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WCC 2016 Res 057 - Activity Report

Submitted by Catherine.Wallace on Sat, 11/30/2019 - 22:57
General Information
Take greater account of the ocean in the climate regime
IUCN Constituent: 
Environment and Conservation Organisations of New Zealand
IUCN Constituent type: 
IUCN Member
Period covered: 
2018
Geographic scope: 
Oceania
Southern Ocean
Country/Territory: 
New Zealand
In implementing this Resolution your organization has worked/consulted with...
IUCN Members: 
Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand / New Zealand
Other non-IUCN related organisations: 
Local government in New Zealand, Ministry for the Environment, numerous climate change and oceans related groups; NZ CAN network members.
Implementation
Indicate and briefly describe any actions that have been carried out to implement this Resolution: 
ActionDescriptionStatus
Convene stakeholders/NetworkingECO has included oceans in all our discussions of climate change effects and the dynamic processes and feedbacks of the climate-oceans-cryosphere systems destabilisation. We continue to report on and promote the IPBES work and report. On-going
Policy influencing/advocacyECO's is supporting and advising the Wellington Community Trust to deploy $2.1 million to regional community groups to work on climate change. ECO and its member groups are working with local communities and Local government on adaptation and coastal retreat and zoning as well a mitigation in response to climate induced sea level rise. ECO managed with many in the community and Royal Forest and Bird, to largely stop a local government bill (from two councils) which sought to allow widespread mangrove destruction in violation of NZ's coastal and marine plans and Resource Management and biodiversity protection.On-going
Policy influencing/advocacyIn submissions and in policy discussions, we discourage people who think the oceans is a handy sink for CO2, we draw attention to the science and issue of ocean acidification, the potency of methane at raising temperatures and sea level rise and the disruption to ecosystems from shifting and freshening ocean currents as the Antarctic ice shelves mobilise and melt. We and many of our member bodies work to insert greenhouse gas emission effects consideration into New Zealand's Resource Management Act and the EEZ and Continental Shelf Act. So far our government has refused to remove the prohibitions in law on this consideration. That reflects the existence of vested interests and an unhealthy and unrealistic Ministerial view that NZ's emissions trading system will price emissions - even though it is manifestly inadequate at its current geographic settings and the exemption of many of the ocean activities. Under intense pressure from many in the community and with the good offices of ministers, New Zealand has halted the issue of all fresh block offers for new applications for oil and gas exploration except in the Taranaki region. This is a very significant advance, but it still allows those holding permits with a right of exploration to continue and to exercise rights of renewal, and to progress from exploration to mining for oil and gas. We are not permitted to consider either, greenhouse gas emissions from proposed seabed mining. We are working to change these prohibitions, and to achieve further restrictions on oil and gas exploration. On-going
Policy influencing/advocacyIn the context of the Southern Ocean, the high seas, and New Zealand's territorial sea, EEZ and Continental shelf, ECO stresses the importance for biodiversity for human impacts to be avoided and regulated in the knowledge that we need to reduce the climate, fishing., disturbance and sedimentation of the ocean and other stresses on marine ecosystems and biodiversity. On-going
Please report on the result /achievement of the actions taken: 
There is a rising tide of demand for the removal of sections from the Resource Management Act and the EEZ and Continental Shelf Act that prohibit consideration of the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions from activities on land and sea. We have not yet overturned this unhelpful law.
We have with many others, achieved the block on new government block offers for oil and gas exploration and extraction everywhere but in the Taranaki area, but there remain many permits in operation and exploration permits still allow conversion to extraction. Greenpeace NZ, and ECO member, and many others, are doing a great job of raising the political and public attention to the recklessness of allowing more extraction of oil and gas in the climate crisis.
The Wellington Community Trust is intent on giving strategic support to community groups working on climate.
Local authorities are increasingly working on sea level rise and climate-oceans connections and disruptions in their planning, though ECO is by no means the only group working on this.
What challenges have you encountered in implementing this Resolution and what measures have you taken to overcome them?: 
Resistance by vested interests to necessary change and this translates to lack of action. The government has an unrealistic faith in the Emissions Trading Scheme which is manifestly inadequate at current settings with very many exemptions. So the community is mobilising and trying to use democratic forces to change the law and to pressure councils into taking action. ECO's capacity is inadequate
Identify and briefly describe what future actions are planned for the implementation of this Resolution: