Tuesday 7 March 2006
Minister's Halt to Whangamata Coastal Destruction Welcomed
"The Conservation Minister Chris Carter has done the right thing in declining an application under the Resource
Management Act for permits to construct a marina in Whangamata harbour", says Cath Wallace of the Environment and
Conservation Organisations of NZ.
"The application was for permission to destroy significant wetlands and to dredge out part of the harbour and then to
convert it to essentially private use.
Wetlands and harbours are very important for controlling the flow of nutrients, sediments and pollutants from the land
to the sea and they provide the habitat for vital marine communities and the habitat for some fish juveniles. Mangrove
communities are especially important for this. These matters are recognised in the New Zealand Coastal Policy statement
which the Minister is bound to consider under the Resource Management Act 1991.
The Whangamata marina would have had a significant environmental impact. The local community was split on the matter -
and some are more concerned with private interests than public interests. The Minister's considerations are spelt out in
the Resource Management Act and the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement: he has powers to consider matters himself and
to come to a decision different from that of the Environment Court.
The Minister probably considered not only the immediate impact of this proposal with its very significant environmental
effects, but also the cumulative impacts of coastal development right around the coast. The Resource Management Act
requires consideration of cumulative impacts and of costs and benefits that are not just financial flows. Environmental
costs have to be considered.
The Minister has shown he has the future of New Zealand and its environment at heart - and that he takes seriously the
requirement to maintain the natural character of the coast and to defend it from inappropriate development. He has done
the right thing.
ENDS