New Zealand's "100 per cent pure" brand has some justification but is actually "very far from the case", a leading British environmentalist said in Nelson.

Dairying and forestry had both done huge environmental damage, said Forum of the Future founder Sir Jonathon Porritt.

He visited the city on Thursday as chair of Air New Zealand's sustainability panel, a role which brings him to this country twice a year.

Porritt told 20 city council representatives and community leaders that New Zealand had suffered "a phenomenal amount" of environmental degradation over many years, and some very poor management practices.



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This had created a "real tension" between the country's branding and the reality on the ground, which had often allowed businesses to create wealth at the expense of the environment.

"It seems to me now that we're at a point where New Zealand absolutely cannot go on doing that any longer."

The dairy industry had done "horrendous" damage to waterways and soil quality.

Its success had been achieved "only because it was given permission to degrade significantly the natural capital on which it depends" and this was "not clever".

Forest owners had been allowed to manage their work without much concern for runoff which had done "massive damage" to fisheries through increased sedimentation.

"Again, you just think, they shouldn't be allowed to do that, because they are depleting the assets on which the wealth of the country depends," Porritt said.

New Zealand's natural environment remained probably the single most important reason why visitors came, but it had to address the damage that had been allowed to happen.

Internationally much of industry was built on a belief that fossil fuels could be used indefinitely without any major impact on humankind, he said.

"It seems to me that this is a real turning point. Our concerns about climate change have jolted people into a new awareness of how fragile this model of wealth creation actually is.

"Suddenly we've realised that this externality that we took for granted, pumping these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere ... is coming back to bite us."

However it was perfectly possible to keep creating wealth and improving living standards while remaining within natural constraints, especially through renewable energy technology, particularly solar power.

"In a way, freeing yourself from grid-delivered electricity, often from utilities who you're pretty sure are ripping you off at every turn, becomes quite attractive."

He said Air New Zealand's sustainability panel was a genuine attempt to bring in expertise from outside as well as inside New Zealand, "and to allow us to act as a critical friend".

"Not all companies like that, but it's a really important part of companies trying to become more sustainable," Porritt said.

Humankind was facing its greatest ever challenge, how to live sustainably, and doing so at a time of too much population growth and when many political systems around the world were going backwards.

"Smart businesses, progressive companies, can do a lot, but they can't do it without smart, scientifically-literate politicians."