Calder Cam: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Calder Cam: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:661;Page:9507] 
Dr CAM CALDER (National) 
: 
 “Why a stocktake?” I hear the call from members on the other side of the Chamber. I tell those members that it is pertinent to consider the prescience and thoughtfulness of those people who 30 40 or 50 years ago did a stocktake of the resources that lay in the north and south Taranaki bights and also on the land area of north and south Taranaki. Last year $2.8 billion worth of oil and gas was exported by this country. It was our third-biggest export earner. As we have heard the Department of Conservation manages and oversees the conservation of New Zealand’s natural heritage assets the length and breadth of New Zealand covering about a third of New Zealand’s land area our marine reserves and our wonderful freshwater resources. 
The Department of Conservation administers a conservation estate in which flourish the towering tawa the stately kauri the glossy green-leaved karaka the ravishing rhododendron and the tree that cause our foreshores to blaze with crimson fire every summer and captures the spirit of a New Zealand Christmas. I am referring of course to the beautiful pohutukawa. The Department of Conservation has a role in fostering recreation in areas under its management. It is thanks to the Department of Conservation that we can all go up the Panekiri Bluff on those sturdy aluminium ladders to gasp our way into the hut and get a refreshing draft from the tank that exists up there at the top of the Panekiri Bluff in the Ureweras which embrace the jewel of Lake Waikaremoana. 
It is thanks to the Department of Conservation that a weary tramper has a superb hut right alongside the Welcome Flat hot springs. It is a perfect spot to rest after making the journey up the Copland River or a traverse across the Southern Alps east to west through the Copland Pass. We owe a great debt to the Department of Conservation’s programme of vermin eradication that a marked track runs down the true left of the Joes River in Fiordland. It is a huge advantage as I found to my cost a little bit over the Christmas holidays that the true right is virtually impossible owing to the density of the undergrowth in this seldom-visited area of Fiordland. We have a lot to thank the Department of Conservation for. 
The department is funded mainly through Vote Conservation and in 2008-09 it was in the order of $312 million. It spent all but $2 million of that. However one of the interesting things is that the department worked closely with various agencies—not just Government departments but community trusts commercial operators and volunteer organisations. In the department’s 2009-12 statement of intent the Minister of Conservation adopted the term “conservation economy” and I think it is an important concept to understand in order to highlight the importance of conservation to New Zealand’s economy. 
The central premise is that conservation is an economic investment not simply a social good. This premise builds on the already well-accepted social values of conservation that are reflected in the Conservation Act 1987 and in particular the intrinsic worth of natural and historic heritage. It takes this further by showing the interdependence between nature’s systems social systems and the economy. In its totality conservation plays a critical role in validating the “clean green” brand that is the market advantage on which our producers rely. 
The benefits of conservation include carbon sequestration and storage mitigation of flood risk better freshwater quality and flows soil retention pollination and bioprospecting opportunities. In 2008-09 the department began to develop a commercial framework and to review its processing of concessions. It is also developing relationships with the tourism industry and the Ministry of Tourism and collaborates on projects such as the cycle track which we heard about earlier today in the Chamber. The department also acknowledges that public conservation land affords opportunities for economic development such as electricity generation and transmission. I am particularly interested in the opportunities that private people can have from land adjoining conservation estates through which a river flows so that they may undertake for themselves the micro-generation of power from renewables. Thank you. 
Report noted.