Thousands of people across Aotearoa have taken part in a nationwide day of action today, calling on the Coalition Government to keep its hands off public conservation land and throw out the Conservation Amendment Bill.
More than 35 protests took place across the country, coordinated by Greenpeace and organised by local communities from Invercargill all the way up to Aotea Great Barrier Island.
Greenpeace campaigner Gen Toop says the scale of the mobilisation reflects how strongly New Zealanders feel about protecting public conservation land.
“New Zealanders are fed up with this Coalition Government’s attempt to exploit and degrade public conservation land. These are the places where we go camping, tramping, hunting or fishing, and they are places that we love deeply.
“The Conservation Amendment Bill is rotten to its core. It opens the door to more mining, more commercial exploitation and degradation of the wildlife and places we all love.”
“Today, thousands of people, from all walks of life, have taken to parks, forests, rivers, and town centres, to demonstrate their opposition to the Bill and to tell the Government to keep its hands off public conservation land.”
The Conservation Amendment Bill proposes to change the purpose of the Conservation Act from protecting nature to enabling commercial exploitation “to the greatest extent practicable. It originally proposed making it easier to sell off around 5 million hectares of public conservation land, before the Government backed down and committed to removing those provisions.
Organisers at more than 35 protests across the country took action with their communities – from creating giant driftwood messages on riverbanks, to holding rallies in public parks and flying banners in conservation areas.
Speaking from the Coromandel protest, Catherine Delahunty, Chair of Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki, said, “Our community is participating in the national day of action to protect conservation land because the last thing we need is more development in our forests. We already have mining companies preparing for toxic gold mining on this land and the Conservation Amendment Bill is the last straw.
“Today our people are rallying in the Wentworth Valley against Rua Gold mining plans and some are also protesting Shane Jones who will be in Thames at 2pm. We must protect the forests, not the greed of multinational miners.”
Greenpeace’s Gen Toop says this is just the beginning.
“Public conservation land exists today because generations of New Zealanders have cared for it and fought to protect it. Today showed that people across Aotearoa are ready to do that again.”
“We know we have a responsibility to leave these places as wild and beautiful for the wildlife that depends on them, and for the generations who come after us.”
“In a month’s time, people will come together in Auckland to March for Nature. The Coalition Government’s war on nature cannot continue. It must bin the Conservation Amendment Bill, stop dismantling environmental protections and start protecting nature for generations to come.”
