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Resolution 4: Proposed Mining within New Zealand’s Protected Area System / Minería propuesta dentro del sistema de áreas protegidas de Nueva Zelanda
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Whereas: The 9th World Wilderness Congress (Wild9) is a global forum of wilderness that includes many protected area experts who share experiences, lessons, advances and cutting edge approaches and ideas for protecting, conserving and restoring wild nature;
WILD9 is a platform to synthesise the collective wisdom of over 1500 delegates from 52 countries including community leaders, policy and decision-makers, wilderness land owners and managers, scientists, researchers, indigenous communities, business corporations, philanthropists, young people and many others;
New Zealand’s Wilderness and Protected Areas, one of the oldest protected area systems in the world, comprise biodiversity and ecosystems that are critical to the survival of life on earth;
New Zealand’s biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management approaches and methods reflect the fact that a high proportion of globally rare native and endemic species are at risk and that these can only contribute to global biodiversity by being protected in-situ in protected areas;
The direct and indirect values of the protected area network are integral to New Zealand’s climate change commitments and its economic welfare and provide, and maintain, ecological services (e.g. nutrient cycling, water flow modulation, soil conservation etc) as well as other significant uses (recreation, tourism and aesthetic ambience and quality);
The international community has long regarded New Zealand as a nation with a strong commitment to the protection of its outstanding natural and cultural values and a country seriously committed to biodiversity conservation;
Mining exploration and development within the existing protected area system is fundamentally inconsistent with the values these areas were established to protect;
Therefore
Delegates at the 9th World Wilderness Congress expressed its concern to the New Zealand Government that it is in the process of carrying out an audit of the mineral resources within the protected area system, including its World Heritage Sites, with a view to considering exploitation.
Resolved
(i) To urge the government of New Zealand to reaffirm its commitment to internationally endorsed protected area management definitions, objectives principles and practices;
(ii) To request the New Zealand Government to retain the no mining status quo measures of protection in relation to public conservation land (as detailed in Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act) within protected areas.
Proposer: Bruce E Jefferies Deputy Vice Chair (Oceania) IUCN World Commission Protected Areas (WCPA)
Seconder: Harvey Locke Vice President for Conservation Strategy – The WILD Foundation Canada
Signatories:
Dr Graeme Worboys [Deputy Vice Chair IUCN World Commission Protected Areas]
Professor Larry Hamilton IUCN / WCPA Mountains Biome
Dr James Thorsell IUCN/WCPA World Heritage Advisor
Comments: 2 (Post Comment)
Kat Haber commented:
Un World Heritage sites, to me, seem to be needed for the heritage of humanity without timeline. With this in our hearts, how could mining ever be accomplished with this precautionary principle operating? Mining principles inconsistent with wilderness conservation could be realigned, giving simple and unrelenting deference to wild places over land pollution, road access, explosive exploration, and resource extraction with long term toxic remnants in watersheds, lands, and seas.
Until mining finds a means of permanent nontoxic removal, these activities should be set outside the boundaries of wilderness designations and UN World Heritage sites. What purpose are these listings if they are eroded over time by companies with large lobbies and beholden to private shareholders. These areas are set asides for the common good and are best left for futures yet unimagined.
If R & D is required to find these solutions, then can mining associations spend their lobbying dollars on R & D to find common solutions to the aligned principles of both wilderness conservationists and mining companies’ resource needs globally.
Every material good requires raw materials to make it. How can these be obtained while conserving forever the wild places? Incremental give aways result ultimately with no remaining wild places over time. Now we, corporations and persons alike, must stop and feel the damage to Earth/rethink corporate and personal values/act differently, both as suppliers of raw materials and users of consumer goods.
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From WILD9: Resolution 4: Proposed Mining within New Zealand’s Protected Area System « Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management commented:
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