Thursday, April 5, 2007
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released a report on the environmental performance of the New Zealand Government. Although the Government applauds the findings as vindicating its path to sustainability the report makes a wide range of recommendations in order to improve environmental performance. It calls for better protection of water, a clarification and strengthening of climate change policy, an upgrade of waste management and improvement environmental reporting.
The previous report was released in 1996 and a number of improvements have been noted. Thse include minimising harmful substances in agriculture and fisheries, improving drinking water, balancing social and environmental concerns and expanding protected areas.
It is part of a second cycle of peer reviewed reports on the OECD member countries.