Address to Federated Mountain Clubs Annual General Meeting

President, Rob Mitchell, Executive members, Club Representatives.

Thank you for the opportunity to address the Annual General Meeting of Federated Mountain Clubs today.

As Minister of Conservation I wish to acknowledge the support the FMC has given to conservation over many years. FMC has always had an active involvement on issues that reflect the inseparable elements of outdoor recreation and protecting natural heritage.

Before the Conservation Act was ever established I know that many FMC members had been at the forefront of conservation advocacy and FMC continues to be an advocate for environmental and conservation issues.

Today, I want to place that support into the context of New Zealand's economic and social prosperity and challenge some thinking around what the New Zealand environment means to New Zealand's economy.

National came into office with a plan to lift New Zealand's economic performance after a decade of under performance and missed opportunities. We want to take New Zealand down a path of strong recovery, improved economic performance and rising incomes.

While we are experiencing a global economic downturn, we are confident about New Zealand's economic prospects - we have a genuine opportunity to emerge from the recession in a stronger position than most other countries.

Key to our future recovery is our abundant natural capital. Our country's majestic landscapes, special places and unique plants, animals and birds; our outdoors image, and historic and cultural heritage all help define us as a distinct nation and unique people. These things are deeply embedded in the New Zealand psyche and are matters of national pride.

You will be familiar with the 1987 Conservation Act that established the Department of Conservation to manage our natural and historic resources "...for the purpose of maintaining their intrinsic values, providing for their appreciation and recreational enjoyment by the public, and safeguarding the options of future generations".

On that basis, New Zealand has built a $400 million conservation department responsible for managing one third of the land, the seabed and foreshore, protected marine areas, and all marine mammals, native animals, birds and freshwater fish, and also managing the threats to these natural assets.

This public conservation land is owned by the Crown on behalf of all New Zealanders and managed by the Department of Conservation. Taxpayers meet the cost of this.

Given that, it seems logical that taxpayers should know what return they are getting for their investment. It seems reasonable for them to expect an answer that, without discounting the intrinsic values that draw us to conservation, shows that the conservation dollar also contributes to their prosperity.

In short, if there is a conservation benefit, then we should know about it, welcome it, and manage for it.

The wider benefit, or conservation economy, encompasses the broad range of assets that contribute to our present and future quality of life and prosperity. It includes the value of ecosystem services such as water, soil, climate regulation and pollination; direct economic returns from tourism, and the socio-economic benefits attached to recreation and peoples' physical, mental and cultural health.

Yet, support for conservation is seen by the mainstream as a worthwhile social cost rather than a necessary investment that influences our prosperity. It is seen as a discretionary spend that is affordable in good economic times, or when the opportunity cost of conservation is not too great.  This indicates that the intrinsic value (cost) side of the equation is well understood and accepted but the economic (investment) side is not.

The task ahead is to build equal understanding of the conservation economy without losing the importance and strength of the ethical argument around intrinsic value. What's needed is an approach that appeals to the middle ground.

In the New Zealand context, whatever derives from this must apply to the two major economic drivers of farming and tourism. There is little dispute that they remain the cornerstones of New Zealand's economy. But that does not imply business-as-usual.  

The point was well made by both the Prime Minister John Key and Agriculture Minister David Carter when last month they commented on a new 10-year strategy launched by the dairy industry.

"It is important that farmers' step- up and take leadership on meeting some of the environmental challenges that will shape the future of your industry," Mr Key told the farmers. "These challenges include protecting the quality of fresh water resources, responding to global climate change, and ensuring today's natural farming resources are kept in good condition for the farmers of the future. Improving your environmental performance shouldn't just be seen as an issue of compliance with central and local government priorities. Rather it should be seen as an integral part of your future business success."

While farming was the context for those comments, the problems and the solutions do not lie with farmers alone. The same challenge could be put to other business sectors, public entities, community groups and households. Managing for a clean, pure approach to environmental management is a New Zealand incorporated issue.

Conservation sits within that broad scope of environmental management and needs to explore its role in these issues beyond the exclusive appeal to charismatic birds, pretty places and happy trampers.

The most easily understood connection between conservation and the economy is through tourism.

John Key, the first Prime Minister to also be Tourism Minister, recently set out his vision for tourism:

"Our environment is a huge part of our brand. Climate change awareness, resource shortages, and intolerance of environmental degradation are playing a growing part in the choices that tourists make - especially those from wealthier markets.

"The Government will work to protect the resources that tourism providers rely on - clean air, clean water, and unique landscapes."

New Zealand is and always will be known and marketed for its natural environment and the things that derive from that - outdoor adventure, cultural identity, fresh food and quality wine, a peaceful country and safe place to visit.

That means public conservation land, with its national parks, distinct landmarks and wildlife, is a significant part of the asset base for tourism, an industry that makes up about 10 percent of the economy and 18 percent of export earnings.

It is critical to ensure that tourism operates sustainably with the best possible balance between tourism business needs and conservation, to maximise the benefits for New Zealanders.

When DOC was established over 20 years ago about 850,000 overseas visitors came here a year. That has grown by almost 200 percent to 2.5 million. They come to see and experience our ‘clean, green, 100 percent pure New Zealand' environment.

A study by Butcher Partners in 2003 showed DOC spends $9 million a year managing Fiordland National Park. The private sector builds tourism businesses around that and it generates 1600 jobs and $196 million a year in spending in Southland and the Queenstown Lakes District.

Tourist operators in the Tongariro National Park generated almost 1900 full-time jobs in the district. Their customers benefited the local economy to the tune of $60 million.

Conservation helps underpin an industry that has massive impacts on our way of life and standard of living and if a case for the conservation economy is to be made, it must encompass that core work of protecting species and places. Healthy natural biodiversity means healthy ecosystems, and healthy ecosystems deliver well-functioning ecosystem services.  Together, these things form natural capital.

The world recession gives us an opportunity to do something about the issue here in New Zealand. Recovery will involve structural reform to economies. Whatever emerges as the new base on which to build strong, growing economies and improve social wellbeing, it will surely need to take account of natural capital.

There is a wealth of evidence that natural ecosystems such as those protected on public conservation land provide a range of ecosystem services such as air quality, water quality and yield, soil regeneration and stability, pollination and nutrient cycles. A resume by DOC of more than 600 studies supports this for water and soil conservation in particular, and provides good grounds to judge that the same holds for many other ecosystem services.  

New Zealand had the foresight to set aside a greater proportion of land for public benefit than any other country in the world, so we are well-placed to exploit a head start.

New Zealand can take the opportunity to account for our dependence on natural capital and build that in to a sustainable economic approach, entrench New Zealand as a brand leader for a clean, pure environment, and manage it as an investment in our present and future prosperity.

Thank you.