ELI takes Environment Southland to High Court for wetland losses

The Environmental Law Initiative is in the Christchurch High Court today, holding Environment Southland to account for what ELI say are failures to monitor the extent of wetlands, review the efficacy of its wetland rules, or take action to prevent wetland destruction.

“These failures led to significant and prolonged wetland destruction in Southland,” says ELI’s senior researcher Anna Sintenie.

“Wetlands are home to incredible biodiversity, can absorb vast quantities of carbon, and are a natural form of flood and coastal protection.

“Yet a staggering 2709 hectares of wetlands was lost in Southland between 1996 and 2018 - half of the total loss of wetlands in Aotearoa,” says Sintenie.

Most of these losses have been from lowlands near or adjacent to the internationally significant Awarua-Waituna wetland.

Since at least 2010, Environment Southland has had rules in place to shield natural wetlands from land drainage, requiring resource consent to do so. However, studies show that wetland loss has persisted since then.

Of 61 wetland losses investigated in Southland in a 2020 report, none were associated with a resource consent. This is despite the drainage of water from wetlands requiring a resource consent.

Ninety six percent of drained freshwater wetlands have been converted to grassland, usually for dairy farming.

In 2023, ELI filed legal proceedings for Judicial Review to determine if Environment Southland has breached its duties to gather information, monitor, and take action under the Resource Management Act.

“To effectively protect wetlands, we want Environment Southland to monitor to detect wetland loss when it is occurring.

“When it does detect possible wetland losses, it should be able to intervene swiftly. Such monitoring should be the basis for improvements to the council’s rules around wetlands,” says Sintenie.

Wetland losses are not confined to Southland - large losses have also been documented in Northland, Waikato and West Coast regions.

“This case should send a strong reminder to councils that they must fulfill their monitoring mandate in order to protect our last remaining wetlands.”

The court case will run for two days, concluding on Tuesday, 1st October.

Waituna Wetlands, Southland. Image credit: Shellie Evans, Flickr.