Farmers who reserve some of their land for native bush are watching in dismay as their conservation partner, the QEII National Trust, runs short of cash.
So serious is this problem, the trust is warning that few if any new conservation measures will be launched in the next financial year.
This situation is being condemned as an absolute disgrace by Federated Farmers.
The QEII National Trust exists to deal with a serious conundrum: almost a third of New Zealand’s land area is overseen by the Department of Conservation (DOC), though its $765 million dollar budget is not nearly enough to deal with such a large area. But even if DOC could fulfil its mission, what about the 70% of land that is privately owned. Should that be ignored?
The QEII National Trust was set up half a century ago to help farmers plant or preserve forests and wetlands on their properties by assisting them with the cost. The rationale was that many farmers love their land and would like to preserve some of it in forest for amenity or environmental reasons, even if it meant less land was available for grazing. But some of the cost of an obvious social good should be met from the public purse.
Over the years, the Trust has established over 5,000 protected areas, ranging from small backyard patches to huge swathes of high country. These covenants are mainly on farms and cover more than 180,000 hectares of land. But paying for them is getting harder all the time, and could bring the establishment of new covenants to a halt.
“Our baseline government funding of $4.28 million has not increased since 2015, despite rising costs and a 28% increase in the number of new covenants over this time,” the trust said in a statement in December.
“We were lucky to secure some Jobs for Nature funding to allow us to increase our new covenanting work over the last few years, however this is now coming to an end with no replacement funding source on the horizon.”
As a result, warns the trust, new projects could grind to a halt.
“Continuing to support landowners of existing QEII covenants is our first priority, so we may have to pause or significantly reduce our new covenant work until additional funding can be secured.”
This development angers Federated Farmers.
"The QEII Trust has a stellar track record of working with landowners to permanently protect special areas of bush, wetland and biodiversity," its vice president Colin Hurst says.
"It’s an utter disgrace that QEII’s base government funding has remained unchanged for a decade, despite rising demand for its help.
"In real terms, that’s a huge cut in funding."
The trust has traditionally worked by helping with the cost of things like fencing and predator control, so that special areas of bush and wetland are protected for future generations, in perpetuity. Hurst says voluntary initiatives like these preserve the environment more effectively than regulations such as the previous Government’s rules on Significant Natural Areas (SNAs).
The current cost of QEII covenants to farmers is unclear. But a study last decade by Waikato University put the loss of production at farms of $443 million to $638 million in the first four decades of the scheme. In addition, farmers were spending about $25 million of their own money each year on pest control and other costs.
"QEII represents farmer commitment, and great bang for buck, for conservation,” Hurst says.
"The Government needs to step up its contribution to keep up the pace.”
The Ministers of Agriculture and Conservation were approached for comment. The Agriculture Minister said it was a conservation matter, but the office of the Minister of Conservation, Tama Potaka, has not responded to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, comments in the trust’s last annual report by the Chairman Alan Livingston, shows its problems are not being exaggerated.
“A deepening concern of my predecessors has been the unsustainability of QEII’s current financial model,” Livingston wrote.
“I am troubled that this remains the case, with no apparent relief on the horizon. Our Jobs for Nature projects have been successful and productive, but this funding is due to end in June 2025 and that revenue reduction will likely bring QEII’s unsustainable financial situation to a head."
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