Sustainable management of the Mackenzie Country’s freshwater resources – a huge challenge Ken Hughey, Department of Environmental Management Lecture to St Andrews College, 23rd March 2015

Our surveys of New Zealanders show that most people want this, but …

They also want … A vibrant economy with diverse economic opportunities A rich social fabric with lots of Jobs Good incomes A good health system etc Respect for the Treaty of Waitangi Which is challenging for a country so far from everywhere where the natural environment (and its people) are our greatest resource.

Within this context, NZ’s most water dependent region, Canterbury, finds itself in the midst of: Post EQ recovery A govt wanting exports doubled by 2025 A reliance on water to drive growth Competing demands for water – hydro, irrigation, recreation, environment, tangata whenua, tourism Major ongoing contests for water The response: the Canterbury Water Management Strategy and non-democratic governance!

Canterbury’s water management zones The zone that I am a committee member of

Ken’s ‘roughly informed’ assessment of water quantity/quality by zone in Canterbury

The landscapes are amazing and iconic for many NZers and tourists

Almost desert like in places

Shaping the Mackenzie Landscape – giving rise to a full range of ecosystem services: water from mountains to the sea Uplift and erosion

Shaping the Mackenzie Landscape Ice and water

Shaping the Mackenzie Landscape ; extensive pastoralism

Shaping the Mackenzie Landscape Huts, homesteads, hotels and houses

Shaping the Mackenzie Landscape Seeds, wire and seedlings

Shaping the Mackenzie Landscape Machines and infrastructure

Landscape values Coherence and complementarity Expansive scale with A rich mosaic of ecosystems Legibility and Powerful aesthetic qualities Places and networks of heritage yet An overall sense of naturalness Coherence and complementarity

Landscape vulnerabilities Ecosystem decline

Landscape vulnerabilities Institutional Separation and Intensification

Landscape vulnerabilities – peri-urbanisation Source: realestate.co.nz Fragmentation

Landscape vulnerabilities Sub urbanisation

Land (including water) scape vulnerabilities Intensification

Landscape vulnerabilities Disconnection of the global from the local

Landscape vulnerabilities Unmanaged wildings

Lot’s of complementary values and activities – salmon farming, salmon and trout angling, hydro canals, amazing views!

Immense conservation values – in- and out-of-stream Black-fronted tern Black Stilt

Robust grasshopper

Shaping a way forward - principles Deep structure Landscape scale Recognising competing values Long view – in time and space Resilient community institutions

Shaping the way forward - process Mapping Characterising Valuing Envisioning Strategising Acting Working together The Mackenzie Sustainable Futures Trust; Canterbury Water Management Strategy- Zone Committees

Ultimately to manage water, and especially water quality, we need a yard stick, and that yard stick is now agreed to be Lake Benmore – if it is healthy then so are the water bodies of the Basin, generally speaking!

Conclusions Traditional planning and management approaches have not really delivered in the Mackenzie Basin: some rivers have gone (Pukaki), other damm(n)ed (Waitaki) New approaches required that: Identify broad community desired outcomes Embed these outcomes in statutory plans Deliver sustainable management through collaborative and regulatory approaches Are embedded in an adaptive management, learn as we go, approach This new approach, and it is an experiment to delivering sustainable and integrated management, is the Canterbury Water Management Strategy As an experiment it to requires monitoring and it requires broad community commitment from all sectors: extensive and intensive farming, tourism, fishing, tangata whenua, conservation, … It is people of your age that will determine if we have been successful!