Rod Oram

Reforging Paradise: 

Reforging Paradise Why our natural environment is critical to our ability to earn a First World living Presentation by Rod Oram to Resource Management Law Association Auckland, Tuesday, June 15th, 2004 © Rod Oram oram@clear.net.nz 021 444 839

Agenda: 

Agenda Great neighbourhood Jump!...how high? Our second chance Six issues in resource management Reputational risk Built-environments Land use – residential, commercial Processes Auckland Resource allocation

Great neighbourhood!: 

Great neighbourhood! NZ’s a great place to live and work… …even Auckland ranks high

Great neighbourhood: 

Great neighbourhood …wonderful place to live and work

…are we going up or down?: 

…are we going up or down? Auckland has huge challenges… …economic, growth, transport, sustainability But so does every city, town and province: Wellington: reinventing its economic base Christchurch: coping with success Nelson: living with soaring house prices Queenstown: dealing with growth pressures Dunedin: rebuilding its economic base Invercargill: school closures symptomatic Northland: coping with success and failure Taranaki: life after gas

Direction depends on us: 

Direction depends on us New Zealand faces all those issues… The key questions are: How good a living can we earn out in the world? So how much can we reinvest in ourselves? People, economic base, society, infrastructure and environment What are our opportunities? What must we do to realise them? What role is played by our natural and built environments?

Agenda: 

Agenda Great neighbourhood Jump!...how high? Our second chance Six issues in resource management Reputational risk Built-environments Land use – residential, commercial Processes Auckland Resource allocation

Earning our keep: 

Earning our keep …it’s not what you make… …but how you make it … and sell it …Bangladesh and Italy make shoes

Our poverty model: 

Our poverty model We sell Second World exports… …to buy First World living standard Meat buys fewer drugs… …less education…worse environment… …the fuel tank runs dry within 10 years

Jump!...how high?: 

Jump!...how high? We can’t double export volume… …we have to double export value

Value added: Zespri: 

Value added: Zespri Zespri’s achievements: Established brand Built marketing Innovated – gold Innovated – orchards Clever supply chain Result? 30% premium in EU …and lots more science yet

Agenda: 

Agenda Great neighbourhood Jump!...how high? Our second chance Six issues in resource management Reputational risk Built-environments Land use – residential, commercial Processes Auckland Resource allocation

September 11th, 2001 Inter-dependence Day: 

September 11th, 2001 Inter-dependence Day Why did 2,801 people die? Why were they from 62 nations? Why did Afghan POWs come from 32 countries? bin Laden, al-Qaeda, Taliban “Storm troopers of hermetic medievalism” seeking: Violent end to global economic integration Our world: Economic, environmental, political & cultural inter-dependence

The world wants what we’ve got: 

The world wants what we’ve got Land and sea to harvest Bio-businesses to develop Life / workstyles; society Creativity, innovation #1 in OECD in entrepreneurs Culture, the Arts, Tourism Acceptable face of globalisation And gives us the environment we need: Free-ish trade; communications; transport Allow micro-companies… …to thrive in global value chains

Agenda: 

Agenda Great neighbourhood Jump!...how high? Our second chance Six issues in resource management Reputational risk Built-environments Land use – residential, commercial Processes Auckland Resource allocation

Reputation risk: 

Reputation risk Issue: We’re living a lie…we aren’t clean green Dogged by some low or non-existent standards Poor public debate about environment Weak public buy-in to sustainability Two dangers: Exposure…by foreign media, competitors Catastrophe…triggered by: External agent: e.g. bio-terrorism; screw up Internal agent: we screw up Result: Massive, long-term damage to: Brand New Zealand Our ability to generate and capture value from our natural environment

2. Built-environments: 

2. Built-environments Issue: They are a mess Unplanned, unattractive, unsustainable Starting to work on it: Landcare: Its own new Auckland building Goal: by 2008, 30% of major buildings low impact technology Work on built-environments Committee for Auckland: Stimulating discussion of city’s design issues

Urban Density: 

Urban Density

3. Land use: Peri-urban and rural: 

3. Land use: Peri-urban and rural Issue: Rapid development, degradation of land because of poor processes Two strong advocates for change: Parliamentary Commissioner: ‘Managing Change in Paradise’ June ‘01 ‘Superb or Suburbia?’ April ‘03 www.pce.govt.nz Environmental Defence Society ‘A Place to Stand’ www.eds.org.nz

3. Land use: economic: 

3. Land use: economic Issue: Developing major industries without trashing the environment Agriculture: growth, intensity, practices Tourism: growth, geographic concentration Forestry: harvesting, downstream processing, replanting, sustainability Manufacturing: location, concentration, infrastructure (eg roads, electricity) Doubing urban density increases productivity by 5%-6%

4. Processes: 

4. Processes Issue: Best outcomes in simplest ways RMA Its history, purpose forgotten Debate massively mis-framed Focus on cost, time and politics of applications 60th (and last) in the world? Really? Integrated land transport Auckland Region’s problems: Piecemeal, uncoordinated, local politics, no delivery mechanisms, lack of public understanding of the long-term Compromise solution: Auckland Regional Transport Authority Local Government Act 2002 Power flows from Wellington to TLAs Quadruple bottom line Urgent need to build TLA capability

5. Auckland: 

5. Auckland World-class cities key to successful nations Auckland has a brilliant physical location… …as is some of the built-environment But we skimped on investment over 50 years …made-do…made some bad choices So, today we’re struggling… traffic, urban sprawl, degraded environment And the pressures are intensifying…

Auckland: 

Auckland Today: Population: 1.2m Homes: 500,000 built + scope in district plans Lifestyle: low density Transport: difficult Policy: piece-meal Awareness: low 2050: 2m, up 66% 700,000, up 40% Lifestyle: urban Transport: integrated Policy: comprehensive Awareness: high

Auckland: 

Auckland Need to increase density to achieve: Livable urban communities Effective private and public transport High quality recreation Protect the environment A world-class city

Where we’re heading: 

Where we’re heading Eastern Corridor Motorway above Ti Rakau Drive

6. Resource allocation: 

6. Resource allocation Issues: How to allocate resources to highest value use via a balanced scorecard? As vital to wealth as good capital allocation Road transport e.g. Auckland…and elsewhere Water e.g. Waitaki basin Electricity e.g. NZ processing hooked on cheap electricity Insufficient attention to conservation We need new allocation mechanisms Ecologic’s work… …here’s Guy…