Conservation Act 1987

Conservation areas

8: Conservation area may become reserve, national park, etc

You could also call this:

"A conservation area can change to a different type of protected area, like a reserve or national park."

If you have a conservation area, it can become a reserve, sanctuary, refuge, or national park under another law. The Minister can decide to make a conservation area a reserve under the Reserves Act 1977 by putting a notice in the Gazette. When this happens, the conservation area will have a new classification.

If a conservation area becomes a reserve, sanctuary, refuge, or national park, it will stop being a conservation area. This change happens even if some rules, like those in section 16 or section 26, are not followed. If the Minister's notice is cancelled, the land will go back to being a conservation area with the same status it had before.

The Minister cannot make a conservation area a nature reserve or scientific reserve under the Reserves Act 1977. You cannot include a conservation area in an existing nature reserve or scientific reserve under that Act either.

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This page was last updated on 24 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM104254.

Topics:

Environment and resources > ConservationGovernment and voting > Government departments

7: Land may be acquired and held for conservation purposes, or

"The government can buy or protect land to help take care of the environment."

9: Policy statements for conservation areas, or

"Rules to protect special nature areas"

Part 3Conservation areas

8Conservation area may become reserve, national park, etc

Nothing in this Act shall prevent any conservation area's becoming a reserve, sanctuary, refuge, or national park under any enactment other than this Act administered by the Department.
The Minister may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, declare any conservation area to be a reserve under the Reserves Act 1977 and to have a classification under that Act, or to be included in any existing reserve under that Act, and may in like manner amend or revoke any such notice; and every such declaration shall have effect as a reservation under that Act for the purposes specified in the notice.
Subsection (1A) is subject to subsection (4).
Upon becoming a reserve, sanctuary, refuge, or national park, a conservation area shall cease to be a conservation area, notwithstanding that there has been no compliance with section 16 or section 26.
Upon the revocation of any notice given under subsection (1A), the land to which that notice related shall become a conservation area and have the same status as it had immediately before the commencement of that notice.
The Minister must not act under subsection (1A) to declare a conservation area—
to be a nature reserve or a scientific reserve under the Reserves Act 1977; or
to be included in an existing nature reserve or scientific reserve under that Act.

Notes

Section 8(1A): inserted, on 10 April 1990, by section 6(1) of the Conservation Law Reform Act 1990 (1990 No 31).
Section 8(1B): inserted, on 24 May 2013, by section 5(1) of the Conservation Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 15).
Section 8(3): added, on 10 April 1990, by section 6(2) of the Conservation Law Reform Act 1990 (1990 No 31).
Section 8(4): inserted, on 24 May 2013, by section 5(2) of the Conservation Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 15).