His review of the reporting system identifies huge gaps in data and knowledge and calls for concerted action to improve it.
The data gaps and inconsistent data collection and analysis make it hard to construct a clear national picture of the state of the environment – and whether it is getting better or worse.
“Huge gaps in data and knowledge bedevil our understanding.
“This is in stark contrast with our economy, where we are much more reliably informed.”
And the reporting system is fragmented with multiple pieces of legislation creating a mosaic of requirements with unclear responsibilities across organisations, he says.
“We can’t make economically efficient or socially fair environmental rules if we can’t measure authoritatively what’s happening to the physical resource base on which our wellbeing ultimately depends.”
To say NZ has a national reporting system overstates its coherence, he says.
“Ours has been a passive system that has harvested whatever data is there and done the best it can to navigate what’s missing.
“In my judgment what there is, is clearly inadequate.
“NZ lacks consistent, authoritative time series data and comprehensive spatial coverage.
“For example, the last national survey of land cover was taken in 2012 – how can policymakers make decisions using seven-year-old data?”
Upton is not calling for an overhaul of the system.
It would be better to build on the efforts of the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics NZ, which already produce reports on the environment.
His recommendations include amending the Environmental Reporting Act so it has a clearer purpose, establishing a standing science advisory panel and developing core environmental indicators to form the backbone of reporting.
Federated Farmers environment spokesman Chris Allen says the review is consistent with concerns Federated Farmers first expressed to the Environment Select Committee in 2014 when the environment reporting legislation was being developed and on a number of occasions subsequently.
Big policy swings are under way, most recently on freshwater, yet Upton’s report makes it clear they are not founded on robust, consistent and reliable national data.
“Not having perfect data is not a reason for doing nothing and farmers, community groups and many others continue to strive and invest in reducing our environmental footprint.
“But the inconsistent and incomplete data the commissioner likened to flying blind and warned could be costing us dearly in terms of poorly designed policy is not a sound footing for some of the policy swings under way that farmers are so concerned about.”
In the short term it would be sensible to focus on national priority catchments – the exemplar and at-risk catchments the Ministry for the Environment is identifying, Allen said.
Agri Magic consultant Charlotte Glass said “In agriculture we are taught to make farming change based on science, confidence and certainty only to have rules in the environmental space that are based on uncertainty, estimates and huge gaps in logic.
“Data that we do find is often sporadic, hidden in council databases and very difficult to interpret.
“Equally, if the risks are in fact so great and we must learn as we change then the Resource Management Act is unable to keep up with the pace of our iterations in learning at farm scale and farmers that are keen to make changes to improve water quality outcomes have to either part with large sums of money to battle inappropriate and outdated council rules or wait as long as possible to comply with regulations in the hope that the plan will become more sensible in the meantime.”
Glass said Agri Magic’s farming clients are doing their best to measure and monitor their farm environments and use models to try to ensure they manage their environmental impact as best as they can but that data does not get fed back to a central policy agency.
“Policies are made in the absence of robust data and we are very concerned they will result in perverse outcomes.
“Farmers want to do what is right for their catchments and for the ecosystems they farm and live in.
“They contribute significantly to the economy and yet the central agencies that are supposed to be trusted to direct our future are not investing in the areas needed to help understand the issues. Problem definition and cause and effect are not clear.”
