25 October 2011 – Wellington

Forest & Bird media release for immediate use


Forest & Bird welcomes Labour’s promise to protect wild rivers

Independent conservation organisation Forest & Bird welcomes the Labour Party’s policy to seek to protect the main parts of our remaining free-flowing rivers from being dammed. This is part of Labour’s water policy announced at the weekend.

“The policy to stop damming our remaining wild and scenic rivers should mean a Labour-led government would halt Meridian’s proposal to dam the West Coast’s pristine Mōkihinui River,” Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell said. “We are calling on the Labour Party to confirm this.”

Forest & Bird is campaigning to save the Mōkihinui River from an 85-metre-high dam, which would flood 330 hectares of riverbank and native forest.

Labour’s proposal to charge major users a resource rental for water they use would discourage waste and would be a user/polluter-pays method of funding water restoration projects, he said.

Forest & Bird supports Labour’s promise to strengthen the National Policy Statement on Freshwater to stop existing water quality being degraded.

“New Zealanders realise that protected, clean freshwater is essential for our social, environmental and economic wellbeing.”

Forest & Bird is encouraging all political parties to promote strong conservation policies, and for Kiwis to vote for nature this election.

© Scoop Media