Anna Hughes, Otago Polytechnic 2009

New Zealand and Sustainability

“to be the first nation to be truly sustainable — across the four pillars of the economy, society, the environment, and nationhood.”

• New Zealand depends on it’s ‘clean green’ image

– In 2002, tourism generated a direct contribution to GDP of $5.1 billion, or 4.5 percent of New Zealand’s total industry contribution to GDP. (www.stats.govt.nz)

– The combined importance of New Zealand’s pastoral, horticultural and forestry industries cannot be overstated. In current prices, it is estimated that agriculture, horticulture and forestry, including associated processes and services, contribute a total of approximately 18 per cent to New Zealand’s GDP. (ABARE and MAF 2006)

In 2007 at Hon. Helen Clark’s address to Parliament she stated that New Zealand was:

NZ’s inconvenient truth

NZ’s inconvenient truth

• NZ heavily relies on it’s ‘clean green’ image and although we are doing well, we could be doing better! (OECD 2007)

• New Zealand's ecological footprint - measured per head of population - is the sixth largest in the world. (WWF 2008)

• New Zealand’s rate of 155 prisoners per 1000 head of population is the seventh-highest in the OECD, just below Mexico. (stats NZ)

NZ’s nitrogen addiction

• Nitrogen fertiliser is used in intensive agricultural production systems and impacts on water quality as well as generating greenhouse gas emissions.

• In New Zealand, direct nitrous oxide emissions from nitrogen fertiliser made up 3 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2004. Water quality is also affected by nitrogen discharged from farming activities and has caused increasing concerns. (PCE Report, 2005) For example, it is believed that pastoral farming contributes almost 40 percent of all nitrogen flows into Lake Taupo, New Zealand’s largest lake. (Environment Waikato, 2005). (MAF 2006)

A Sustainable future considers

Economy / Profits

Sustainable business Profits Taxes, R&D Jobs Expenditures Training Fair trade Core values

Environment / Planet

Eco-Efficiency Manufacturing efficiencies Operations efficiencies Product efficiencies Smart design Cradle-to-cradle, take-back Beyond compliance Restorative to nature

Equity / People

Ethical business Internal employees Human rights Health & Safety Empowerment Respect, Caring Local community Rest of the world

Defining sustainability

ENVIRONMENT

SOCIETY

ECONOMY

Sustainablebearable

viable

equitable

Used under creative commons licence

Defining sustainability

Environment

Society

Economy

Used under creative commons licence

• Today’s reality – alarm bells ringing

• The big trends behind sustainability

System decline

• Rainforests

• Soil

• Fresh water

• Biodiversity – species extinction

• Marine life / Coral reefs

• Social equity

System pressure

• Waste / pollution• About 94% of materials used in manufacturing

becomes waste• 80% of what we buy is thrown away within 6

months• 10% of grocery bill goes towards packaging

(more than the farmer receives!)• 2.3kg laptop = > 10 tons waste• Between 1997 – 2004, 315 million computers

became obsolete

• Population increase• Demand for natural resources• Demand for products

Supply of life supporting resources and ecosystem

services are

decliningDemand and consumption

of life supporting resources

increasing

Supply

Demand

Time

The Funnel Paradigm

Sustainability challenges

Health of natural life support and ecosystem

services

declining

Consumption / demand

risingCopyright © The Natural Step

The Sustainability Funnel

• Availability of natural resources• Health of natural systems /

environment

• Price of natural resources• Government intervention / regulation /

taxes• Consumer pressure / LOHAS• Costs (resources, waste, insurance etc)• Desire for improved quality of life

Copyright © The Natural Step

Where NZ is‘hitting the walls of the funnel’

• In 2004 imported oil accounted for 20% of NZ’s imports bill

• NZ is heavily dependant on oil for transport of goods and people

• In 2003, NZ exported 5,678 tonnes of hazardous waste for safe disposal. In the same year we imported 14,895 tonnes of hazardous waste for treatment.

• NZ’s loss of biodiversity is substantial

• One in three full-time NZ workers are clocking up more than 50 hours a week

• 26% percent of children in 2004 were living in families in the ‘severe’ and ‘significant’ hardship categories, up from 18% in 2000.

Source: Sustainability Analysis of New Zealand