Greenpeace submission on the Natural and Built Environments Bill
Channel: Nick Young
Date: 2021-08-26

Duncan Currie and Steve Abel present the Greenpeace Aotearoa submission the the Environment Committee on the Natural and Built Environments Bill: Parliamentary Paper.

Aotearoa’s environmental legislation must reflect the transformational economy that is necessary to address the climate crisis, biodiversity crisis and planetary boundaries for coming decades. It cannot be ‘business as usual’. Our greenhouse gas emissions, are too high, and climate change is already affecting the planet as well as Aotearoa, pressure on our natural resources is widespread, our waterways are suffering from intensive farming and pollution, land use change has degraded our water and land while urban growth is reducing versatile land and biodiversity, urban areas are causing pollution, and the ocean is continuing to be polluted, fisheries are unsustainable in terms of bycatch and target catch and habitat destruction. And all while climate change and biodiversity loss threaten the very existence of the environment, ecosystems and species on which the planet and humanity depend.
It is essential that all aspects of the proposed RMA reform process be addressed: the proposed Climate Adaptation Act (CAA) Strategic Planning Act (SPA) and the Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA) should therefore be addressed together. This is particularly so with the CMA and NBA, to ensure that climate considerations are mainstreamed in the legislation.