Conservation Group To Oppose New Heritage Framework

A leading Coromandel conservation group has announced it will challenge any government effort to introduce an overseas-directed regime for management of the peninsula’s unique natural environment and cultural assets.

The Upper Coromandel Landcare Association (UCLA), which represents residents who manage and own thousands of hectares of private land on the northern peninsula, indicated this week its opposition to a proposal from a tourism marketing consultancy and the mayor of Thames-Coromandel District to seek official landscape status under rules of the International Union of Conservation in Nature (IUCN).

The IUCN, known until recently as the World Conservation Union, is involved in lobbying, advocacy and field projects worldwide, with a stated mission of influencing governmental policies on environmental management. The NGO has observer status at the United Nations, head offices in Switzerland, and facilities in over 45 countries.

The proposal, headlined as “Heritage Region”, was unveiled at a closed-door workshop on August 18 for invited representatives of Thames-Coromandel District and Waikato Regional councils, DOC, government, tourism and iwi. It seeks official peninsula-wide designation as an IUCN Category V Protected Landscape, rules of which would guide the region’s long-term planning and future policies.

UCLA spokeperson Reihana Robinson announced the Coromandel group’s opposition after review of a 54-page ”feasibility report and recommendations” and 12-page “public summary” prepared with discretionary mayoral budget funds by the regional general manager of Miles Marketing Destinations, a global tourism marketing agency based in Sarasota, Florida.

“Tourism marketing agencies and foreign NGOs have no business driving the legislative and regulatory framework for our communities, defining our futures, and shaping our unique social and cultural development,” Robinson said.

“While sounding attractive and providing a marketing tool for the tourism sector, an official IUCN designation would provide with certainty the legal basis for countless potential rules, obligations, restrictions and heavy cost burdens affecting individuals and communities up and down the peninsula for decades to come.

“Worse still, official status under IUCN rules would take our long tradition of local, democratic decision-making in Thames, Coromandel and Whitianga and send it to New York and Europe for final approval,” Robinson said. “That is far, far from our real Coromandel heritage.”

Robinson confirmed that residents representing nearly 6,000 hectares around the Moehau Range, along with landowners and others across the Coromandel, have already expressed their opposition to the IUCN landscape proposal.

“Coromandel people have worked long and hard, in some instances for generations, to successfully protect and enhance our environment and traditional way of life. That’s why we enjoy the iconic landscapes and lush bush that so many others come to experience. And we have done so, and can continue to do so, under the existing legislative framework of national and regional planning and policies.”

“UCLA intends to actively oppose the proposed designation through all available channels and mechanisms.”

ENDS

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