Environment forum seeks answers

The development of a five-year strategic plan is the ultimate goal of the National Environment Forum being held this week at the Avarua AOG church hall in Takuvaine.
Pasha Carruthers, one of the forum’s coordinators and the Climate Change Technical Officer with the National Environment Service, said the NES doesn’t have the resources to safeguard the country on its own and so is using the three-day forum to seek support from the community.
“This workshop brings in the stakeholders, the private sector and the community to try to get their help to make things happen and ensure our environment is protected,” she said.
Carruthers said a strategic plan, with short, medium and long-range goals, is crucial to halting the negative impact the modern world is having on life as we know it in the Cook Islands.
“There is ongoing degradation,” she explained. “There are increasing waste issues. Our greenhouse gas emissions have more than doubled in the last 10 years. That’s not sustainable. We need to start thinking about things like renewable energy and how we’re going to deal with external climate changes that are happening in the world.”
The possible banning of plastic bags and the importance of protecting the cloud forests – Rarotonga’s main source of fresh water – are among the topics being discussed at the forum.
“We’ve got these plans and now it’s just how to make them happen and deciding who takes responsibility for which specific bits,” said Carruthers. “Sometimes it’s government, sometimes it’s the private sector, sometimes it’s the general community or traditional leaders.”
The previous forum, held in 2004, defined a strategy for the years spanning 2005-2009. While there is some thought that these gatherings elicit major discussion and minor results, Carruthers pointed out that the development of the National Disaster Management Plan emerged from the previous forum.
“We’re now a lot better prepared for disasters than we were,” she said. “We haven’t lost any lives in cyclones of late.”
The improvement of early warning systems for storms, and the managed landfill were also the result of the 2004 forum, as was the process of installing caretakers on Suwarrow.
The success of any proposals instigated by the current forum may come down to finances, including the source of that cash.
“That’s one of the questions in relation to climate change,” said Carruthers. “Should we be paying for climate change adaptation ourselves? And then in other areas, such as waste, should it be user-pays? Those questions are being asked of the participants here and we encourage the general public to come and have their say.”
Community input is crucial, said Carruthers, because the Environment Service is the first to admit it doesn’t have all the answers.
“We’d like to get some agreement on what some of the priority solutions are,” said Carruthers. “There are a lot of solutions out there but we can’t do them all overnight. That’s why we have a five-year plan. There will be more challenges along the way but at least we can try.”

By John Ireland

Herald Issue 463 10 June
- World famous activist assisting residents
- Budget will decide if residents prosecute Government over landfill
- Forestry project sucking Mangaia dry
- Budget 2010 – fiasco or disaster?