Potential for Approved Forestry Operators
For a number of years it has been postulated that Environmental Management Systems could reduce RMA compliance costs through landusers with EMS becoming approved operators. Chas Perry looks at developments and problems encountered with approved forestry operators in the Tasman District.
An assessment of Weyerhaeuser New Zealand Inc’s Environmental Management System (EMS) as a self-management method under the RMA was completed in 1999. The project was jointly funded by Tasman District Council (TDC), Weyerhaeuser, and Ministry for the Environment under the Sustainable Management Fund.
One of the recommendations of the assessment stated that:
Weyerhaeuser, which operates under an ISO 14001 certified EMS, should qualify as an approved operator under the proposed Council accreditation criteria because of its system of self-management in relation to Council’s land disturbance plan.
Chapter 12 of the TDC Tasman Resource Management Plan allows for investigation of the value and practicability of recognising approved operators under self-management systems.
Even though the Council and Weyerhaeuser saw considerable potential in the approved operator option and the audit on Weyerhaeuser’s EMS showed that they did comply with the requirements in the Council’s Resource Management Plan, a lack of progress on this option would appear to be related to:
- Council’s concern that there was a lack of a third party certified EMS framework, for any operator, which would provide Council with confidence that the specific requirements of the RMA were met.
- The legal difficulty of including a permitted activity for an approved operator that allowed Council the discretion to determine who was an approved operator.
- The lack of incentive to spend the time and effort of going through the process of designing and including the approved operator concept in the RM Plan, when the current regulatory regime was generally acceptable to both parties.
- There is the question over the level of comfort for both parties if there were staff or culture changes within either organisation.
- The difficulty of determining a process for approving or turning down approved operator applications.
When you consider the above list it is not hard to see why progress has not been made. However, there is no doubt that the development and assessment of Weyerhaeuser’s EMS has had very significant benefits in improving environmental culture, developing procedures, and encouraging an open and trusting working relationship between the parties.
If an approved operator process had been developed it would have enabled the Council and Weyerhaeuser to evaluate this alternative before the next plan review. It now seems unlikely that such an approved operator framework will be developed in Tasman District. The potential gains for both parties do not appear to justify the time and effort required to overcome the legal and plan change requirements.
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Chas Perry Senior Policy Analyst, MAF Policy Information & Regions , Nelson Chas has over 26 years of experience with successive government forestry agencies in New Zealand, including production forestry management and statistics, resource management, infrastructural issues and associated policy-related work. |
Contact for Enquiries
Amber Duncalfe
Editor - RM Update
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Tel: +64 4 894 0710
Fax: +64 4 894 0745
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