's use of
facts supplied to it was correct. That is standard professional reporting practice," said Mr Krieble.
"The Ministry looks forward to the discussion about what the facts in this report mean for New Zealand's environmental
management."
The draft conclusions chapter is available at:
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/state/reporting/enz07-draft-conclusion-chapter.html
ENDS