ES leader leaving with a sense of pride in work done
AFTER 10 years at the head of Environment Southland, Rob Phillips says he is humbled and honoured to have worked for the Southland community.
Having served for two terms as chief executive, Mr Phillips said it was a hard decision, but he was proud of the work he had been a part of during his tenure and the positive outlook for the council.
Highlights included the successful search and destroy operation for velvetleaf pest plants in 2016 and working through 2020’s recordbreaking floods, when the Mataura River largely kept within its stopbanks.
That was ‘‘a testament to previous councils, catchment boards and our staff’’.
‘‘Now we’re lucky enough to get some government money, some climate resilience money, to do some better work on those areas and build some better resilience,’’ he said.
The Government’s announcement last week about changes to winter grazing regulations had been influenced by the work of the council in collaboration with industry leaders, farmers, and other parties throughout the region, he said.
‘‘It’s been a great region to work in. Water and land underpin our whole economy and lifestyle here, and we’ve got a responsibility for that.
‘‘We’ve had some challenges and we’ve brought those challenges to the fore, we’ve vested a lot of science so we’re making our very conscious decisions based on science and information.’’
An ongoing focus was addressing water quality challenges, and it had taken a lot of hard work to develop the proposed Southland water and land plan, which used a regionwide, mountains to sea approach.
‘‘We’ve responded to subsequent national direction, further raising the bar, using scientific data and community input to inform the next plan. This work is ongoing and I’m comfortable that it’s on a good track,’’ Mr Phillips said.
He said the council’s partnership with mana whenua had gone from strength to strength, and being one of the first councils in the country to weave community and iwi values and objectives for freshwater was an ‘‘amazing’’ achievement.
While he was proud of what he had been involved in throughout the years, he maintained there was still room for improvement in the lower catchments and estuaries, reducing the environmental footprint and level of contaminants.
‘‘There’s no buts about it, we’ve got to do that, but we’re also conscious of the need to do it in a way which maintains the whole Southland community.’’
Mr Phillips would continue with his governance roles as cochairman of the BioHeritage Challenge and as the Environment Southlandappointed representative on the board of Predator Free Rakiura, while also spending time fly fishing, tramping, and travelling. He declined to give his age.
Wilma Falconer is acting chief executive while recruitment for a replacement continues.