Signing ceremony of the Lake Taupo Protection Project

Minister signs agreements establishing the Lake Taupo Protection Project

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Mihi

Paramount Chief Tumu te Heu Heu, Jenny Vernon and Clayton Stent, my colleague and friend Mark Burton, members of the Trust, local government chief executives and staff, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

It's a very special privilege to be here today to sign our joint agreement to protect Lake Taupo.

We all know how much hard work and determination it is has taken to reach this joint commitment to maintain this beautiful lake, but the nature of that agreement - a partnership between parties - greatly enhances the prospect of success.

So let me record my thanks to those from Environment Waikato, the Taupo District Council, Tuwharetoa and from the Ministry for the Environment and elsewhere in central government for the effort and good faith that has gone before today.

Let's not be coy about your achievement: this is the largest environmental project in New Zealand.

I am sure that this mission to protect Lake Taupo will become a model of sustainable development for our country. It must provide for the ongoing economic development of the area while protecting the water quality of this iconic lake. This means being creative, finding and exploring new opportunities that work and sustain in the long term, both the environment and the community.

And in that regard it typifies other challenges that face us today

Whether we characterise ourselves as clean and green or 100% Pure we would all acknowledge that water quality and quantity underpin New Zealand's image. The continued reality of that image is vital to the success of our tourism industry, just as effective freshwater management systems are vital to developing that industry and enhancing our international reputation.

No one doubts that Taupo is unique. Not only is it the lifeblood of a whole region, but its importance is felt locally, regionally and nationally.

But it is not just an economic hub and a magnet for tourists and holidaymakers - it has, first and foremost, a special significance to Tuwharetoa: the Lake is a taonga in its rohe. Iwi own the bed of the lake and large tracts of land in its catchment. They have contributed so much to this project through their gift of the mountain and lands to the crown for its protection.
New Zealanders demand that we ensure the lake remains as pristine as possible.

Lake Taupo may be both a treasure and treasured - but it is also vulnerable. For decades now, concentrations of nitrogen have been entering the lake from surrounding land. We see the results in increased algal growth and decreased water clarity.

But it hasn't happened overnight. We now know that the effects of land use can take decades to reach the lake. This is because of the amount of time it takes for water to flow from the land in to the lake. So the concentrations of nitrogen we are seeing in Taupo today are partly a result of developments that happened a long time ago, so the approach we take to protecting this lake now must also be long-term.

We should all be pleased that the Lake Taupo Protection Project represents just such a long-term commitment from all parties to reducing the amount of nutrients entering the lake.

Taupo is a very good example of government matching its broad and long term policy work with action on the ground; we are putting our money where our mouth is. Central Government, Environment Waikato and Taupo District Council are providing significant funds for this project over 15 years, and together with Tuwharetoa we are making an ongoing commitment to manage the project.

The Lake Taupo project also sits alongside Environment Waikato's land use planning proposals. The Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry have been working with Environment Waikato to develop regional plan provisions that cap nitrogen emissions in the catchment and will require land users to manage their nitrogen emissions at or below an assessment of their 2001-2004 emission levels. These are all elements which will need to progress together.

And the lessons learn here will also be transferred nation-wide as the outcomes of the Sustainable Water Plan of Action evolve.

That Programme of Action is building a strategic, nationally consistent approach to water management. It's about ensuring efficient, fair, and sustainable use of our freshwater, while protecting it from contamination by pathogens, nutrients, and discharges.

Because, while Lake Taupo is unique - it's problems are not.

That is why we are working with regional and district councils all over the country to identify national policies and tools that can assist councils make tough decisions about impacts of land-use on waterways. This means work on water allocation as well as water purity.

But to develop the appropriate policies and tools for sustainable freshwater management across the whole country we are reliant on good working relationships.

I am confident that the agreement we are signing today will prove to be a model of how all parties involved can work together to improve our environment.

Your determination and good will has been critical in getting this project to where it is today. You should be justifiably proud of that achievement

I know my colleague Mr Burton and I are looking forward to continued work with our funding partners - Environment Waikato and Taupo District Council - and with our treaty partner - Ngati Tuwharetoa - and let me again acknowledge your special interest as kaitiaki of Taupo-nui-a-tia.

Through the work of the joint committee I look forward to seeing tangible improvements in the quality of the lake. Achieving the target 20 per cent reduction in the amount of nitrogen entering the lake from agricultural and urban sources is a challenge for us all and will require ingenuity and ongoing effort but it is achievable.

I know the magnitude of the challenge is not lost on our trustees Gerald Fitzgerald, Colin Horton, John Hura, John Kneebone, Jerry Rickman and Susan Yerex. You, and those who may follow in your footsteps, can be sure of the ongoing interest of all the players as you make best use of the funding being provided by the government, Environment Waikato and the Taupo District Council.

This lake it at the heart of New Zealand, and being New Zealanders, we will find creative solutions to protect its waters.

Today is especially significant. We joked last week at Cabinet that we are living through a time of remarkable climate change, and that is true in every sense.

The climate - both in terms of public attitude and expectation, both nationally and internationally - has changed in the last few months. Under the cumulative weight of the Al Gore film, the UK's Stern report, last week's IPCC report from New York, everyone's observation of increased extreme weather events (some not too far from here) and even a few icebergs off my home coastline, the deniers have gone quiet.

That gives us all as a community a remarkable opportunity to go further, faster than we might have anticipated. Making progress is about halting and reversing the damage we have done and continue to do to our environment and I'm sure your work on the lake and its wider environment and ecosystems will provide others with an example of how to get on with it.

As an American politician once put it: The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.

So all strength to your collective activism and every good wish for the future.

ENDS

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