New national environmental standard to untangle forestry rules

Wednesday 17th June 2015

Detailed rules governing the environmental impact of the plantation forestry industry are being taken out of the hands of local government and replaced by a new National Environmental Standard under the Resource Management Act in a bid to streamline forestry operations and improve environmental outcomes.

The forestry sector is the latest to be targeted by an NES or one of its companion documents, a National Policy Statement, as the government moves increasingly to use the RMA's tools for nationally dictated standards.

The NES, first mooted in 2009, had been delayed while the government settled freshwater policy, now also the subject of an NES, and is intended to deal with what officials judged had become a level of "unwarranted variation" across 78 different local bodies' rules for forestry operations, creating both operational uncertainty for forestry companies and uncertain environmental outcomes.

"Unwarranted variation is defined as variation that does not provide any discernible environmental, economic, social or cultural benefit and imposes a cost on forestry sector participants (not just forestry operators)," the regulatory impact statement released with the new NES says. "This leads to higher than necessary costs for councils, forest owners and operators, local communities and environmental non-governmental organisations.

Among key areas to be covered by the NES are rules on erosion, earthworks and river crossings, and water quality.

The new national planning framework, which is now open for public consultation and is expected to be implemented next year, will codify "good industry and environmental practice."

"Reduced plan advocacy costs for forestry stakeholders and reduced plan development costs for councils are also expected," the RIS said. "Codification of good practice will introduce some costs, primarily to the forestry industry and local government, due to a slight increase in consents and associated in-house compliance, as well as increased requirements for permitted activity monitoring and auditing.

"Some costs will reduce over time as knowledge increases and processes are standardised."

The proposed NES was launched by Environment Minister Nick Smith and Associate Primary Industries Minister Jo Goodhew at Paengaroa Forest in the Bay of Plenty.

“The current system for environmental regulation of forestry is complex and confusing with thousands of different rules across New Zealand’s 78 councils," said Smith. "This proposed standard will simplify the rules and save the forestry industry millions in compliance costs while ensuring environmental issues like wilding pines, protecting spawning fish and erosion are better managed.” .

Other new policy statements and standards cover electricity, coastal management, freshwater management, telecommunications and water metering.

Goodhew said the new rules would be particularly helpful where plantation forests stretched across more than one local authority's boundaries.

“Forest operators will no longer need to ensure their crews meet multiple sets of planning rules, and the industry will be able to standardise their systems. It will also save the forestry industry from having to participate in hundreds of local planning processes and appeals across the many councils," she said.

The proposal introduces technical standards for plantation forestry activities and includes a draft set of rules for each of the eight core plantation forestry activities: afforestation, pruning and thinning-to-waste, earthworks, river crossings, forestry quarrying, harvesting, mechanical land preparation, and replanting.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet