Operative Waikato Regional Policy Statement (October 2000)

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3  Significant Resource Management Issues, Objectives, Policies and Methods

3.11  Plants and Animals (Biodiversity)

3.11.4 Maintenance of Biodiversity¹

Updated November 2002

Principal Reasons for Adopting: Maintaining biodiversity is critical in achieving the purpose and principles of the RMA. Section 5(c) refers to safeguarding the life supporting capacity of ecosystems. Biodiversity is a component of ecosystems and maintaining and enhancing it is one means of achieving the direction of s5(c). Section 6(c) refers to the protection of areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna. Areas of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna are a part of biodiversity and ecosystems and due to the severe reduction in these areas it is important that they are protected to ensure that there is no further loss. Section 7(d) requires particular regard to be had to the intrinsic values of ecosystems and s7(h) requires the protection of trout and salmon habitat. Maintaining and enhancing biodiversity will contribute to achieving these directions. Wide genetic diversity (species and their genotypes) gives ecosystems the resilience to cope with natural and human induced changes. Natural diversity gives the Region its own distinctive biogeographic character as well as providing a resource-pool to meet future needs.

Allow the use and development of natural and physical resources while avoiding, remedying or mitigating adverse effects on biodiversity in the Region.

1. Advocate, through environmental education:
   
   1. community awareness of the values of indigenous vegetation and biodiversity and the need for its protection and restoration.
      
   2. voluntary mechanisms for the protection of the diversity and quality of habitat
      
   3. the planting of indigenous vegetation, particularly regionally appropriate species
      
   4. resource management practices that increase and strengthen the biodiversity of the Region
      
   5. restoration or rehabilitation of degraded or modified areas of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna.
   
   
2. Through liaison with territorial authorities, other agencies and resource users advocate:
   
   1. for the protection and creation of wildlife corridors
      
   2. the protection of the margins of lakes, rivers and coasts from inappropriate subdivision, use or development
      
   3. the avoidance of isolation or fragmentation of ecosystems
      
   4. the protection of the habitat of trout.
   
   
3. Provide, through consultation, for the cultural perspectives of tangata whenua in the management of biodiversity in the Region.
   
4. Investigate, in conjunction with landowners and other agencies, alternative mechanisms for the sustainable management of indigenous vegetation.
   
5. Recognise the effects of structures and barriers in waterways on aquatic habitats, and in particular on the migration of aquatic fauna and avoid, remedy or mitigate adverse effects through regional plans and resource consents.
   
6. Develop and maintain the Regional Pest Management Strategy in a manner which assists in the protection of biodiversity.
   
7. Encourage resource users and interested parties to sign and act in accordance with voluntary accords, (e.g. the New Zealand Forest Accord) for the protection of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna.

Use a consistent approach throughout the Waikato Region when identifying areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna.²

1. When preparing or implementing regional and district plans, assessing resource consent applications and in the consideration of areas to be protected by non-regulatory mechanisms; an area of indigenous vegetation or habitat for indigenous fauna is significant if the relevant decision-makers are satisfied, on the basis of all evidence presented, that the area currently meets one or more of the criteria in Appendix 3.
   
2. Through liaison with other organisations that are undertaking protection of areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna advocate the use of the criteria in Appendix 3.

1. Ensure the existing characteristics that identify natural areas as significant indigenous vegetation and/or significant habitats of indigenous fauna are protected in an appropriate way from adverse effects when using or developing natural and physical resources except:
   1. within Development Geothermal Systems provided for in Chapter 3.7, or
   2. where those effects cannot be avoided, in which case the effects are to be remedied or mitigated³ in such a way that biodiversity is maintained or enhanced, having particular regard to the specific characteristics that identify the area as significant.
2. Subject to the exceptions in Policy Three A), once an area has been identified as being significant, the following factors should be taken into account when determining protective management methods including the allocation of resources:
   1. positive landowner management initiatives
   2. current uses
   3. relative significance (based on the characteristics that make an area significant)
   4. threats to the characteristics that make the area significant (including relative vulnerability to threats)
   5. the effectiveness of management options to address threats
   6. availability of resources
   7. the use of non-regulatory methods.

1. Identify areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna in conjunction with territorial authorities, other agencies and interested parties, using the criteria in Appendix 3.
   
2. Use existing information to develop and maintain a regional database and indicative map of sites known to meet the criteria for significance in Appendix 3. In developing this provide an opportunity for territorial authorities to store sites of local importance on the database.
   
3. Maintain a regional database of threatened species in the Waikato Region.
   
4. Through liaison with territorial authorities and the Department of Conservation, Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry advocate the establishment of conservation forests, marine reserves and other reserves in the Region to protect significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna.
   
5. Through Heritage Protection Orders and Water Conservation Orders protect significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna where appropriate.
   
6. Through regional and district plans and annual plans consider the use of, firstly the following mechanisms for the protection of areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna:
   
   1. economic instruments as an incentive to protect areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna.
      
   2. advocacy and provision of information
      
   3. providing for voluntary protection
      
   4. land acquisition and designation including the use of funding sources such as the Nature Heritage Fund, Queen Elizabeth II National Trust and Nga Whenua Rahui
      
   5. the creation of esplanade reserves and marginal strips
      
   6. provision of works and services
      
   and secondly, regulatory controls which may include zoning, buffers, rules, conditions on resource consents, abatement notices and enforcement orders.
   
   
7. Progress trials of the utility of environmental domains for assessing significant areas of indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna and, subject to evaluation, initiate a change to Criterion 4.

Explanation and Principal Reasons for Adopting:
Three policies and a range of methods are included that provide a variety of means by which biodiversity and indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna can be identified and maintained or enhanced. Territorial authorities, the Minister of Conservation, Minister of Fisheries and the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry have primary responsibility for the management of land and indigenous flora and fauna. The Waikato Regional Council’s (Environment Waikato) role is to manage the use, development and protection of natural and physical resources. It is important that these organisations work together in conjunction with landowners to ensure that biodiversity, ecosystems and the protection of significant indigenous vegetation are addressed through their different functions and responsibilities.

To achieve the objective it is necessary to avoid, remedy and mitigate adverse effects on biodiversity to ensure that the values associated with it are not lost. The methods under Policy One are aimed at achieving this policy direction and therefore include a variety of mechanisms as described in the following paragraphs.

Environmental education is an effective means of increasing public awareness of the values of biodiversity and providing information about how adverse effects can be avoided, remedied or mitigated.

The reason for Policy One Method 2 is to inform the groups noted so they can provide for the matters listed. Wildlife corridors can be created to provide a mechanism for indigenous fauna to migrate from one area to another and possibly establish populations in different areas. Development of the margins of lakes, rivers and coasts may adversely affect indigenous vegetation and habitats. Care needs to be taken to ensure that such effects do not occur. If ecosystems are isolated or fragmented their ability to support indigenous vegetation and indigenous fauna is reduced. The protection of the habitat of trout is a directive of s7(h) of the RMA.

The reason for Policy One Method 3 is that it is important to provide for the cultural perspectives of tangata whenua in order to ensure that traditional values can be incorporated into the management of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna.

There are a variety of mechanisms available to protect areas of vegetation and habitats. However, there may be alternative means that have not yet been developed. The reason for Method 4 is to investigate possible alternative methods in order to give landowners and other agencies a wider range of options as to how they may sustainably manage indigenous vegetation.

The reason for Policy One Method 5 is that structures and barriers in waterways may prevent aquatic fauna migrating upstream and may also modify areas of aquatic habitat. For example, a dam may prevent eels from migrating upstream and also change what was a stream habitat into a lake habitat. Methods can be incorporated into regional plans, and conditions put on resource consents, that avoid, remedy or mitigate the adverse effects of structures and barriers on aquatic habitats and the migration of fauna.

Plant and animal pests, such as, possums, deer and old man’s beard, have had and continue to have serious adverse impacts on indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna. Pest management needs to be undertaken in a manner that assists in the protection of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna.

Advocating that resource users and interested parties act in accordance with voluntary accords such as the New Zealand Forest Accord also provides a mechanism for avoiding, remedying or mitigating adverse effects on indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna.

Policy Two ensures that areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna are identified in a consistent manner throughout the Waikato Region. This policy is not intended to create impediments that may limit the planting of indigenous species.

Method 1 under Policy Two acknowledges that regional and district plans are the main mechanisms controlling land and water use within the Waikato Region. District Councils are able to prepare specific rules for protecting areas of significant indigenous vegetation and habitats of significant indigenous fauna. District councils also use a range of non-regulatory methods to protect such areas. An area of indigenous vegetation or habitat of indigenous fauna is significant if decision makers are satisfied based on the evidence presented that the area meets one or more of the criteria in Appendix 3. There are some significant areas in the Region that will meet more than one criterion but there are other areas that are clearly significant that meet only one. Habitat of threatened species may be an example of the latter.

The purpose of Policy Two Method 2 is to encourage other organisations that have a role in protecting significant areas, such as the QEII Trust, to adopt the same criteria so that there is a consistent identification process throughout the Region.

As part of the implementation of Policy Two Methods 1 and 2, Environment Waikato will work closely with district councils and other agencies to ensure the criteria are used in a consistent manner. Guidelines to implement the criteria have been prepared to assist users.

The reasons for inclusion of Policy Three A) are that the range and extent of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna in the Waikato Region have already been severely reduced. Substantial logging, clearance, and drainage has meant that areas of indigenous vegetation are only remnants of what existed prior to modification by humans. Management of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna must now be directed toward protection of the characteristics that make areas significant. If the characteristics that make an area significant are not protected, and the range and extent of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna continues to be reduced, the ecological and human values associated with these areas will be lost.

The focus is on the characteristics rather than the area because there will be situations where an area that is significant can be used in a manner that does not affect its "significance” status or ecological viability. For example, if a native forest is only significant because it is a relatively large natural area that contains all or almost all indigenous species typical of that habitat type, then sustainable harvest of a small number of trees, e.g. from its perimeter, will not adversely affect its size or species composition. Similarly if an area is significant because it is a natural wetland, the harvest of game species from that area will not affect its status as a wetland. Conversely, an activity that results in drainage and therefore loss of the wetland would be unacceptable as it would affect the characteristics (i.e. its state as a wetland) that make that area significant.

In addition, some characteristics, which deem an area significant, are not inextricably linked to that specific location. Focusing on the characteristics rather than the area also allows for offsite mitigation, e.g. creation of wetland of a similar type, size and condition to an area considered for drainage. Another example is where an area is only of value because it contains threatened native species (such as giant weta living in gorse). If those threatened species can be successfully translocated to an appropriate, secure area, then the original habitat may cease to be of significance.

Chapter 3.7 of the RPS contains objectives, policies and methods in respect of the Region’s geothermal resources. Policy Four of Chapter 3.7.2 allows for the use and development of development geothermal systems while avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse effects on the characteristics of the regional geothermal resource. Section 3.7.1 lists highly valued characteristics of the regional geothermal resource and these include biodiversity (a variety and uniqueness in genes, species and populations of plants and animals and micro-organisms). It is not possible to protect every significant feature of these areas when they are developed due to the disruption of surface features caused by extracting large amounts of geothermal fluid from deep below the earth’s surface.

The purpose of Policy Three A) is to clarify what happens once an area has been identified as significant. Policy Three A) ii) provides for circumstances where the adverse effects on the characteristics of a significant area cannot be avoided, in which case the effects are to be remedied or mitigated in such a way that biodiversity is maintained or enhanced having particular regard to the specific characteristics that identify an area as significant. Remediation or mitigation should be directly related to the characteristics that identify an area as significant to ensure that those characteristics are not lost or degraded. However, this may not be practical in every situation, in which case other forms of remediation or mitigation may be considered providing that biodiversity is maintained or enhanced.

The purpose of Policy Three B) is to identify a range of factors that should be taken into account when determining the methods by which significant areas should be managed in order to achieve the protection of the characteristics that identify them as significant.

Policy Three Method 1 is considered necessary to identify the areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna, so that it is known where these areas are for management purposes. By advocating that the criteria in Appendix 3 are used to determine significance and liaising with territorial authorities and other agencies on their use, a consistent approach to determining the significance of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna will be facilitated.

Regarding Policy Three Method 3 the Department of Conservation has assessed threatened species in New Zealand (using criteria relating to taxonomic distinctiveness, status of the species, threats facing the species, vulnerability of the species and human values). This may form the basis of the schedule of threatened species.

Policy Three Method 4 advocates the establishment of conservation forests and marine reserves as a means of having significant areas recognised and protected. Heritage protection orders and water conservation orders in Policy Three, Method 5 may be used where it is considered that a river or area requires the protection afforded by these mechanisms.

As a means of providing protection of significant areas, there is a range of non-regulatory methods that Environment Waikato and territorial authorities can consider using in the first instance, including economic instruments as an incentive. These economic instruments could include purchase or lease by a person or agency for protection, rates relief or direct grants for land management. Secondly use of regulatory controls, such as zoning or rules may be considered. Used in combination or separately, the mechanisms in Policy Three Method 6 will provide a flexible approach to the management of significant areas. The particular mechanism used will depend on site-specific circumstances. In circumstances where significant areas occur on private land councils must collaborate with landowners to achieve protection if necessary.

Regarding Policy Three, Method 7, environmental domains are being developed for the Waikato Region by Landcare Research. These domains can be expressed at national, regional and localised scales. Delineation of appropriate scales will form part of the trials of the utility of domains for assessing significance.

1. Biodiversity in the Region maintained and enhanced, including the distribution and abundance of indigenous species and ecosystems in the Region.
   
2. Increased awareness of the values of areas of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna in the Region.
   
3. Protection of areas of indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna in the Region.
   
4. A consistent approach throughout the Region to identifying areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna.

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Footnotes

1. See Glossary for definition of biodiversity.
2. Should planted vegetation (exotic or indigenous) be identified as significant habitat for indigenous fauna, recognition of the ongoing reasonable use of the area must be considered when making management decisions.
3. Remediation and mitigation may be achieved by off site works.