Applying International Policy Lessons for Sustainable Agriculture in New Zealand Misty Skinner

1. Applying International Policy Lessons for Sustainable Agriculture in New ZealandMisty Skinner

2. Background Types of instruments Regulation National strategies Incentive payments and subsidies Taxes and charges Conclusions Tradeable rights Community-based approaches Voluntary targets Extension and education Summary

3. Background • NZ has a strong dependence on natural resource base for producing export goods • Sustainability of land-based primary production important to the economy and society as well as the environment • NZ can learn from international experiences with sustainable agriculture policy

4. Regulation • Widely used • Can be used by most levels of government • Useful where markets are inefficient • Provides certainty • Can encourage innovation • NZ Resource Management Act 1991

5. Strategies • National strategies • Bring together work strands • Provide a statement about policy direction • Provide consistency between industries • Partnerships with industry groups • Industry strategies • Differences between industry groups • Diversity within industry groups

6. Incentive payments and subsidies • Production-linked subsidies can encourage environmental harm • Compliance conditions can reduce environmental harm • Not used in New Zealand

7. Taxes and charges • Theoretically more flexible and cost-effective than regulation • Used to support the Polluter Pays Principle • Provides price signals that may: • Guide production decisions • Create a financial incentive to reduce environmental harm

8. Tradeable rights • Often local or regional • Define acceptable level of pollution • Rights are allocated – various methods • Trading in a market environment • New Zealand proposal – Lake Taupo

9. Community-based approaches • Local solutions to local problems • Build social capacity for behaviour change • Example – Landcare groups • Facilitate co-operation and dialogue • Can improve uptake of new technologies and practices

10. Voluntary approaches • Provide flexibility for industry • Reduce potential compliance costs of regulation • Certainty of outcomes can be variable • Targets and codes of practice now common

11. Extension and education • Communicate research outcomes in a meaningful way • Need capacity to understand and use information • Provided by many different types of organisation • Awards can also help promote good practice

12. Conclusions • Different instruments useful in different situations • NZ already using many of the tools used overseas • NZ currently favours a voluntary and community-based approach to behaviour change • Regulation will always be a necessary backstop • National strategy could provide consistency