Forest & Bird warns of sham mining protection

Independent conservation organisation Forest & Bird expects the Government will try to claim that already protected land is a trade-off for mining other conservation areas in its stocktake to be announced at 3pm today.

The review of the mining potential of conservation areas is expected to include adding 12,000 hectares of high-value conservation land and marine reserves to Schedule 4 protection – areas that have been in the queue for addition since 2008.

Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says protection for the 12,000 hectares is not a new move by the Government. “These areas – which include national park additions, Hauraki Gulf islands and marine reserves – are simply areas that have been waiting for official protection since the last review in 2008,” he says.

“They should not be seen as trade-offs for high-value conservation land being removed from Schedule 4 because none of the expected 12,000 hectares has significant mining potential.

“Some places are protected from mining. If these are removed from Scehdule 4, they are likely to be mined.”

Forest & Bird hopes the Government will drop its original plans to allow mining in 7000 hectares of national parks and other top conservation land, which the conservation organisation revealed last week.

• The list of areas covered in the 12,000-hectare addition is available from Forest & Bird.

ENDS

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