A New Zealand chapter of the world's largest environmental conservation authority says reports that the Government could carve up Mount Aspiring National Park for mining "fly in the face" of international trends.
World Conservation Union (WCU) New Zealand spokesman Bruce Jefferies, of Wanaka, said the Government's stance on the possibility of mineral exploration within national parks was criticised during a recent international environment conference in Mexico.
At the ninth World Wilderness Congress in Merida, Mexico, last month, he successfully proposed a resolution to more than 1500 delegates to lobby the New Zealand Government to review its policy.
In August, Minister of Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee announced a government review of schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act, which prohibits mining and exploration in protected areas such as national parks.
On Monday, the Green Party released a leaked memo - understood to be from a Ministry of Economic Development report - which recommends a 20% northwest sector of Mount Aspiring National Park, near the Haast Pass - be removed from schedule 4.
Removing mining protection from Mount Aspiring National Park would "without doubt" call into question the integrity of the Te Wahi Pounamu (South Westland) World Heritage Area, Mr Jefferies told the Otago Daily Times.
Delegates at the World Wilderness Congress had expressed their concerns about the Government's audit of mineral resources within protected areas, including its World Heritage Sites, he said.
The Congress resolved to urge the Government to reaffirm its commitment to internationally endorsed protected areas, he said.
A resolution was also passed that the World Commission on Protected Areas - of which Mr Jefferies is the deputy vice-chairman delegate for Oceania - ask the Government to retain the "no mining" status quo measures in protected areas around New Zealand.
"Mining exploration and development within the existing protected-area system is fundamentally inconsistent with the values these areas were established to protect," Mr Jefferies said.
Mr Brownlee has said the Government had already indicated that where land had high conservation value it "wouldn't be touched".
