| Judicial Review Judgement: It was with great disappointment that we learnt last week that the Court found against us in our bid to have the Ministers decision to sell farmland to be used by a mining company to build more toxic dams on. While we were very disappointed, we believe that it was an important case, and that we were right to take it. We are hugely thankful to everyone who supported us. We are still taking advice on whether to appeal or not, so watch this space! Moratorium Now! We have launched a petition calling on the new Government to place an immediate moratorium on any further mining related permits on conservation land. In 2017, the Govt promised to ban new mines on conservation land – but they didn’t… we are asking them to do what they should have done then: freeze granting any new permits immediately while they develop the policy! We know that the industry are fighting any ban, and that at the very least they are demanding that Stewardship Land be excluded. They say that this type of conservation land is low value. Actually, it makes up about 1/3 of the conservation land of NZ – the Hauraki Coromandel region alone has more than 300,000 hectares of stewardship land, including the Hukarahi Conservation Area, the site of the first closure due to kauri dieback on the Peninsula, the Whangapoua Forest Conservation Area and the Tairua Forest Conservation Area (which combined total approx.10,000 hectares of mature native forest habitat) and the Otama Wetland, a part of the nationally significant Otama Dune system. To exclude stewardship land from any policy that aims to protect conservation land from mining is nonsensical – it will take years and years to evaluate all the stewardship land to ascertain its ‘value’. While we fight that, the Government must put a moratorium on any further permitting of mining activities in conservation land! We need to send a clear message that we support the policy, and that we want conservation land protected from mining! Sign and Share NOW! Sign our petition – and share with your friends, whanau and neighbours! We all need to add our voices to this call – conservation land really is too precious to mine! |
| CALL TO ACTION This year the Minerals Forum is being held in Kirikiriroa / Hamilton on October 13-14th. We plan to be there and online to disrupt their gathering and tell them there is no room for exploitative businesses that destroy the planet and our communities. Please join us! More info at facebook.com/StopTheMineralsForum/ Thank you for all your support in protecting the Hauraki Coromandel and all it’s beautiful landscapes, species and habitat from the destruction of industrial gold mining. Please do share this email with others – in these times, we need all the support we can get! Best, Augusta and the Coromandel Watchdog Team |
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