Valuing your environment

What do you want Wairarapa’s environment to look like in ten years time? What do you want it to be like in 30 years time?

As we divide our time between work, family, friends and commitments, we don’t often get a chance to think about the big questions.

But what could be more important than the quality of the air we breathe or the water we drink and swim in? What about the productivity of our soil, the future of our imposing and isolated coast and all of Wairarapa’s native plants and animals?

When you look at the environment day after day, it looks about the same – as good as yesterday – the same as last week. This approach can be deceiving, a bit like vacuuming your carpet. When you’re finished it looks clean, but it’s not until you shift the couch that you realise how good the carpet was 10 years ago.

Unlike carpet, we can’t replace parts of the environment when they are past it. We’ve got to keep an eye on it and make sure whatever activities that are happening aren’t slowly degrading it.

To help with that Greater Wellington has regional plans for managing water, air, soil, coasts and biodiversity. The plans help manage these crucial parts of our environment so that they remain in good health to support the people, farms and businesses of the region.

The plans intend that any development or activity is sustainable in the long term. They need to balance our economic aspirations and environmental safeguards – too restrictive and they stifle business – too permissive and they fail the environment.

Any sort of development that potentially affects the quality of our environment requires a resource consent to ensure any negative effects are taken care of. The types of activities that affect the environment are laid out in GW’s regional plans for water, air, soil, coasts and biodiversity. The plans are vital when it comes to working out what sort of development or activities can go ahead.

The regional plans were written in the late 1990s and it is time to review them. Now is a great time to ask yourself: “Are you happy with the way your environment is being managed?”

It’s your environment, so it makes sense that you tell us how you value your environment and how you want it to look in the future.

Rather than writing a draft plan and asking for your comments, we want to know what you think before we start. More than 60 people turned up to a meeting in Martinborough on Wednesday (7 July) to give us their views. We are expecting similar turnouts in Masterton (12 July) and Tinui (14 July). Similar meetings will be held throughout the Wellington region to gather opinions.

After the 20 meetings, we will be combining the community values with the environmental data that GW gathers.

Further to that we will be incorporating the Maori world view. In fact, the committee that is overseeing the regional plans is made up of seven GW councillors and seven representatives from iwi around the region. Liz Burge, Ra Smith and Liz Mellish are iwi representatives on this committee that live in Wairarapa.

Community values, Maori world view and science should give us a fully informed picture.

No other region has used this approach to reviewing their regional plans. To be successful we need the full range of views from the community.

Think about our rivers. We use them for irrigation, swimming, fishing and other water sports. They have a huge cultural significance, they are home to native fish, and native birds nest on the high spots on the gravelly beds. They need constant attention so they don’t flood our towns. All the water, fresh, silty or otherwise, pours into the sea, where it can affect our valuable reefs and fisheries.

So how should we manage Wairarapa’s rivers? How should we manage Wairarapa’s soil, coasts and biodiversity? You tell us.

To give us your opinion on-line go to www.gw.govt.nz/valuing-our-environment.