Protecting our coastal wetlands - our submission to MfE

The Ministry for the Environment is currently proposing changes to the wetland provisions in the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater (NES-F), proposing to remove wetlands in the coastal marine area (CMA) from the protections introduced as part of the 2020 Freshwater Package.

In ELI’s view, while there are potential difficulties in identifying the seaward boundary of a wetland in the CMA, we disagree that this warrants the complete removal of coastal wetlands from the NES-F.

Relaxing NES-F protections from the CMA wetlands would represent a row-back on the original policy position of the Freshwater Package, which was that wetlands (including coastal wetlands) were falling through the regulatory cracks and so required rules to protect them. Because 90% of all wetlands have already been destroyed by development, the original policy intent was to protect all wetlands.

Rather than removing these protections, it is our opinion that amendments most importantly ensure continued protection of wetlands in the CMA, and clarify the boundaries of wetlands in the CMA where this would assist in reducing uncertainty.

Our submission can be found in full below.