Mining Schedule 4 bad economics

Blogger: Forest & Bird conservation advocate Quentin Duthie

There’s an old saying that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

It’s sort of true with mining in Schedule 4 lands too.

To stretch the metaphor to the case of Schedule 4 mining, getting the ‘bird’ buried under the bush will mean we lose the bird in hand and the two in the bush.

We’ll also badly damage the bush itself, and potentially scare off quite a few of the 1.6 million birds* that fly in to enjoy the bush every year.

This is pretty much the overall conclusion of three economics reports that Forest & Bird commissioned and appended to its submission on Schedule 4 mining.

They’re well worth a read, along with our submission.

Update: Celebrated physicist Professor Sir Paul Callaghan concurs. He said last week that the Government’s plans to mine on conservation land are “stupid economics”.

* 1.6 million international tourists participate in nature-based activities in New Zealand each year