Te Arawa FoMA to promote biological farming systems
Te Arawa Federation of Maori Authorities (FoMA) is investigating biological farming systems for its member organisations.
Te Arawa FoMA is the largest cluster of Trusts & Incorporations in the Rotorua District. Te Arawa FoMA’s goal is to help its members advance their aspirations for economic development, in a manner that is mindful of and does not compromise with the receiving environment, which Maori culture is historically known for.
Many Maori owned trust lands are used for farming and are on either Lakes or rivers catchments. In recent years, nutrient leaching from farming has been an issue in these areas.
The Rotorua Lakes and Land Trust (RLLT) – a joint venture between Te Arawa FoMA and Rotorua/Taupo Province of Federated Farmers – has set up the Vallance Project which explores how biological farming systems can play a role in reducing nitrate leaching from farms, while keeping farming profitable. The project has been operational since August 2010 in Reporoa. A similar research project was set up in two farms in Edgecumbe recently.
“Maori community believes in sustainable management of our land, water and forest resources; it is based on the tradition and culture that has been handed to us by our ancestors,” said Mr Malcolm Short, Chairman of the RLLT.
“Rotorua’s future depends on our land and water. The wealth and wellbeing of the district and its people will continue to depend heavily on making the most of farming, forestry and tourism to generate jobs and income”.
Maori culture believes in Kaitiakitanga (traditional way of environmental management) and Mauri (life force) of nature. Hence, human societies can not be separate from nature.
“That is one of the reasons why we have set up the Vallance research project. Biological farming systems which do not depend on artificial saturation of the farm by chemical fertilisers are expected to provide a more nature-friendly manner of agriculture,” Mr Short added.
Te Arawa FoMA and RLLT have formed an affiliation to take advantage of the benefits in joining together to share resources, ideas and development initiatives. Both entities retain their autonomy but where possible share and/or pool their resources to reach common outcomes.
Te Arawa FoMA is organising “Options and Tools” conference on Friday, 17 June 2011 at the Rotorua Club Inc. located in the Main Grandstand at the Rotorua Race Track.
A number of interesting topics have been chosen for deliberations by the executive committee. Dr Guna Magesan, a senior scientist, has been invited to present a paper on “Biological farming systems and nutrient leaching” for the benefit of farming community.
“In addition to the Vallance project, we are also planning to have a second trial soon on a Maori owned farm,” said Tom Walters, a Te Arawa FoMA representative and Trustee of RLLT.
“We will study pasture productivity, pasture quality, and key indicators of soil physical, chemical and biological properties”.
Various biological farming fertiliser companies will be invited to be part of this research. The focus will be to test the biological farming system rather than the product.
“It is our desire to research methods in which we may farm in a more sustainable manner, and introduce this methodology to a collective of Maori farms across the central plateau after which we may share success stories to fellow members of the Federation of Maori Authorities and indeed throughout the country,” Mr Walters added.
“This is a concentrated conscientious effort on our part, to reduce the dependence and cost of advisors and consultants, and to do a better job at controlling what is controllable. More natural processes and clean lakes and waterways are a priority”.
Ultimately, a balance has to be struck between the productivity and financial sustainability of the farm, and environmental costs. Many of the Western farming systems place a single minded focus on profits to the detriment of the environment, thus forgetting the fact that human society is a part of nature.”
In October 2011, the RLLT is organising a National Conference on Biological Farming Systems in Rotorua with the theme "Towards a Sustainable Farming – by farmers, for farmers ". A number of key scientists from various crown research institutes and universities, and farmers from different parts of New Zealand are participating and sharing their experiences at the conference. For more information, please email: BiologicalFarming.Systems@gmail.com
"We have been promoting our research every possible way," said Gifford McFadden, a Trustee of RLLT and the Project Leader for Vallance Project.
“We believe our national conference will be a turning point for biological farming in New Zealand,” Mr McFadden added.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Poisoning Paradise: PCE 1080 Report - Concerning
Poisoning Paradise: PCE 1080 Report - Concerning: "Yesterday the PCE (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment) released her report on the use of 1080 poison in New Zealand. TV3 news..."
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
How Wins Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Award.
Return 2 Earth
– for composting of organic waste.
Return 2 Earth is based at the New Plymouth Colson Road landfill and each year processes large volumes of green waste, wood shavings and animal shed bedding into high-quality compost for a range of markets.
This operation provides a sustainable use for material that, in most cases, would otherwise have been landfilled. All of the green waste from the New Plymouth and Waitara transfer stations is processed by Return 2 earth.
Outdoor windrows are used with mechanical agitation to optimize the compost process, based on the temperature and moisture content of the windrows.
Use of the company’s products by farmers and gardeners benefits the environment as it is likely to be associated with reduced use of chemical fertilizers, reduced leaching of nutrients, improved soil structure and increased soil carbon sequestration.
Company founder Russell How says he and his wife Nerida are honoured to receive the award and hope it encourages others to put hard work and effort into sustainability. Describing himself as an entrepreneur, Mr How got the idea for Return 2 Earth at a sustainability field day at Ruakura in 2008. “I met Gerry Gillespie, of Zero Waste Australia, who talked about what had been achieved in Australia, and I could see an opportunity to make something happen here.”
Mr How says the Taranaki Regional Council, New Plymouth District Council and Envirowaste Ltd have provided valuable encouragement and assistance, and the company’s product is now used by farmers, local gardeners and the NPDC Parks Department.
– for composting of organic waste.
Return 2 Earth is based at the New Plymouth Colson Road landfill and each year processes large volumes of green waste, wood shavings and animal shed bedding into high-quality compost for a range of markets.
This operation provides a sustainable use for material that, in most cases, would otherwise have been landfilled. All of the green waste from the New Plymouth and Waitara transfer stations is processed by Return 2 earth.
Outdoor windrows are used with mechanical agitation to optimize the compost process, based on the temperature and moisture content of the windrows.
Use of the company’s products by farmers and gardeners benefits the environment as it is likely to be associated with reduced use of chemical fertilizers, reduced leaching of nutrients, improved soil structure and increased soil carbon sequestration.
Company founder Russell How says he and his wife Nerida are honoured to receive the award and hope it encourages others to put hard work and effort into sustainability. Describing himself as an entrepreneur, Mr How got the idea for Return 2 Earth at a sustainability field day at Ruakura in 2008. “I met Gerry Gillespie, of Zero Waste Australia, who talked about what had been achieved in Australia, and I could see an opportunity to make something happen here.”
Mr How says the Taranaki Regional Council, New Plymouth District Council and Envirowaste Ltd have provided valuable encouragement and assistance, and the company’s product is now used by farmers, local gardeners and the NPDC Parks Department.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The issue of nitrogen leaching.
Taranaki environmental activist Rusty Kane believes New Zealand farming is at the crossroads when it comes to the issue of nitrogen leaching.
Down one path lies more efficient, more profitable farms, while going down the other finds the future of New Zealand's clean, green image in serious doubt.
Mr Kane, the leader of the People's Choice lobby group and former political candidate, has been visiting regional councils throughout the North Island to campaign for stronger policies surrounding nitrogen leaching on farms.
Last week he met Waikato Regional councillors Jane Hennebry and Phillip Legg, as well as policy and strategy acting group manager Tony Petch, to discuss the issue.
Leaching occurs when nitrogen-based fertilisers, which are spread on surrounding pastoral land, seep into farm rivers and waterways, creating a chemical imbalance in the quality of the water and surrounding land.
Mr Kane said the issue, if not addressed through regional council policy and changes in farming habits, could seriously impact on New Zealand agriculture.
''We can't say things and do something else,'' he said.
''If you want to have a future in farming, we have to move on this (the nitrogen issue).'' The best recognised way to combat nitrogen leaching is to look after riparian zones, or land immediately surrounding waterways, through the planting of specific trees and plant life on the banks of the waterways. These act as a ''filter'' to prevent nitrogen flowing into the water.
Alternatively, the use of non-chemical fertilisers remove the problem completely.
Mr Kane however is no long-haired tree-hugging hippie.
He knows the pressures farmers are under, and the difficult everyday decisions they must make.
This is where the encouragement and support of regional councils is crucially important, for both groups, and the environment. ''We can't expect the farmers to shoulder all the costs,'' he said. ''But you've got to look at how to really be sustainable as a farmer.
''Conventional farming today is not sustainable and if we don't make changes, we are going to lose our edge.'' ''A good conventional farmer will be a good organic farmer (without the use of chemical fertilisers) . th. th. but we need to change the way we're doing things on the land.'' Ms Hennebry described the meeting with Mr Kane as ''very positive,'' adding she was impressed at Mr Kane's balanced view of change for both farmers and the environment.
Waikato Regional Council is seen as one of the more progressive regional councils in the North Island when it comes to the issue of nitrogen leaching.
Ad Feedback The issue has been included on the agenda in the last two council meetings, signifying the growing importance of the topic.
Ms Hennebry said a recent policy on the use of lower amounts of nitrogen around Lake Taupo was aimed at creating a green belt around the lake, while the council has also highlighted water catchments around the region seen as ''priority'' for action.
The Waikato region extends from Lake Taupo to around Mercer, including the Waikato River and other large water catchments.
Mr Kane formed the People's Choice Party in 1999 to voice about a number of environmental issues around New Zealand.
The leader has stood in a number of elections, but after failing to draw significant numbers of votes, turned the party into a lobby group targetting environmental issues.
Along with his Waikato visit, Mr Kane has stopped in at the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, the Horizons Regional Council (which cares for Manawatu and Whanganui), the Taranaki Regional Council and Northland Regional Council.
BEN STANLEY
Waikato Times
Down one path lies more efficient, more profitable farms, while going down the other finds the future of New Zealand's clean, green image in serious doubt.
Mr Kane, the leader of the People's Choice lobby group and former political candidate, has been visiting regional councils throughout the North Island to campaign for stronger policies surrounding nitrogen leaching on farms.
Last week he met Waikato Regional councillors Jane Hennebry and Phillip Legg, as well as policy and strategy acting group manager Tony Petch, to discuss the issue.
Leaching occurs when nitrogen-based fertilisers, which are spread on surrounding pastoral land, seep into farm rivers and waterways, creating a chemical imbalance in the quality of the water and surrounding land.
Mr Kane said the issue, if not addressed through regional council policy and changes in farming habits, could seriously impact on New Zealand agriculture.
''We can't say things and do something else,'' he said.
''If you want to have a future in farming, we have to move on this (the nitrogen issue).'' The best recognised way to combat nitrogen leaching is to look after riparian zones, or land immediately surrounding waterways, through the planting of specific trees and plant life on the banks of the waterways. These act as a ''filter'' to prevent nitrogen flowing into the water.
Alternatively, the use of non-chemical fertilisers remove the problem completely.
Mr Kane however is no long-haired tree-hugging hippie.
He knows the pressures farmers are under, and the difficult everyday decisions they must make.
This is where the encouragement and support of regional councils is crucially important, for both groups, and the environment. ''We can't expect the farmers to shoulder all the costs,'' he said. ''But you've got to look at how to really be sustainable as a farmer.
''Conventional farming today is not sustainable and if we don't make changes, we are going to lose our edge.'' ''A good conventional farmer will be a good organic farmer (without the use of chemical fertilisers) . th. th. but we need to change the way we're doing things on the land.'' Ms Hennebry described the meeting with Mr Kane as ''very positive,'' adding she was impressed at Mr Kane's balanced view of change for both farmers and the environment.
Waikato Regional Council is seen as one of the more progressive regional councils in the North Island when it comes to the issue of nitrogen leaching.
Ad Feedback The issue has been included on the agenda in the last two council meetings, signifying the growing importance of the topic.
Ms Hennebry said a recent policy on the use of lower amounts of nitrogen around Lake Taupo was aimed at creating a green belt around the lake, while the council has also highlighted water catchments around the region seen as ''priority'' for action.
The Waikato region extends from Lake Taupo to around Mercer, including the Waikato River and other large water catchments.
Mr Kane formed the People's Choice Party in 1999 to voice about a number of environmental issues around New Zealand.
The leader has stood in a number of elections, but after failing to draw significant numbers of votes, turned the party into a lobby group targetting environmental issues.
Along with his Waikato visit, Mr Kane has stopped in at the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, the Horizons Regional Council (which cares for Manawatu and Whanganui), the Taranaki Regional Council and Northland Regional Council.
BEN STANLEY
Waikato Times
Monday, April 11, 2011
A Straight Shooters Point of View.
Organic Farming Activists get real.
Organic farming creates more CO2 (which is a good thing, of course). So why do urban organic activists pretend it's the other way 'round!
Urban organic activists begin every argument by pining for the good ol' days. They point out that in 1940 one calorie of fossil-fuel energy produced two calories of food. But now, due to the dreaded effects of industrialization, 20 calories of fossil-fuel energy are required per calorie of food. And this, for them, illustrates why an immediate transformation of the food biz is required to "save the planet." How? By converting from a fossil-fuel-based food economy to one based instead on sunshine. Case closed! After all, it's a 20-fold increase, right!
Well... turns out it's not.
A wise man once said an ordinary mind is incapable of making distinctions. The distinction not being made in this case is that while we're using 20 times the fossil-fuel energy, we're certainly not using 20-times the total energy. Not even close...
If only they had ever worked a day on a farm, these "slow," urban activists would appreciate the massive amounts of human and animal labour that used to be required before machines driven by fossil fuels came along. The reason only a single calorie of fossil-fuel energy was required to produce two calories of food was that, prior to the mass industrialization during the Second World War, farmers did the rest of the work by hand and by back! Far more calories were consumed emitting far more CO2. Otherwise, industrialization would not have made economic sense.
Slow food activists will try to tell you that a great deal of today's fossil-fuel consumption results from the transportation of food, and that all food should therefore be procured locally. But transportation turns out to only account for a tiny fraction of energy use. (Were this not the case, greedy capitalists wouldn't ship food over long distances; it's that simple.)
It's energy-intensive activities like the plowing of land, harvesting, and the handling and processing of food that account for the lion's share of energy consumption and hence CO2 emissions.[ii] And when our ancestors relied on horses to do this work -- which of course meant fully one-half of their arable land was dedicated to growing crops for feed (something which clearly had both an economic and environmental impact) -- they still expended enormous amounts of human energy. And all that work, human and animal, had a measurable carbon footprint which greatly exceeds the 20-fold increase in fossil-fuel energy-use that occurred over the last 70 years. How much more exactly? Hold onto your hat.
Even if you believe, as the food activists do, that CO2 is a harmful pollutant, it turns out we're actually releasing at least an order of magnitude less of it today than we used to for every calorie of food produced! Modern-day farming is far more efficient, and thankfully so. All that's changed is that fossil-fuel calories can be easily measured while human and animal calories were never measured. And why did farmers get sucked into replacing their horses with tractors? Simply because there are over 20,000 man-hours of energy in a single barrel of oil which, even when oil is at its peak price, works out to less than two cents per oil-powered man-hour. That's right... two cents!
Of course, besides reverting to human and animal labor, there is another way that some urban food activists envision converting us back to a "sunshine-based" food economy.
They seek to replace evil ol' fossil-fuels with biofuels like ethanol. Instead of burning 20 calories of fossil-fuel energy to yield two calories of food as we currently do, in a biofuel food-economy farmers would burn 20 calories of biofuel, and would once again find themselves setting aside half of all their land to grow that fuel... just like their ancestors did to grow feed for their horses.. See a pattern here!
All you achieve with biofuels is a shift in where the fuel comes from, not in how much is consumed. So much for the sunshine economy! Besides, fossil fuels are sunshine-based as surely as crops are. The sunshine was captured in forests millions of years ago and remains stored in underground reserves in the form of crude oil. Why is today's sunshine any better than yesterday's!
Most members of the urban-environmentalist crowd don't have the slightest conception of what they're promoting in taking us back to what they perceive to be the good ol' days. But the really scary part is that many do.
Organic farming creates more CO2 (which is a good thing, of course). So why do urban organic activists pretend it's the other way 'round!
Urban organic activists begin every argument by pining for the good ol' days. They point out that in 1940 one calorie of fossil-fuel energy produced two calories of food. But now, due to the dreaded effects of industrialization, 20 calories of fossil-fuel energy are required per calorie of food. And this, for them, illustrates why an immediate transformation of the food biz is required to "save the planet." How? By converting from a fossil-fuel-based food economy to one based instead on sunshine. Case closed! After all, it's a 20-fold increase, right!
Well... turns out it's not.
A wise man once said an ordinary mind is incapable of making distinctions. The distinction not being made in this case is that while we're using 20 times the fossil-fuel energy, we're certainly not using 20-times the total energy. Not even close...
If only they had ever worked a day on a farm, these "slow," urban activists would appreciate the massive amounts of human and animal labour that used to be required before machines driven by fossil fuels came along. The reason only a single calorie of fossil-fuel energy was required to produce two calories of food was that, prior to the mass industrialization during the Second World War, farmers did the rest of the work by hand and by back! Far more calories were consumed emitting far more CO2. Otherwise, industrialization would not have made economic sense.
Slow food activists will try to tell you that a great deal of today's fossil-fuel consumption results from the transportation of food, and that all food should therefore be procured locally. But transportation turns out to only account for a tiny fraction of energy use. (Were this not the case, greedy capitalists wouldn't ship food over long distances; it's that simple.)
It's energy-intensive activities like the plowing of land, harvesting, and the handling and processing of food that account for the lion's share of energy consumption and hence CO2 emissions.[ii] And when our ancestors relied on horses to do this work -- which of course meant fully one-half of their arable land was dedicated to growing crops for feed (something which clearly had both an economic and environmental impact) -- they still expended enormous amounts of human energy. And all that work, human and animal, had a measurable carbon footprint which greatly exceeds the 20-fold increase in fossil-fuel energy-use that occurred over the last 70 years. How much more exactly? Hold onto your hat.
Even if you believe, as the food activists do, that CO2 is a harmful pollutant, it turns out we're actually releasing at least an order of magnitude less of it today than we used to for every calorie of food produced! Modern-day farming is far more efficient, and thankfully so. All that's changed is that fossil-fuel calories can be easily measured while human and animal calories were never measured. And why did farmers get sucked into replacing their horses with tractors? Simply because there are over 20,000 man-hours of energy in a single barrel of oil which, even when oil is at its peak price, works out to less than two cents per oil-powered man-hour. That's right... two cents!
Of course, besides reverting to human and animal labor, there is another way that some urban food activists envision converting us back to a "sunshine-based" food economy.
They seek to replace evil ol' fossil-fuels with biofuels like ethanol. Instead of burning 20 calories of fossil-fuel energy to yield two calories of food as we currently do, in a biofuel food-economy farmers would burn 20 calories of biofuel, and would once again find themselves setting aside half of all their land to grow that fuel... just like their ancestors did to grow feed for their horses.. See a pattern here!
All you achieve with biofuels is a shift in where the fuel comes from, not in how much is consumed. So much for the sunshine economy! Besides, fossil fuels are sunshine-based as surely as crops are. The sunshine was captured in forests millions of years ago and remains stored in underground reserves in the form of crude oil. Why is today's sunshine any better than yesterday's!
Most members of the urban-environmentalist crowd don't have the slightest conception of what they're promoting in taking us back to what they perceive to be the good ol' days. But the really scary part is that many do.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Biological farming soil study promising.
Preliminary results from biological farming study promising
The Rotorua Lakes and Land Trust (RLLT) - a joint venture between Te Arawa Federation of Maori Authorities and Rotorua/Taupo Province of Federated Farmers - has been studying nitrate leaching under biological farming systems since August 2010 in Reporoa with the research support coming from crown research institute Scion. The preliminary results are promising.
"We don't want to draw any conclusions from these preliminary results as this is in the early days of research but results are definitely encouraging," said Gifford McFadden, a Trustee of RLLT and the Project Leader for Vallance Project.
At this stage, we are monitoring only two farms (one conventional and one biological) in Reporoa. Following these promising results, we have now set up similar research in two farms in Edgecumbe. We will be monitoring Edgecumbe farms from April. Ideally we need, and would like to monitor, a number of study sites to draw proper conclusions.
Please note that these results are only from the tail-end of the drainage season when nitrate concentrations are expected to be low in the drainage water.
"Even in this situation, there is a significant difference between nitrate concentrations between these two farms," said Gifford McFadden.
We look forward to the results during the main drainage season (from late autumn to early spring) when most of the nitrogen leaching occurs.
"Since the amounts of drainage could differ between years due to amount and timing of rainfall), it will be ideal to monitor leaching losses at least for 3 years," he added.
In recent years, water quality has become an important issue in many countries including New Zealand. Farmers are under sustained public pressure to reduce nutrient leaching from their farms to streams, rivers and lakes.
New Zealand farming needs solutions that are simple to implement and easy to monitor.
Vallance Project (biological farming research project) explores how biological farming can play a role in reducing nitrate leaching from farms. This research is being carried out for the benefits of New Zealand farming community.
Total estimated cost for the project is $400,000 over 3 years. We have approached various funding agencies requesting support this research, and we will meet them again with these preliminary results. Already AGMARDT has committed $138,000, Bay of Plenty Regional Council $20,000 and a private company has put up $20,000.
"We hope these results may help some funding agencies to come forward to support this research at least for one or two drainage seasons," said Mr McFadden.
The Rotorua Lakes and Land Trust (RLLT) - a joint venture between Te Arawa Federation of Maori Authorities and Rotorua/Taupo Province of Federated Farmers - has been studying nitrate leaching under biological farming systems since August 2010 in Reporoa with the research support coming from crown research institute Scion. The preliminary results are promising.
"We don't want to draw any conclusions from these preliminary results as this is in the early days of research but results are definitely encouraging," said Gifford McFadden, a Trustee of RLLT and the Project Leader for Vallance Project.
At this stage, we are monitoring only two farms (one conventional and one biological) in Reporoa. Following these promising results, we have now set up similar research in two farms in Edgecumbe. We will be monitoring Edgecumbe farms from April. Ideally we need, and would like to monitor, a number of study sites to draw proper conclusions.
Please note that these results are only from the tail-end of the drainage season when nitrate concentrations are expected to be low in the drainage water.
"Even in this situation, there is a significant difference between nitrate concentrations between these two farms," said Gifford McFadden.
We look forward to the results during the main drainage season (from late autumn to early spring) when most of the nitrogen leaching occurs.
"Since the amounts of drainage could differ between years due to amount and timing of rainfall), it will be ideal to monitor leaching losses at least for 3 years," he added.
In recent years, water quality has become an important issue in many countries including New Zealand. Farmers are under sustained public pressure to reduce nutrient leaching from their farms to streams, rivers and lakes.
New Zealand farming needs solutions that are simple to implement and easy to monitor.
Vallance Project (biological farming research project) explores how biological farming can play a role in reducing nitrate leaching from farms. This research is being carried out for the benefits of New Zealand farming community.
Total estimated cost for the project is $400,000 over 3 years. We have approached various funding agencies requesting support this research, and we will meet them again with these preliminary results. Already AGMARDT has committed $138,000, Bay of Plenty Regional Council $20,000 and a private company has put up $20,000.
"We hope these results may help some funding agencies to come forward to support this research at least for one or two drainage seasons," said Mr McFadden.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Sweden Reforms Democracy.
Stronger rights of electors to govern their own affairs now anchored in constitution
For the around 300 local authorities and 26 regions the Swedes introduced from the beginning of 2011
1. Citizens' law-proposal (initiative)
2. Right (improved) to demand a plebiscite (decision by the electorate, "referendum").
These changes strengthen the role of citizens in regional and local government. Before this reform there was a citizens' right to demand a referendum but this could be refused by the governing authority.
Swedish attention to detail for good governance is illustrated by some accompanying innovations. They propose to build a "comprehensive direct-democratic infrastructure" (Kaufmann), with local advice centres for voters who wish to contribute to governance and exploit their new democratic rights. Also planned is a national institution for political participation, which will inform citizens and support and encourage the newly introduced "direct" democracy.
The rules for citizens' initiative and referendum were laid down by revision of the constitution of state which came into force in January 2011.
--------------
Summarised from: Bruno Kaufmann, "A more democratic Sweden": Demokratischeres Schweden md magazin Nr.88, 1/2011 published by mehr-demokratie.de
For the around 300 local authorities and 26 regions the Swedes introduced from the beginning of 2011
1. Citizens' law-proposal (initiative)
2. Right (improved) to demand a plebiscite (decision by the electorate, "referendum").
These changes strengthen the role of citizens in regional and local government. Before this reform there was a citizens' right to demand a referendum but this could be refused by the governing authority.
Swedish attention to detail for good governance is illustrated by some accompanying innovations. They propose to build a "comprehensive direct-democratic infrastructure" (Kaufmann), with local advice centres for voters who wish to contribute to governance and exploit their new democratic rights. Also planned is a national institution for political participation, which will inform citizens and support and encourage the newly introduced "direct" democracy.
The rules for citizens' initiative and referendum were laid down by revision of the constitution of state which came into force in January 2011.
--------------
Summarised from: Bruno Kaufmann, "A more democratic Sweden": Demokratischeres Schweden md magazin Nr.88, 1/2011 published by mehr-demokratie.de
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