Coromandel residents oppose heritage proposal

Opito Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula. Photo / Eveline Harvey

Coromandel landowners have voiced their opposition to the Thames-Coromandel District Council's proposal for the peninsula to become the first area in the country to become a heritage region.

A feasibility report written by Florida-based Miles Media released earlier this month proposes the council could benefit from becoming an International Union of Conservation in Nature (IUCN) Category V protected landscape that covers both natural areas and communities of the Coromandel.

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.

Mayor Glen Leach earlier said that while there may be concerns about individual rights and self-interest groups, the document needed to be seen in a wider context in that it is the basis for the first discussions and debates.

"The detail will fall out as discussions continue and I am looking forward to having these discussions in the following weeks and months and years with all our communities, iwi and other regional and central government agencies," he says.

The concept of the Coromandel becoming a Heritage Region also sparked the interest of Conversation Minister Maggie Barry who said it warranted further investigation.

But Reihana Robinson, spokesperson for The Upper Coromandel Landcare Association (UCLA), which represents residents who manage and own thousands of hectares of private land on the northern peninsula, said 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".

"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," Ms Robinson says. "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."