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A group of passionate locals gathered at the Mangawhai estuary earlier this month to protest the controversial Conservation Amendment Bill, which aims to change how conservation land is managed, used and accessed across New Zealand.
The protest, originally coordinated by Greenpeace, was one of around 35 taking place across the country on August 15 in response to the Bill, which Greenpeace says will enable the commercial exploitation of conservation land.
The Mangawhai protest was organised by Lisa Marshall, a volunteer with the New Zealand Fairy Tern Charitable Trust and long-time Greenpeace supporter, who said one of the group’s main local concerns was protecting the tara iti/New Zealand fairy tern, one of New Zealand’s most endangered birds.
“One of the biggest things we are worried about in Mangawhai is the conservation land on the spit, which is a fairy tern breeding ground. What happens if they decide to start having some kind of tourist activity in this area? We have worked so hard to protect them and grow their numbers; to lose that would be devastating.”
The group included volunteers from various conservation groups in Mangawhai who wanted to ensure their voices and concerns were heard. The youngest protester was 10-year-old Piper Cameron, who ripped the bill in two before putting it in the bin.
“It’s great to have a group of people who are engaged and say, we don’t agree with this. And I think that’s really important because it sends out a strong message to the government. The people here are saying no, we need to bin this bill, we can’t proceed with it, the protection isn’t strong enough,” Marshall said.
The Conservation Amendment Bill proposes the most significant changes to New Zealand’s conservation legislation in nearly 40 years. The Government says the reforms will modernise the system, streamline conservation planning and concession processes, and make it easier for appropriate tourism, recreation and other economic activities to take place on conservation land while protecting conservation values.
DOC says the proposed reforms are designed to speed up decision-making, simplify conservation planning and provide greater certainty for applicants, while enabling more economic activity on conservation land where environmental risks can be managed.
Forest & Bird says the proposed changes risk weakening protections by making it easier to approve commercial activities on conservation land. It is calling for stronger safeguards, greater local oversight and case-by-case assessment to ensure conservation remains the overriding priority.
In addition to streamlining the process, the Bill would introduce a single National Conservation Policy Statement, clarify how Treaty principles are given effect in conservation decision-making, and allow international visitors to be charged at some highly visited conservation sites, with the money reinvested in conservation and visitor infrastructure.
Originally, the Bill included provisions to make it easier to exchange or dispose of some conservation land, but Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced in June that these would be removed following public concern.
The Conservation Amendment Bill is currently before Parliament’s Environment Committee, which is due to report back to the House by November 11.
