Minister sees locals playing key role

Development in the Mackenzie, Omarama and Ohau basins - and dealing with threats posed by development - should be "driven" by local people, Environment Minister Nick Smith said at a symposium on the Mackenzie Country on Saturday.

He also promised there could be financial support from the Government for that process.

That was also the view of the leaders of the two district councils in the region - Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton and Mackenzie Mayor Claire Barlow - and supported by one of the environmental groups organising the symposium, the Environmental Defence Society (EDS).

Local people, who made up about half of the 200 at the Mackenzie Country Symposium, had concurrent views.

Twizel developer Frank Hocken told the symposium: "I'm annoyed at people coming to town, not putting two bob into the place and telling us what to do."

The attitude of some groups and individuals hailing from out of town disappointed Twizel resident Elaine Curin, who said the "boos and personal comments" made while some local people were speaking "did not help".

Former Act New Zealand politician and Central Otago runholder Gerry Eckhoff suggested if groups such as the EDS and Forest and Bird wanted to protect the values of the region, they should levy members and set up a fund with the Department of Conservation to buy "development rights" to land they wanted to protect.

"If you want farmers to protect those values, is it not reasonable to make some sort of contribution?" he asked.

Dr Smith's comments, and those of EDS executive director Gary Taylor at the end of the symposium when he said local people should now take the dialogue forward, took some heat out of the debate.

Dr Smith said the Government was looking to local people to "drive" solutions to problems caused by development in the region and emphasised the Government would ignore extremist positions from environmental groups or developers looking to move people their way.

There needed to be "strong scientific underpinning" to any solutions, he said.

The symposium was to bring together key stakeholders and the local community to take a strategic look at management issues and identify options for the region.

It was boycotted by national and local Federated Farmers leaders, although farming families in the region had a low-profile presence.

Dr Smith said the symposium was "very timely" because of the changes facing the region.

He did not think the adversarial approach through litigation had served New Zealand or the environment very well and the Government was looking to a more collaborative approach with all groups working together.

However, if the process was to succeed, it was critical "locals were in the driving seat".

"The idea that people from Auckland, Wellington or even Nelson impose a solution on the Mackenzie is flawed and will fail," he said.

The Government would also not come and impose such a solution.

People from outside the area had a role to play, but under those who lived and worked week after week in the region.

Part of the solution was respect for property rights, which had to be part of the framework.

There was a high threshold before the Government would over-ride those property rights or legal processes from the past.

Dr Smith said funding for such a process could come from the Ministry for the Environment's Community Environment Fund.

Mr Taylor admitted he had learned a lot, particularly about the pressures the region and its farmers faced in terms of economic viability.

"I acknowledge and respect that, along with their cultural links to the land."

He supported a collaborative approach to finding solutions and said the symposium had achieved its objective of starting a dialogue.

It was now up to local people to follow that up.

If that did not happen, the alternative was litigation., Mr Taylor said.

Mr Familton said he planned to investigate setting up a "local group" to follow up from the symposium.

"I want all people to keep an open mind [on the solutions]. It is no use having a debate if you have already decided where you want to go."

The symposium was organised by the EDS in conjunction with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the Forest and Bird Protection Society.