500 signatures reached
To: All companies at the 2020 Minerals Forum, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, and all political party leaders in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Stop the Minerals Forum - regenerative economy not extractive economy!
On 13-14 October 2020, the Minerals Forum happens again in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. The forum will have speakers and representatives from gold, coal, oil and gas, iron sand, phosphate, lithium and aggregate mining companies as well as intensive farming companies and government departments. These include Bathurst, Trans Tasman Resources, OceanaGold, Chatham Rock Phosphate, NZ Petroleum and Minerals, Straterra, Fonterra and more. Ironically, the theme of the 2020 Minerals Forum is 'Mining’s Role in a Prosperous, Low-emissions Economy'. We need an urgent shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative one. We want real action on changing our economy now and we want this forum stopped!
This year we've seen massive change happen across Aotearoa with communities returning to growing their own food, repairing things, getting back on bikes and reaching out to share resources and look after one another. This is how it should be. This is what will actually halt climate change and bring back a regenerative economy based on environmental restoration and responsible production with abundance and health for all.
Put money and expertise in a regenerative economy, not in mining our future.
Why is this important?
A regenerative economy is more than a ‘prosperous, low-emissions economy’. It means creating abundance and healthy environments and workplaces by using traditional knowledge, current sustainable practices and new innovations for responsible resource use, production and distribution. It regenerates rather than degenerates.
Our current economy is built on destructive mineral extraction and intensive farming that mines our whenua to make commodity products that are mostly exported overseas. It’s polluting and wasteful at all stages of the process, produces vast amounts of climate changing greenhouse gases, increases the division between rich and poor, and depletes resources for future generations to come.
That's why church groups, students, climate activists, social justice groups, anti-mining protectors, union members and individuals across Aotearoa are bringing this message to the 2020 Minerals Forum on October 13-14th: Kua Nui! Enough is enough! We want a regenerative economy not an extractive economy.
"Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki is in full support of this action. The world cannot afford high emissions dinosaur industries and can mine landfills and cellphones if it wants minerals. We challenge the Minerals Forum to stop wrecking the planet for profit and we challenge the Government to live up to their promises on climate and mining issues now! " said Catherine Delahunty, Chair of CWH, which has been campaigning against gold mining in Hauraki for decades.
"The main sponsor of this conference is Bathurst Resources, which is in the process of applying for consent to vastly increase a coal mine in Canterbury, despite having already breached a number of consents for its current mine. Fonterra and the dairy industry will be burning this coal, while they continue to claim their industry is sustainable, largely ignoring the obvious renewable alternatives. It's time to stop digging up fossil fuels and make the switch," said Tim Jones of Coal Action Network Aotearoa.
“The mining industry’s only role in a low-emissions economy should be in cleaning up their mess. We want no more permits or resource consents for extraction and urgent decommissioning of all wells and mines" said Tuhi-Ao Bailey of Climate Justice Taranaki, who have been campaigning against oil and gas drilling and synthetic fertiliser since 2011.
"These companies will go to the ends of the earth to dig up minerals, and now they want to dig up the seabed - but so far we have managed to stop them, in coalition with Iwi, fisheries interests and local communities," said Cindy Baxter, chairperson of Kiwis Against Seabed Mining. "Our oceans are already in enough peril from other pressures like acidification and warming - there is nothing sustainable about seabed mining."
“We are in a state of planetary emergency: the interdependent crises of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and climate change - driven in large part by unsustainable production and consumption - require urgent and immediate global action,” - 'The Leaders' Pledge for Nature' signed by Heads of State and Government of 64 countries (including PM Jacinda Ardern) and the European Union, 30/9/20.
For more information on the event and campaign go to:
www.StopTheMineralsForum.info
Facebook event 'Stop the Minerals Forum 2020'
Facebook page 'Stop The Minerals Forum'
Coalition group websites:
Environmental Justice Otepoti https://ejotepoti.wordpress.com/
Kiwis Against Seabed Mining http://kasm.org.nz/
Extinction Rebellion Aotearoa https://extinctionrebellion.nz/
Climate Justice Taranaki http://www.climatejusticetaranaki.info/ (Lots of articles here)
Coal Action Network Aotearoa https://coalaction.org.nz/
Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki https://watchdog.org.nz/
Oil-free Wellington https://wellington.oilfree.nz/
Oil-free Otago https://oilfreeotago.com/
Some news articles about the mining industry in Aotearoa:
Why we’re taking the government to court over mining in the Coromandel - https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/22-06-2020/why-were-taking-the-government-to-court-over-mining-in-the-coromandel/
Gold mining: a toxic legacy - http://resist.co.nz/gold-mining/
Lessons to be learnt from toxic legacy - https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/8621609/Lessons-to-be-learnt-from-toxic-legacy
Tour reinforces Taranaki residents' fears over stinking plant - https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/300097635/tour-reinforces-taranaki-residents-fears-over-stinking-plant
Locals brace for row over Pukemiro tip - https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/editors-picks/9282617/Locals-brace-for-row-over-Pukemiro-tip
Rural Waikato residents furious at ongoing plastic waste fire - https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/09/rural-waikato-residents-furious-at-ongoing-plastic-waste-fire.html
Onus on Government to remove toxic coal mine waste at Hector – conservationists - https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/114806519/onus-on-government-to-remove-toxic-coal-mine-waste-at-hector--conservationists