Public lands are New Zealanders’ commons, and are administered on their behalf by the Department of Conservation under the Conservation Act 1987. Potential to concede use of parts of the commons to private commercial endeavor exists under the legislation. The Conservation Act‘s Part 3B sets an appropriately high bar for most aspects of how concessions are managed by the Department of Conservation. FMC doesn’t doubt that very many concessions for private activities on public conservation land are handled well in all respects. In spite of this, FMC has long-time experience of a variety of ways in which DOC’s administration of concessions falls short. A review of the Department of Conservation's concessions management is “essential and urgent”, says FMC President Jan Finlayson. “An important thing is that concessions staff need thorough training that begins with the law, and they need to make decisions on applications that reflect what the law says,” Finlayson says. “That way New Zealand’s wild places will exist in our grandchildren’s time as they are now." “FMC and other NGOs don’t want to have to do DOC’s job for it. And we certainly don’t want to have to fight to get it to do its job.” https://www.newsroom.co.nz/plea-to-fix-doc-permissions-system For more on this topic, and a link to the full report, see the FMC website.
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