Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment - Te Kaitiaki Taiao a Te Whare Pāremata

Report summary

Biosecurity is as strategically important as national security when it comes to protecting New Zealand's key economic and environmental assets. We need to improve our biosecurity system to deal with pests and diseases that are capable of causing damage to our unique natural resources and biotic economy.

Commissioner's preface

New Zealand is under siege. Potential animal and plant pests are battering our defence systems in ever increasing numbers as volumes of goods and passengers passing through our borders soar. Our lines of defence are becoming more sophisticated but are not providing the level of protection needed to match the nature and extent of the invasion - in operational and policy terms.

Executive summary

Managing the risks that unwanted organisms pose to our economy, environment and society is a major challenge for New Zealand. A number of species deliberately or unintentionally introduced in the past have subsequently become pests that are costly to manage. We face increasing risk of harmful organisms arriving with growing volumes of imported goods, travellers and vessels from a wide range of countries. New Zealand is literally 'under siege' from organisms that threaten our unique but fragile indigenous flora, fauna and biodiversity, as well as the health of people.

Our biosecurity system has traditionally focused on protecting farming and forestry from pests and diseases. This is an important aspect of biosecurity, but our total economic wellbeing also depends on the quality of New Zealand's environment, its biodiversity and other natural features.

As trade and tourism increase so do the pathways and opportunities for unwanted organisms and vector-borne human diseases not previously found in New Zealand.

This review identifies a number of strengths of the current biosecurity system. It also reveals some weaknesses in the environmental management aspects of the system and the opportunities for addressing them. One of these opportunities is the Government's commitment to the development of a Biosecurity Strategy and the protection of marine biosecurity.

Recommendations are made to the Minister for Biosecurity, and to biosecurity agencies and others, to improve the environmental management aspects of biosecurity.

There are three background papers. These examined changes to New Zealand's biosecurity system over the previous decade (a look back), current and emerging ecological risks and the challenges these will bring to the biosecurity system in the foreseeable future (a look forward), and key economic issues facing New Zealand's biosecurity system and their influence on decision-making.

Findings & recommendations

Findings

Biosecurity is a risk management system operating without a clear set of measurable outcomes and is administered by multiple agencies each with their own objectives. The system has traditionally focused on the management of risks to the primary production sector but, more recently, successive governments have recognised the importance of co-ordinating agencies' efforts to manage biosecurity risks to the environment and public health.

The formation in 1997 of the Biosecurity Council as a Ministerial advisory body was the first significant step in this process. The Biosecurity Council and its consultative forums have an important role to play in co-ordinating all aspects of biosecurity and ensuring that the biosecurity system is effective. The establishment of MAF Biosecurity Authority in 1999 was another important milestone. It plays a pivotal role in implementing the Biosecurity Act 1993 and assessing biosecurity risks, including risks to New Zealand's biodiversity.

This report has examined the very broad range of issues associated with the management of biosecurity risks to the environment and has found that the system has a number of strengths but also significant weaknesses. The weaknesses identified are not insurmountable. There is an opportunity, in the development of the Government's proposed Biosecurity Strategy, to address the system's weak points and to set clear and measurable outcomes that the Government expects biosecurity agencies to work towards. Other measures such as improving public awareness of the importance of biosecurity to New Zealand, and encouraging the support and vigilance of communities and the private sector are also necessary.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are based on the findings of this report, and acknowledge the Government's commitment to The New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy (New Zealand Government, 2000a), which includes the development of a Biosecurity Strategy and the protection of marine biosecurity. For the full text of the recommendations please see the main report.

Recommendations to the Minister for Biosecurity

It is recommended that the Minister for Biosecurity:

1. Broadens and extends the representation on, and responsibilities of, the Biosecurity Council to provide the Minister with a regular assessment of effectiveness.
2. Incorporates into the proposed Biosecurity Strategy: recognition that biosecurity is as strategically important as national security; the concept of shared responsibility and public participation; biosecurity risk management principles; criteria for assessing risks to indigenous flora and fauna, and public health; adoption of the precautionary approach where information is uncertain; a focus on controlling high-risk pathways; processes for prioritising research; the importance of information sharing; guidance on the public and private sectors' contributions to funding.
3. Specifies the outcomes expected of the biosecurity system against which the effectiveness can be assessed.
4. Reviews the effectiveness of the Biosecurity Act 1993 in relation to the outcomes being sought and its lack of: an over-arching purpose; reference to the Treaty of Waitangi; a general duty to avoid, remedy or mitigate adverse effects; any requirement on any particular agency to take action.
5. Ensures that resources are allocated to address biosecurity risks to indigenous flora and fauna, and public health.
6. Establishes dedicated funding to enable rapid and effective responses to biosecurity emergencies.
7. Increases resources and capabilities to deal with marine invasive species.

Recommendations to biosecurity agencies and others

It is recommended that:

1. MAF Biosecurity Authority develops and implements a strategy to increase the level of public awareness and compliance with biosecurity requirements.
2. MAF Biosecurity Authority and the Department of Conservation build and maintain the capacity needed to efficiently and effectively assess biosecurity risks to indigenous flora and fauna.
3. The Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA), in consultation with the Department of Conservation and MAF Biosecurity Authority, develops a straightforward process that will encourage importers of new plant species to have them assessed for their weediness, invasiveness and other potential biosecurity impacts.
4. All biosecurity agencies develop firm agreements with MAF Biosecurity Authority on their roles and responsibilities in relation to biosecurity breaches and emergency situations.
5. All biosecurity agencies that contract border inspection services from MAF Quarantine Service ensure that the Service meets the performance standards set.
6. All biosecurity agencies and the Biosecurity Council contribute to the co-ordination and targeting of biosecurity monitoring and surveillance, and exchange of information.
7. The Department of Conservation and the Ministry of Fisheries review their biosecurity information needs and determine whether sufficient resources are being allocated to operational research to meet those needs.
8. The Biosecurity Council co-ordinate and distribute information on publicly funded biosecurity research projects among all the biosecurity agencies, and encourage the private sector to contribute information on privately funded research.