Selwyn_Times: June 14, 2023

Selwyn Times Wednesday June 14 2023
SPONSORED CONTENT
Surprise over Government
decision not to fund flood
prevention plan
Environment
Canterbury Chair
Peter Scott
I AM FEELING deflated and
disappointed by the lack of Government
foresight and investment in flood
protection for our region.
As the regional council in New Zealand’s
largest region, it feels like we are
being neglected when it comes to futureproofing
Canterbury. I know others feel
the same.
That’s not to say support isn’t needed
for areas badly impacted by Cyclone
Gabrielle – we received considerable support
during the earthquake recovery, so
we know the response up north is critical
– however, to not invest in protection of
other at-risk areas in Waitaha is shortsighted.
Flooding is the number one natural
disaster in New Zealand and, with the
impacts of climate change becoming
more significant and frequent, we are at
risk here in Canterbury.
Along with other regional councils,
Environment Canterbury made a joint
submission to the Government asking for
co-investment in a major flood protection
programme. Our proposal was for
central and local governments to coinvest
$257 million over the next three
years, to fund 92 urgent flood protection
projects across Aotearoa.
We have been asking central
Government to co-invest with us in
flood prevention measures and river
management since 1989, however it
has been ratepayers across the country
footing the bill.
The recent devastation of Cyclone
Gabrielle could happen anywhere in the
South Island, and we shouldn’t wait for
that to happen before taking action. Prevention
is still better than a cure.
We thought we had a strong case for
funding in the 2023 Budget, especially
given what’s at risk if there is significant
flooding along our 78,000 kilometres
of river systems. That includes national
assets such as Waka Kotahi NZ Transport
Agency roads, KiwiRail bridges that run
near rivers, power and internet infrastructure
– which would all be impacted,
and disrupt our supply chains in the
event of another major flood event.
And that doesn’t factor in our ongoing
ability to live in some areas, or people’s
ability to get insurance or how events
might impact on premiums – a sad
reality that some families in the badly
affected areas in the North Island are
grappling with.
I am hoping this decision by the
Government isn’t final. I will be working
over the coming days and weeks with my
regional colleagues around the country
to make sure our concerns are heard in
Wellington.
BACKYARD CRITTERS
Thousands of fly
species living in NZ
Mike Bowie is an ecologist who specialises in
entomology (insects and other invertebrates). Each
week he introduces a new species found in his
backyard at Lincoln. His column aims to raise public
awareness of biodiversity, the variety of living things
around us. Check out the full list of invertebrates
found at www.inaturalist.org/projects/backyardbiodiversity-bugs-in-my-lincoln-section
FLIES ARE everywhere –
and just as well really.
They perform a lot
of useful ecosystem
services like pollination,
decomposition of plant,
animal and fungal
material, and biological
control of pest species.
Roughly 5500 endemic
Diptera or flies are found
in New Zealand.
In comparison, I’ve only
found 62 fly species in our
Lincoln backyard, which
are a mixture of exotic,
native and endemic species.
One of these, the
false stable fly, Muscina
stabulans, is a species that
could easily be mistaken
with the house fly, given
they are in the same family.
Muscina stabulans is,
however, a little larger at
8mm and has four dark
stripes along its thorax.
This species has a close
ecological association
LANDING: The false stable fly, Muscina stabulans,
has a close ecological association with humans.
with humans, known as
synanthropy, so has a
cosmopolitan distribution.
Larvae or maggots of
this species are 6-7mm by
1-1.5mm and whitish in
colour.
They feed on various
kinds of decomposing
organic matter, including
carrion, faeces, fungi, and
fruit. There have been rare
cases of myiasis where
larvae of this species have
been found in intestines of
humans, but on the whole,
the false stable fly does a
great job of cleaning up
dead, decaying matter in
our environment.
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