Last line of defence: a summary of an evaluation of environmental enforcement in New Zealand

Brown, Marie A.

doi:10.26686/pq.v13i2.4665

Cited by 5 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…However, regulation alone will not guarantee compliance (Brown, 2017). Just as the definitional hole in the law is not the one and only cause, adding regulatory and judicial powers to define and protect braided rivers in these legislative reforms will not be the one and only solution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Zealand's braided rivers: The land the law forgot

Brower,

Hoyle,

Gray

et al. 2023

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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This paper highlights a disjunct between geomorphic concepts of braided riverbed lateral boundaries and legal definitions used to decide these boundaries in New Zealand—a country that hosts over 150 gravel‐bed braided rivers. These powerful morphodynamic systems are prone to recurrent bar reworking and channel shift. When parts of the riverbed are temporarily abandoned by active channels, they are vulnerable to land use intensification. Associated flood protection measures that often follow intensification constrict the rivers' capacity to adjust to ever‐changing flows of water and sediment. Despite the rivers' vulnerability and constriction, New Zealand law defines braided rivers in a way that limits local councils' authority to manage land use within the braidplain. This paper explores the relationship between the law and science of braided rivers, demonstrating how legislative reforms underway in 2023 express the ways in which particular social processes play out in the landscape.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Zealand's braided rivers: The land the law forgot

Brower,

Hoyle,

Gray

et al. 2023

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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“…New Zealand has weak agricultural policies, which are poorly implemented and environmental pollution from agriculture is significant (47–50). Environmental compliance, monitoring, and enforcement in New Zealand is poor and political interference in environmental management is commonplace (51–53). Therefore, the inclusion (or exclusion) of indicators for agriculture related pollution may influence New Zealand’s rankings in different indices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use and Misuse of Composite Environmental Indices

Fischer

Joy

Abrahamse

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Composite indices have been widely used to rank the environmental performance of nations. Such environmental indices can be useful in communicating complex information as a single value and have the potential to generate political and media awareness of environmental issues. However, indices that are poorly constructed can hinder efforts to identify environmental failings. Here, we provide a critical review of the theoretical and methodological foundations of environmental indices to enhance our understanding of the accuracy and applicability of such indices. In the present study we classify existing indices according to ranking goal, measurement components, and weighting methods. Using New Zealand and Niger as case studies, we examine correlations between ranks in ten national level indices to outline how measurement components and the goal of ranking itself may provide a more, or less, optimistic view of the state of a country’s environment. Our results suggest that environmental indices that include human health, socioeconomic, and policy indicators (such as human access to sanitation and clean drinking water) are positively correlated with each other, and that those excluding human health, socioeconomic, and policy indicators are also positively correlated with each other, while these two types of environmental indices are negatively correlated to each other. Our results demonstrate that the inclusion of indicators that do not relate to the actual state of natural environments can confound results. When choosing an existing environmental index – or developing a new one – it is important to assess whether the ranking goal and the included indicators are appropriate. This is important because the inclusion of confounding indicators in environmental indices may misrepresent the actual state of natural environments.

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“…However, the review also showed compliance to resource consent permit requirements (such as habitat enhancement and/or predator control) in mitigation translocations may not be enforced to a best practice standard (Brown, 2017). Financial compensation to the territorial authority may be provided instead, which may or may not directly benefit receptor sites and translocated groups (Brown et al, 2013;2014;Le Coent et al, 2017;Lennon, 2019;Maseyk et al, 2018).…”

Section: Concerns With Current Nz Mitigation Translocation Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Isolating factors which may have led to these results is an essential step to improving protocols and outcomes, as well as for reconsidering mitigation translocations as the best solution to mitigate human impacts on wildlife. Further obligations sometimes include biodiversity offsetting or receptor site preparation, but compliance to these obligations is difficult to assess and they can be relatively unenforced (Brown et al, 2014;Brown, 2017;Lennon, 2019;Maseyk et al, 2018). Further points regarding reporting include uncertainty regarding calculation of recapture rates, as it is important that they reflect the number of individuals recaptured from the translocation rather than the number of individuals observed.…”

Section: Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating mitigation translocations for better biodiversity outcomes

Dean¹

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<p>The expansion of urban areas and associated loss of natural areas due to development are greatly contributing to global biodiversity loss. Furthermore, development produces direct harm to wildlife and their habitat. In New Zealand, lizards and their habitat are legally protected and damage due to development of a natural area must be avoided or mitigated whenever possible. Mitigation translocations, the intentional relocation of individuals from the site to be developed to a receptor site, have become commonly used to meet legal obligations; however, mitigation translocations do not guarantee survival of individuals or population success at the receptor site. I aimed to evaluate the success of a mitigation translocation case study, proactively plan receptor sites for a mitigation translocation, and develop a framework for selecting and preparing receptor sites to provide better mitigation translocation outcomes, particularly for herpetofauna. I evaluated the short-term success of a mitigation translocation case study using results from post-release monitoring at receptor sites. This is one of the first studies to provide multiple post-release monitoring sessions and detail recapture rates and body condition changes of lizards at receptor sites with and without resident populations following mitigation translocation. I expanded upon commonly used receptor site selection criteria and translocation data management systems by proactively studying and preparing receptor sites in regional parks, including conducting pilot surveys to evaluate resident populations. Recapture rates were similar between receptor sites (9% and 11.8%) and the limited number of recaptured individuals showed an increase in body condition from the time of salvage to intervals of one- and two-years post-release. Presence of residents was not found to have an effect on recapture rates or body condition changes. Implementation of enhanced site selection criteria resulted in approval of six sites within three protected areas for future mitigation translocations. These sites had low numbers of resident lizards present, if at all. A geodatabase was developed to store results from receptor site evaluations before and after translocation. Together, the improved criteria and geodatabase fit into a framework for selecting and preparing receptor sites to improve outcomes of mitigation translocations of herpetofauna. The framework produced has potential to be used at a national level, in collaboration with ecologists, iwi, and community groups, and for a variety of species. Mitigation translocations should be re-evaluated as the go-to method to mitigate damage to lizards due to development; however, if they must continue, it is essential that best practices are used, and results are published so that outcomes can improve for biodiversity.</p>

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Last line of defence: a summary of an evaluation of environmental enforcement in New Zealand

Cited by 5 publications

References 2 publications

New Zealand's braided rivers: The land the law forgot

New Zealand's braided rivers: The land the law forgot

The Use and Misuse of Composite Environmental Indices

Evaluating mitigation translocations for better biodiversity outcomes

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