Applications Open for Waikato Regional Council Environmental Initiative Funds

Waikato Regional Council is inviting applications to its Environmental Initiatives Fund.  The purpose of the fund is to provide grants to community projects that directly benefit the environment or provide environmental education.  Funding up to $40,000 is available.  Projects may be funded for up to three years.  Applications are open this month and close 5 pm 27 July 2020.  Funding up to $40,000 is available.  Projects may be funded for up to three years.  Applications are open this month and close 5 pm 27 July 2020.

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Climate change to be included in all Regional Council decision making

I was elected as Thames-Coromandel representative on the Waikato Regional Council on an election platform for the need to take strong action in response to the climate crisis.  I am therefore thrilled that Regional Council has unanimously agreed that an assessment of climate change implications will be required in the preparation of all relevant reports to the council. Read More »

Government’s Fresh Water Reforms – a Mixed Bag

It’s a mixed bag. Most welcome is that here will be a cap on the input of nitrogen fertiliser to farms although the limit set is weak.  Farmers will have to fence off waterways and adopt targeted farm environment plans.  There will be a streamlined planning process and specialist freshwater panels that include Regional Council and tangata whenua appointees.Read More »

$9 Million to Drain a Sinking Farmed Wetland Below Sea Level ?

A Waikato Regional Council (WRC) project near Ngatea on the Hauraki Plains to use pumps and a canal to drain 1100 hectares of farmland on sinking peatland/wetland has seen the cost rise steeply from $2 million in 2013 to $9 million today.  The cost benefit analysis carried out was deficient, and the latest research on potential climate change impacts has not been adequately considered.  A rigorous review of the project is required.

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