17. New Zealand

Abstract

New Zealand's international environmental law actions with regard to climate change in 2010 comprised formal notification of association with the Copenhagen Accord in January, hosting the inaugural meeting of the Global Research Alliance in April, adopting the Ambo Declaration in November, and attending the sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the sixth Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (MOP-6) in Cancun in December. In Cancun, New Zealand articulated agendas on forestry calculations and fossil fuel subsidies and led the focus on measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV). New Zealand signed the Convention Establishing the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) and took actions relating to renewable energy, persistent organic pollutants, biodiversity, and bilateral environmental co-operation agreements (ECA). New Zealand decided not to become a party to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from Their Utilization (Nagoya Protocol) (finalized at COP-10 to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2010), when it opens for signature, due to unresolved domestic policy issues. In terms of New Zealand's regional activity, it refocused its Overseas Development Aid Programme on the Pacific on climate change, announced intentions towards sustainable forest management and illegal logging co-operation with Australia, and formed a Polynesian fisheries co-operative with other Pacific countries by way of the Te Vaka Moana Arrangement (TVMA). Domestically, 2010 developments included an assessment/projection of New Zealand's progress in meeting its first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol's obligations (a surplus of 11.4 million units or NZ $231 milliion), the entry of new sectors into the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), a number of regulations clarifying the detail of the NZ ETS, and an announcement of a forthcoming review of the NZ ETS to, inter alia, assess the current situation whereby obligations will rise to 100 percent with no price cap when the transition period expires in December 2012. Other 2010 developments included changes to the Environmental Protection Agency (which is now to be a Crown agent), steps towards the sustainable management of fresh water, criticism of New Zealand's government for voting against two proposals to protect Atlantic bluefin tuna under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and for increasing its quota on its southern bluefin tuna catch, and the introduction of other catch limits and actions relating to funding, registration requirements, and national plans for highly migratory species, deepwater, and middle-depth fisheries. A coastal policy statement was also introduced, as was a review of the necessity of continuing with forestry schemes outside of, and predating, the NZ ETS. Finally, the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act was amended, various species protection programs were upgraded, and attempts to reduce New Zealand's biodiversity loss were launched.