|
Environment,
Climate Change and Natural Heritage Committee
26 November
2014
|
|
Auckland
Council’s State of the Environment report 2015
File No.: CP2014/27145
Purpose
1. To provide the Environment,
Climate Change and Natural Heritage Committee with an update on Auckland
Council’s State of the Environment report 2015.
Executive
Summary
2. State of Environment (SoE)
reporting has been undertaken by local, regional and central levels of
government in New Zealand since the enactment of the Resource Management Act
1991 (RMA). In Auckland, this has involved the production of five-yearly SoE
reports, in 2010, 2004 and 1999. To meet Auckland Council’s statutory reporting
obligations, there is a requirement to produce an updated SoE report in 2015.
3. This report outlines the
proposed approach to the production of the Auckland Council State of the
Environment report 2015, including a high-level description of the proposed
indicators and case studies.
|
Recommendation
That the Environment, Climate
Change and Natural Heritage Committee:
a) receive the report.
b) forward this report to the
Local Boards for their information.
|
Discussion
4. The Resource Management Act 1991
requires local authorities to prepare and make publicly available a review of
the results of monitoring together with an assessment of the efficiency and
effectiveness of policies, rules, or other methods in statutory planning
documents at least once every five years.
5. In Auckland, this has involved
the production of five-yearly SoE reports, in 2010, 2004 and 1999. These have
been complemented by local board report cards since 2011. The report cards
fulfil much of the statutory requirement for communicating the results of
monitoring and meet the information demands of the local boards. However, the
report card format limits the amount of information that can be conveyed to
readers, and does not permit the complex analysis and reporting that would
allow the assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of council’s actions.
Therefore, to meet Auckland Council’s statutory reporting obligations, there is
a requirement to produce an updated SoE report in 2015.
6. The last Auckland SoE report was
released in March 2010 and was an exhaustive compendium of information of over
300 pages. As much of the content of the 2010 report is now captured by the
report cards, to avoid duplication it is proposed to produce a more focused SoE
report for release in 2015. The report would be environmentally focused and
report on a limited range of key indicators, with a particular focus on those
indicators that:
· have substantially changed since 2010
· are directly aligned with the Auckland Plan
· inform the effectiveness of initiatives
· report against national standards or guidelines.
7. All indicators will be
consistent with methodologies used nationally and internationally for
environmental reporting, and will meet the ‘SMART’ criteria – that is, that
they are specific, measurable, accurate, reliable and time-bound.
8. It is intended that the suite of
indicators would be complemented by a range of case studies. The case studies
would fulfil a number of purposes, including providing:
· flexibility to accommodate important issues that may
not be supported by SMART indicators
· opportunities to highlight gaps or emerging issues
· for integration across environmental domains.
9. Based on an extensive review of
SoE reports from around the world, we propose that the report is produced using
graphical communication tools where possible, using a consistent structure
amongst the indicators (issue, state, trend, implication, actions) grouped into
four environmental domains (Figure 1). The case studies listed are illustrative
only to demonstrate the purpose of using them to link domains and indicate that
the breadth of the case studies may range from one to all four domains.
10. Figure 1; Conceptual diagram for
the SoE Report 2015 (case studies are illustrative).
11. The detailed content of the
report is currently under development. A tentative list of indicators and cases
studies is shown in the tables below (paragraphs 12 and 13). Please note that
these are subject to change.
12. Indicators
|
Domain
|
Indicator
|
|
Land
|
Soil quality
|
|
Land
|
Terrestrial habitat
|
|
Land
|
Bird diversity
|
|
Land
|
Native plants
|
|
Land
|
Animal pests
|
|
Land
|
Exotic plant (weeds)
|
|
Water
|
Freshwater quantity and water
consumption
|
|
Water
|
Freshwater quality
|
|
Water
|
Freshwater ecology
|
|
Water
|
Marine water quality
|
|
Water
|
Marine ecology
|
|
Water
|
Marine sediments
|
|
Air
|
Particulate matter (PM10)
|
|
Air
|
Particulate matter (PM2.5)
|
|
Climate
|
Rainfall patterns
|
|
Climate
|
Temperature regimes
|
|
Climate
|
Sea level change
|
13. Case studies
|
Domain(s)
|
Case study
|
|
All domains
|
Ecosystem
services – what the environment does for you
|
|
Air and climate
|
Vehicle
emissions – tracking change in relation to Auckland Plan and Low Carbon
Action Plan targets
|
|
Air
|
Personal
exposure to noise and air pollution in the Auckland CBD
|
|
Land, water and air
|
Source
control of contaminants
|
|
Land
|
The values of
urban forests and reserves
|
|
Land and water
|
Auckland’s
wetlands – values and opportunities
|
|
Land and water
|
Weiti forest
– showcasing best practice forestry management
|
|
All domains
|
Liveable
environments – liveable cities
|
|
Water
|
Marine
habitats – what we know, what we should know and how we find out?
|
|
Land, water and air
|
Enhancing
urban development outcomes for Auckland
|
|
All domains
|
Long-term
changes in environmental measures related to climate variability
|
|
Land and water
|
Restoring
ecosystems – learnings from two decades of action
|
|
Climate
|
Climate
change – what lies ahead, how can we monitor?
|
|
All domains
|
Technology in
environmental monitoring – more data, lower cost
|
|
All domains
|
What does the
environment mean to me? Stories from the community
|
|
All domains
|
Trade-offs
and conflicts in environmental management – how can we de-couple development
and degradation?
|
14. The project team is currently
compiling available information to include in the indicators and case studies,
with the aim of having draft content for each by December 2014. It is
anticipated that a final draft will be ready in early in 2015.
15. The State
of the Environment report will be published alongside the Environmental Strategic
Action Plan. Whilst the State of the Environment will report on the health of
Auckland’s environment, noting areas of improvement and possibly decline; the
Environmental Strategic Action Plan will present the strategic actions Auckland
Council is pursuing to progress environmental enhancement. Both documents will
demonstrate the extent to which current initiatives are aligned to meeting the
challenges ahead.
Local
Board Views and Implications
16. As an extension of the local
board-based report cards, we anticipate that the SoE report will be of interest
to all local boards. The project team will meet with local boards (if required)
to discuss the scope and implications of the report.
Maori
Impact Statement
17. Current work
involving Mana Whenua as kaitiaki include the co design of the Environment
Strategic Action Plan, co-governance and management of Sea Change, Low Carbon
Auckland Implementation, Wai Ora Wai Maori Tamaki Makaurau, the Heritage Grants
Policy Review, the Regional Pest Management Plan Review.
18. The State of the
Environment report and the Environmental Strategic Action Plan are likely to
identify twin challenges; coordinating and aligning actions across the
Council’s many roles so that they work together to improve environmental
performance, and working alongside Mana Whenua as kaitiaki of Auckland’s
environment – to co-design, co-produce, and co-deliver solutions to local and
regional issues.
19. The environmental monitoring
programmes noted in this report owe a lot to the foresight of those involved in
the 1985 Waitangi Tribunal deliberations on the Manukau Harbour. The
deliberations provided the genesis for the establishment of Auckland Council’s
environmental research and monitoring programmes. Hence, this work is of
interest to, and will empower Māori as Kaitiaki
and Tangata Whenua. It has synergies with the directives and vision of the
Auckland Plan and Māori Plan and can support the principles of
kaitiakitanga and facilitate the restoration of mauri of the environment.
20. The State of the Environment
project team project team is currently pursuing options for including iwi
perspectives. These options may include a Māori
foreword to complement the mayoral foreword and possibly the inclusion of a
case study on the Maunga Authority or Whenua Rangatira restoration.
Implementation
Issues
The current proposed approach for producing the Auckland
Council State of the Environment report 2015 is planned for within existing
work programmes and budgets. There are no additional implementation issues.
Attachments
There are no attachments for
this report.
Signatories
|
Authors
|
Martin Neale - Scientist Freshwater
|
|
Authorisers
|
Harvey Brookes - Manager Economic Development
Roger Blakeley - Chief Planning Officer
John Dragicevich - Manager Infrastructure and
Environmental Services
|
