2003 State of the Nation's Environment Address - Barry Carbon

Lincoln University presents the country's 5th annual State of the Nation's Environment address this Thursday (31July) and providing the assessment is the CEO of the Ministry for the Environment, Barry Carbon. His address is entitled "Our Environment: from where we were to where we are going".

The venue is Lincoln University's Stewart Building, Lecture Theatre 1, the time is 4pm for meet and greet and 4.30 - 6.00pm for the address and question time. The meeting will be chaired by the Chief Executive of the Canterbury - Employers' Chamber of Commerce, Peter Townsend.

"This talk will be about making things happen," says economist Dr Ross Cullen of Lincoln University's Commerce Division, who has a special interest in environmental economics.

"It is about taking the concepts of today and the actions necessary to make tomorrow happen. It is about air that is clean for everyone, about living with competition for water, about systems for society, industry and government that respond to the changes of the past decade."

Lincoln University introduced the annual State of the Nation's Environment addresses in 1999 in what was believed to be an international "first". The concept was lifted from the traditional political leaders' "state of the nation" addresses which typically deal with political, economic and budgetary matters.

Past presenters have been Parliamentary Environment Commissioner Dr Morgan Williams (twice), Environment Minister Marian Hobbs, and Conservation Minister Sandra Lee.

"With all of New Zealand’s health , wealth and welfare stemming from the environment, it's only logical that we should put it first and have an annual assessment of how the country is doing environmentally," says Professor Ian Spellerberg, Director of Lincoln University's Isaac Centre for Nature Conservation, which hosts the annual address.

"In today's global economy New Zealand's marketing niche is based on its 'clean, green ' environment and that's what our big earners such as agriculture and tourism are dependent on. To enjoy a strong economy we've first of all got to have and maintain a good environment. So let's put first things first."

The State of the Nation's Environment address is an open meeting and all interested members of the public are welcome to attend.