Te Pāti Māori co-leader goes global in fight against seabed mining
Friday, 24 June 2022
A political leader who has been a staunch environmental advocate for her South Taranaki iwi is taking her fight against seabed mining global.
On Friday, Ngāti Ruanui rangatira and Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer travelled to Lisbon, Portugal for the United Nations Oceans Conference, in a bid to build an international coalition against deep sea mining.
It follows a movement Ngarewa-Packer helped spearhead in her own rohe, where she and others actively opposed an application made by Trans-Tasman Resources to mine for iron ore off the South Taranaki coast.
It was a battle which was fought in the courtroom, which ultimately resulted in a ruling in favour of Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru and environmentalists from the Supreme Court last year.
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A press release stated that while at the conference, Ngarewa-Packer would co-host a side-event as a member of the Pacific Parliamentarians Alliance on Deep Sea Mining, alongside other leaders.
“I’m looking forward to working with activists, parliamentarians and policymakers from around the world to build a global alliance against seabed mining, and convince world leaders of the destruction it will cause to our oceans and climate,” she said in the statement.
Ngarewa-Packer confirmed she was not attending the conference as part of the New Zealand delegation, but argued that “bold leadership” was needed on the issue, which posed a threat to marine life.