Focused effort needed

2018-04-23T14:12:00 Pacific/Auckland

23/4/2018

The Our land 2018 report released by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ last week is a good reminder of the need to keep a strong focus on managing our indigenous biodiversity and land use.

The report outlined key findings about the loss of native vegetation across the country and the reduction of coastal and lowland habitats. It also looked at the effects of erosion and intensive agriculture on our soil, which had identified some concerns.

Environment Southland chief executive Rob Phillips said protecting and enhancing biodiversity remains a high priority for the council, which has worked with other regional councils throughout the country to develop a biodiversity thinkpiece (www.es.govt.nz/environment/biodiversity). The project was the result of the councils recognising a major rethink was required in how biodiversity is managed in order to make positive progress.

We have already identified that strong leadership and focused effort is required at a national, regional and local level to get more work happening on the ground.

This includes setting priorities and targeting our collective resources at these priorities.

A key focus of this is having a more collective view, working together and making the most of the sector's expertise in working with private landowners and iwi.

We provide support and assistance through our biodiversity programme to landowners and community groups and this is where the real difference will be made.

Environment Southland also works closely with farmers to manage soil and land use.

In recent years there's been an increasing focus on wintering activities and how this can be better managed with less impact on the land and soil.

We know that soil and water quality is strongly linked to land use and land management practices. Working with our farmers is a key to making progress in our area and our land sustainability team has put a strong emphasis on preparing farm environment plans and supporting to landowners to move towards good management practices, Rob said.

Managing our soil and land use is complex, but it is what underpins Southland's future. We can't predict what the future uses might be for our land, but we need to ensure it is in the best possible condition for whatever lies ahead.