Three Waters - Will they take the Waitakere Ranges?
I saw that back on June 8th 2022 an article by Sandra Coney said that she could not get a clear reply from Council or DIA about whether Three Waters was going to take control of the Waitakere Ranges. This morning (Dec. 13th) there is another article stating that they are taking control of approximately 50% of Christchurch's Red Zone area. Is this a 'warning bell' about them taking the Waitakere Ranges away from the direct ownership and control of Aucklanders (and associated partners/stakeholders)? And if so, what are we going to do to stop it?
To quote the end of Sandra Coney's article "The Government needs to know that taking away Aucklanders' direct and sole ownership of this birthright and consigning it to co-governance with other distant councils, will be fought to the last ridge, the last ocean beach, the last magnificent tree-clad valley." OR are they going to 'pull' another 'stunt' (like the 60% entrenchment threshold clause) like they did a few weeks ago - but do so right on Xmas or early New Year when we are 'not paying attention'?
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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