Greenpeace today cautiously welcomed the Government’s announcement of the principles and process to craft legislation to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA).
However the environmental campaigning organisation said the new law must protect environmental bottom lines in a way that the RMA failed to.
“The RMA created a consenting process that traded off private profit driven development against environmental destruction, which cumulatively resulted in an environmental death spiral,” said Greenpeace Aotearoa Executive Director Dr Russel Norman.
“The result is the polluted rivers, spiralling greenhouse emissions and biodiversity collapse we see today in Aotearoa. Our groundwater is now poisoned from the north to the south.
“It is hopeful that the proposed new legislation will incorporate biophysical limits that must not be breached. The test of the new legislation will be exactly what those limits are and whether these public interest environmental protections trump private profit driven applications.
“Whatever replaces the RMA must effectively regulate our most polluting industry – dairying. That means stopping nitrate pollution entering freshwater from milk processing, synthetic nitrogen fertiliser and too many cows.”
“We are also pleased to see greater recognition for te Tiriti o Waitangi and Te Mana o te Taiao – the mana of the environment. We hope this will both help to redress some colonial injustice while improving environmental protection”, said Norman
Our government and the world is asleep at the wheel. Governments with industry are destroying the fundamentals of life because our laws like RMA have been lobbied to the point where they support the worst polluters not society and fundamentals of all life, like nature.
Streams in Hawke’s Bay have dried up after being deep enough to swim just one week ago, stoking fears of another drought.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/435391/extreme-drought-fears-in-hawke-s-bay-after-streams-dramatically-dry-up?fbclid=IwAR0Z6UzFYXdcLJqvbU6IqSxNjdAdHxxC_XnuzTIqKEawxG0TlYmK6Lgtq58
Lake Poopó: why Bolivia’s second largest lake disappeared – and how to bring it back
https://theconversation.com/lake-poopo-why-bolivias-second-largest-lake-disappeared-and-how-to-bring-it-back-152776?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=bylinefacebookbutton&fbclid=IwAR0oWf8vwCu47rTUCx1aIQkY8mMY7oD6bsN8klkI0RXTd6LFfHyJMsqOUcM
Climate change is hitting the Colorado River ‘incredibly fast and incredibly hard’
https://www.azcentral.com/in-depth/news/local/arizona-environment/2021/01/01/colorado-rivers-headwaters-climate-change-drives-efforts-adapt/6461183002/?fbclid=IwAR2y5HMHQvjQzX4S1A6xFVWsrZqdHBU3WD1Y_FEcnHuKr8RzArEAe2K0YoM
Inequality starts with destroying natural resources.
The scandal of millions of Americans deprived of running water
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2020/jul/02/the-scandal-of-millions-of-americans-being-deprived-of-running-water-podcast
What happens to locals as the councils and governments give the water away to private firms…
The fight to stop Nestlé from taking America’s water to sell in plastic bottles
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/29/the-fight-over-water-how-nestle-dries-up-us-creeks-to-sell-water-in-plastic-bottles
Coca-Cola sucking wells dry in indigenous Mexican town – forcing residents to buy bottled water
Bottling plant ‘consumes more than a million litres of water a day’
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coca-cola-mexico-wells-dry-bottled-water-sucking-san-felipe-ecatepec-chiapas-a7953026.html
Coca-Cola Charged With Groundwater Depletion and Pollution in India
https://www.thoughtco.com/coca-cola-groundwater-depletion-in-india-1204204
The company admits that without water it would have no business at all. Coca-Cola’s operations rely on access to vast supplies of water, as it takes almost three litres of water to make one litre of Coca-Cola. In order to satisfy this need, Coca-Cola is increasingly taking over control of aquifers in communities around the world. These vast subterranean chambers hold water resources collected over many hundreds of years. As such they the represent the heritage of entire communities.
https://waronwant.org/media/coca-cola-drinking-world-dry
Chinese company approved to run water mining operation in drought-stricken Queensland
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/28/chinese-company-approved-to-run-water-mining-operation-in-drought-stricken-queensland
IN NZ
Consent granted for Chinese water bottling giant to purchase Otakiri Spring
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/104695650/consent-granted-for-chinese-water-bottling-giant-to-purchase-otakiri-spring
Chinese water bottling plant’s proposal to take water from Whakatane aquifer ‘sustainable’, court hears
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/chinese-water-bottling-plants-proposal-take-whakatane-aquifer-sustainable-court-hears
Canterbury water on way to Chinese market as bottling plant starts production
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/107721548/canterbury-water-on-way-to-chinese-market-as-bottling-plant-starts-production
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