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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Conservation Act 1987

Establishment and functions of Department of Conservation

6: Functions of Department

You could also call this:

"The Department of Conservation's jobs are to protect and care for New Zealand's special places and things."

The Department of Conservation has many jobs. You can think of these jobs as helping to protect New Zealand's special places and things. The Department looks after land, natural resources, and historic sites to help conserve them. They also work to preserve freshwater fisheries and protect the places where fish live. The Department promotes the importance of conservation and educates people about it, and they even give advice to the Minister on conservation matters.

The Department's work includes managing land and resources that the government owns, as well as some that private owners have agreed to let them manage, as outlined in the Schedule 1. They try to conserve all of New Zealand's natural and historic resources, including those in special areas like the sub-antarctic islands and Antarctica. The Department also helps people use these resources for recreation and tourism, as long as it does not harm the environment.

The Department has many other jobs, including creating educational materials and working with other countries on conservation issues. They do all of this to help conserve New Zealand's special places and things for you and future generations. The Department's main goal is to protect and conserve New Zealand's natural and historic resources, and they do this in many different ways.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM104081.

Topics:
Environment and resources > ConservationGovernment and voting > Government departments
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"The government team that helps protect New Zealand's environment and natural resources."

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"New Zealand creates a group to help protect the environment."

Part 2Establishment and functions of Department of Conservation

6Functions of Department

  1. The functions of the Department are to administer this Act and the enactments specified in Schedule 1, and, subject to this Act and those enactments and to the directions (if any) of the Minister,—

  2. to manage for conservation purposes, all land, and all other natural and historic resources, for the time being held under this Act, and all other land and natural and historic resources whose owner agrees with the Minister that they should be managed by the Department:
    1. to preserve so far as is practicable all indigenous freshwater fisheries, and protect recreational freshwater fisheries and freshwater fish habitats:
      1. to advocate the conservation of natural and historic resources generally:
        1. to promote the benefits to present and future generations of—
          1. the conservation of natural and historic resources generally and the natural and historic resources of New Zealand in particular; and
            1. the conservation of the natural and historic resources of New Zealand's sub-antarctic islands and, consistently with all relevant international agreements, of the Ross Dependency and Antarctica generally; and
              1. international co-operation on matters relating to conservation:
              2. to prepare, provide, disseminate, promote, and publicise educational and promotional material relating to conservation:
                1. to the extent that the use of any natural or historic resource for recreation or tourism is not inconsistent with its conservation, to foster the use of natural and historic resources for recreation, and to allow their use for tourism:
                  1. to advise the Minister on matters relating to any of those functions or to conservation generally:
                    1. every other function conferred on it by any other enactment.

                      Notes
                      • Section 6(ab): inserted, on , by section 4 of the Conservation Law Reform Act 1990 (1990 No 31).