Kia ora and Gidday

My name is Allan. I’m a southern New Zealander, a husband, a lawyer and one to whom a relationship with place is important.

Over the past three and a half years, I’ve had the privilege of working with Environmental Law Initiative, or ELI. 

As far as I can tell ELI is a new kind of environmental organisation in New Zealand, with a focus on education through a partnership with VUW, and on achieving environmental progress with focus almost solely on litigation.

I was fortunate to help found ELI, and eventually to help develop nine environmental legal cases against central and local governments in New Zealand.  All of these cases involve important ecology, common dangers to that ecology, and untested points of law. 

To date, two ELI cases have been decided – both successful.  One was about crayfish quota in Northland, and the way modern cray fishing there causes a “trophic cascade”, leading to underwater desert-like features known as “kina barrens”. A second was about a decision to consent nutrient discharges for a Canterbury irrigation scheme. A third judgment is imminent - it’s about fishing bycatch of seabirds, dolphins, corals and other legally protected species, and the complex legal arrangements getting in the way of proper reporting or regulatory responses. 

A measure of ELI’s success to date is that both the decided and live cases have attracted significant attention from several cabinet ministers, now across two governments. Not that they would ever admit it, naturally. The crayfish case has led to a sequel on the same issues, and ministerial visits north promising a way forward (a dubious way, as we may come to in future). The irrigation case, meanwhile, appears to have caused almost a meltdown for Environmental Canterbury, with the Chair unilaterally writing to the government asking for a law change.

ELI’s success has been met with an interesting response in the “green” community, too. We grew many wonderful relationships, of course. But sometimes, there seemed to be a studied effort to ignore ELI, and occasionally we even copped odioum for taking up positions others hadn’t or wouldn’t.

In marked contrast to all this, and at the same time, I’ve been Vice President of the Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand, or FMC.  FMC is an older NGO, founded in 1932, focussed on “mountain recreation”.  It consists around 100 climbing, tramping, skiing, white water and free flying clubs – comprising about 20,000 members between them.  FMC is run democratically, passionately, and on the smell of an oily rag.

FMC’s concerns are different to environmental NGOs like ELI, though they often overlap.  The way of working is different too. FMC’s board - its “exec” - is elected, with all that can mean. Resource-wise, FMC isn’t able fight in Court unless something is very important, so needs to focus more on finding common ground.  In my own searches for those pieces of dirt, the key emerging challenge has been to re-articulate recreation in a new way: one that commands the respect a mere recreational activity, mere fun, never can or will. This is particularly the case with Māori groups, but increasingly with government also - the intangible benefits of a relationship with the hills no longer seem obvious to Wellington bureaucrats.  

The contrast between ELI and FMC work throws an interesting light on where nature in New Zealand finds itself, both in relation to the attitudes of various groups, and to our laws.

This post comes as the dust is just starting to settle on my time with ELI.  Easter 2024 found me on an alpine journey in my home of homes, the mountains of the Matukituki Valley. For many reasons, I decided that my contribution to ELI had run its course. 

In the coming weeks and months, I plan to plan to use this forum to reflect on this time.  

To be clear, these will be personal reflections.  I won’t be sharing any confidential ELI information, otherwise spilling beans, condemning or pushing this political party or that, or proffering environmental ‘solutions’. Similarly, what I say won’t represent FMC views unless I say so.  

My aim, if there is really any, is to offer another voice to the national conversation on “how best to be” down here on these, our islands – and perhaps even to start conversations down some paths they haven’t trodden.

I plan to start by saying a very little bit about myself, and where I stand.

After that I plan to discuss the relationship of the government’s Fast Track Approval Bill with recent developments on freshwater quality in Canterbury. This relationship is something that has not been covered in the public discussion at all.

Some guy on the internet offers his views:  it’s a familiar and often uninteresting story.  So I get it if you’ve got better things to do or read. 

But if you are interested, I hope it stays that way for you.  And if you know anyone else who might be interested in any of this, feel free to invite them to follow.