Death by a Thousand Straws
Fri, 11 Jun 2010 2:58 pm – Posted by Mandy | No Comments
Bloggers: Poet laureate (2003- 2005), fly-fisherman and mountaineer, Brian Turner, and Forest & Bird’s Conservation Advocate Nic Vallance.
On Sunday, concerned Cantabrians including some very passionate entertainers, artists, poets and speakers will be descending on Cathedral Square to add their voice to the growing discontent over the management and protection of Canterbury’s rivers.
The Hurunui river. Documents obtained by Forest & Bird showed that changes made to ECAN legislation were made to reduce 'blockages' to development. The Hurunui was one of the rivers where they were looking to 'accelerate' development.
Many of Canterbury’s rivers are legally recognised as ‘nationally outstanding’ and have been gazetted with a Water Conservation Order (WCO) – something which gives them national park-like protection.
However, in the past six months, the whole process of reviewing/placing these orders has been stealthily re-engineered in favour of water-hungry developers.