Protected areas law for review

Press, 12 July 1988, Page 3

Protected areas law for review

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The Government is reviewing its protected areas legislation and has released a discussion paper from the Department of Conservation for public comment.

It comment? on the range of procedures to be followed in setting up and managing a whole range of protected areas.

The Minister of Conservation, Ms Clark, said the legislation had been outdated by environmental restructuring which had separated commercial and conservation work and advice to the Government.

A review to rationalise this legislation was now beginning and the department’s paper posed a series of questions for public comment.

Maintaining the environment while providing for human use and enjoyment would be the main emphasis of the legislation, she said.

What sort of modification was acceptable and what constraints should be placed needed to be defined.

Public comment would also be sought on whether protection of land and water should be integrated, Ms Clark said. Ecologically, the present division could not be sustained.

The question of whether unprotected water flowing through or beside protected land should be covered by that protection also needed to be dealt with.

There was growing world recognition of the concept of “protected landscape” where human impact through rural development was seen as having produced an harmonious blend of nature and development. Ms Clark said many of New Zealand’s aesthetically pleasing landscapes were not protected or recognised in legislation as valuable parts of the national heritage.

Other issues raised in the discussion paper included Maori concerns, statutory rights of entry for the public, local and regional authority functions, and whether a single piece of legislation was the ideal to cover all types of protected area.