New environment reporting law brings New Zealand into line with OECD

New Zealand on Thursday joined every other member of the OECD group of developed nations in passing a law to ensure statutory reports on the state of its environment.

The passing of the Environmental Reporting Act would strengthen the country's "clean, green brand" with authoritative and independent information on the state of the environment, said Environment Minister Nick Smith.

"It is a truism that we manage what we measure. This new law requiring fair and accurate reports on the state of the environment reflects the increased importance New Zealanders put on our natural wealth," Smith said in a statement.

The Government Statistician would determine which statistics met the high quality standards required, and the independence was further strengthened by the role of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment who could audit each report, Statistics Minister Craig Foss said in the statement.

The Act requires the Ministry for the Environment and the government's Statistics New Zealand agency to publish a report every six months on one of five environmental domains air, freshwater, land, marine, atmosphere and climate beginning with freshwater in mid-2016.

A synthesis report, with analysis of air, freshwater, land, marine, atmosphere and climate trends and interactions, would be published every three years.

The new law addressed the anomaly of New Zealand being the only country in the 34-member OECD (Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development) that did not have a statutory requirement for state of the environment reporting, said Smith.

The state of New Zealand's environment has come in for growing criticism in recent years, especially for the deteriorating quality of freshwater and pollution caused by the intensification of dairy farming. Endi