Power to the people
Blogger: Forest & Bird’s Conservation Advocate Nic Vallance
What an exciting twenty-four hours it has been!!! When the news broke last night I was so shocked and then excited I shed a few happy tears!
First let me say a huge THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you who submitted, signed, wrote, shouted, and marched on the government’s proposal to open up our most precious public conservation lands to mining. Your grandchildren will thank you for it!
It is a monumental day for the protection of our most precious places and native wildlife today – and it is great to see that the Government has listened.
From my personal point of view – it’s a huge relief, and also it has made me extremely proud to have been a part of this campaign.
Marching up Queen Street and speaking on behalf of Forest and Bird in front of the thousands of people who voted with their feet (all the way up Queen Street) is a career highlight for me (and that was only two weeks into my job at Forest and Bird!).
It is of course not a time to rest on our laurels. There are clear indications that while the Schedule Four land is safe from mining interests, the remaining public conservation land (that’s your land remember!) will be getting the once-over in terms of its potential for mining.
However, today, I reckon, we can all celebrate a huge victory for conservation in New Zealand, for the power of the people to have a say over the things that they value, for our national identity as being kaitiaki of our precious lands and wildlife.
“They say Mine, we say OURS!”
With huge thanks from the Forest and Bird team,
Nicola
