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Forest & Bird: Our Mining Submission
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The submission period for the Government mining proposals ended on 26 May. Thank you to all those who added their voice for nature by making a submission.
Submission numbers totalled nearly 40,000, sending a powerful message to Government that Schedule 4 places are too precious to mine.
Forest & Bird’s official submission (PDF 300kb) focuses on the need to protect the integrity of Schedule 4, the faulty economic analysis presented in the proposals, and the fact that mining already has a privileged status under New Zealand’s conservation laws. Forest & Bird also commissioned an independent economist to analyse Schedule 4 and the proposals. Three research reports were appended to our submission.
The first, Conservation land and the Social Covenant (PDF 150kb), considers the history of Schedule 4 and its legal and moral status as a protection mechanism. It concludes that Schedule 4 is a social covenant that is economically efficient.
The second, Valuing Mineral resources(PDF 150kb), considers the economic benefit figures advanced by the Government. It provides more accurate figures that show the true economic benefit of the proposals to be considerable less than claimed. The direct return from mining the proposed Schedule 4 areas is only equivalent to a one-off $36 per voter.
The final,Mining’s impact on Tourism (PDF 150kb), considers the real and potential impacts of mining in Schedule 4 areas. Drawing on overseas research it finds that it could impact negatively on GDP –perhaps by 1% per annum, which is more than the return from the whole mining industry last year.