The Environmental Defence Society is concerned that the government’s new Conservation Amendment Bill would fundamentally shift the purpose of conservation management towards economic development.

EDS has written to Conservation Minister Tama Potaka expressing alarm about new clauses directing the Department of Conservation to recognise economic opportunities on public conservation land and enable use and development to the “greatest extent practicable.”

The minister says that the bill will result in faster decisions, more jobs, and stronger protection for nature.

“But this Bill introduces broad and undefined economic directives without clear environmental limits or safeguards,” says Shay Schlaepfer, EDS’s Chief Operating Officer. “The language requiring development to be enabled to the ‘greatest extent practicable’ is completely inappropriate. This could allow for open cast mining on the conservation estate.  

“The Bill would make it easier to dispose of conservation land by replacing the existing high threshold with a broader and more permissive test. That creates real risks over time, particularly when combined with wider pressures for use and development of the conservation estate.”