Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Hill Country Erosion Programme
About the SLM Hill Country Erosion Programme
The Sustainable Land Management (SLM) Hill Country Erosion Programme focuses on building the technical capacity of regional councils and providing targeted funding for catchment initiatives.
It arises from a Cabinet directive in October 2006 for MAF to lead the development of a long-term programme for central government engagement in sustainable land management.
The Programme aims to increase protection planting of highly erodable land through local government initiatives. It does not directly fund protection planting.
A total budget of $2.5 million per year (exclusive of GST) is allocated to maintain the Programme. Of this, $2 million per year is allocated for the SLM Hill Country Erosion Fund. Another $300,000 is available for capacity building initiatives, which includes $200,000 for establishing or enhancing catchment facilitation groups and $100,000 for training initiatives.
The Hill Country Erosion Programme is a targeted intervention, but it fits within a wider sustainability agenda for improving water and soil management, and encouraging communities to adopt a total catchment management perspective towards sustainable land management.
Programme objective
The Programme’s objective is to produce a long-term shift in management practices on erosion prone hill country.
Programme components
The Programme has four closely-related work areas:
- Critical Resource Information - to comprise of a science stock take and a modelling project of "erosion and landslide risk" areas
- Capacity Building Initiatives - to develop the professional knowledge of land management officers and to establish catchment facilitation groups in areas of severe erosion risk
- SLM Hill Country Erosion Fund - a contestable fund to provide targeted support for regional council initiatives that promote sustainable land management practices
- Leadership - to manage the day to day implementation of the Programme and set a longer term direction in line with other government initiatives.
Why protect erosion-prone hill country?
Protecting erosion-prone hill country prevents damage to both rural and urban businesses, communities and infrastructure.
Annual costs associated with hill country erosion are estimated at $100 to $150 million. This is through loss of soil and nutrients, lost production, damage to houses, fences, roads, phone and power lines, and damage to waterways.
Heavy rain and other adverse weather events can increase the risk of erosion in the hill country. Erosion leads to flooding, which in turn can devastate farm production. Under heavy rainfall, up to 10 percent of erosion-prone land under pasture can be lost.
Serious floods place huge social and financial costs on rural and urban communities. For example, in February 2004, exceptionally heavy rain in the lower North Island caused severe erosion in the hill country and resulted in extensive flooding across much of the Manawatu-Wanganui region. A similar scenario played out in the Bay of Plenty in 2005. Following these floods, central government provided approximately $198 million to compensate farmers for lost production, to rebuild roads and bridges, and for rates relief. Stabilisation of land at risk of slipping will guard against this.
Using forestry to protect erosion-prone hill country can reduce the damage from 10 percent of a catchment to 1 percent.
It is predicted that climate change will increase the risk and magnitude of extreme weather events.
Erosion prone regions
Regions that are particularly prone to hill country erosion and the consequent high risk of flooding are Northland, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Greater Wellington, Manawatu-Wanganui and Taranaki. Parts of Eastern Bay of Plenty and Waikato are also prone to erosion and flooding, but to a lesser degree.
Contact for Enquiries
HCE Project Adviser
Natural Resources Group
MAF Policy
PO Box 2526
WELLINGTON 6140
Telephone: (04) 894 0632
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