Editorial: Acting in haste on climate change

OPINION: Here we go again: yet another scientist giving another stark warning about the potentially severe consequences of global warming.

No doubt Niwa chief climate scientist David Wratt's annual Thomas Cawthron Memorial Lecture will spark a predictable reaction from the small bunch of armchair experts and a minority of scientists who persist in holding and expressing the view that either: 1. There is no problem; 2. If there is a problem, human activities are not responsible; or 3. If there is a problem and human activities are in part to blame, then fixing it is someone else's concern.

Things would be much easier, and cheaper, if viewpoint 1 were right, but denying a problem exists rarely diminishes or solves it. The war on terrorism and the recent recession have been dominating concerns in the new millennium but climate change is looming as this century's defining issue. The tipping point surely came when even the United States and former global warming cynic George W Bush accepted that climate change was real and human-related, and the world needed to change in order to secure a future for civilisation as we know it. The deniers, like most conspiracy theorists, are becoming tiresome. Tenacity is not always a virtue.

As the Nelson contingent – from Climate Change Minister Nick Smith to our Unicef student climate ambassadors – prepare to pack their bags for a vital round of talks in Copenhagen early next month, the Government has given notice that it will take urgency in Parliament tomorrow in order to debate amendments to a key component of its environmental platform, the Emissions Trading Scheme. Surveys suggest that public understanding of what the ETS involves and will mean is low and there is little support for National's version of the scheme even among its supporters, and that most believe the heavy polluters should bear the main cost of their activities, not taxpayers.

Despite having been unable to bring sufficient clarity to a complex issue, the Government appears determined to pass its legislation before the climate talkfest begins in Copenhagen. While that is understandable, taking haste over difficult legislation is rarely a good idea. Environmental policy is so important and of such consequence that it ought to be based on wide consensus – the Government cannot even get support partner ACT on board and is now giving every appearance of kowtowing to iwi to win Maori Party backing for its scheme.

A deal worth many millions of dollars to enable South Island tribe Ngai Tahu and four other iwi to plant trees on marginal DOC land in order to reap the benefit of carbon credits has the hallmarks of a preferential deal for Maori. Not long ago it would have been extraordinary to suggest that a National government was even considering a race-based deal to appease Maori concerns. Now it seems to be acting contrary to its own legal advice to broker a deal that looks like a bribe and well illustrates a potential pitfall of MMP politics. The need to take decisive action on climate is clear. However, there are times to pause and take a deep breath.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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PETER J PAOLA   #1   11:13 am Nov 30 2009

Sir/Madame, What effect do you believe the release of emails and documents from CRU and the subsequent setting up of an board of enquiry - see BBC news should have on the NZ approach to costing the nation $110 Billion? What about NiWA's apparent collision with CRU's approach - see Telegraph report today. It amazes me that this is not front page news in your paper and secondly that investigative reports are not being generated, starting with the NiWA.

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