Forest & Bird is taking the Southland District Council (SDC) to court over its decision to allow new coal mine exploration.

Papers were served this week on the council, seeking a judicial review of its decision to allow Bathurst Resources Limited to explore for a new coal mine on council land near Nightcaps. 

"For a safe climate, we cannot have any new coal mines,” F&B Chief Executive Kevin Hague says.

"The International Energy Agency has called for an immediate end to new coal mines and the UN secretary-general has said all planned coal projects should be cancelled. We need to act now."

Advertisement: Winton Motorcycles

Last week, it was revealed New Zealand is importing a record amount of coal this year to burn for electricity. 

The government expects an extra 150,000 tonnes will be imported in 2021, a 14 percent increase on last year's total, which was over 1 million tonnes. 

F&B youth leaders have provided affidavits in support of the case, says Hague, including 17-year-old George Hobson and Nightcaps local Gemma Marnane.  

"Having grown up in Southland, I know youth in my community are fearful of the impacts of the climate and biodiversity crisis," Marnane says.

Advertisement: Daphne Fairbairn - Southland Real Estate

"It's our future, and the future of coming generations, that will be the most impacted by the effects of the climate and biodiversity crises. Our elected decision makers need to step up and tackle these threats head on."

Internationally, young people are taking governments to court – and winning – over their failure to adequately address climate change, Hague adds.  

F&B's case claims that SDC made the decision unlawfully because it failed to properly consider the implications of climate change, and the impact climate change will have on the district, including for future generations.  

Southland App has asked SDC for comment.  

Advertisement: Rata Park Rest Home

The effects of climate change are already starting to be felt, Hague says. 

"Southland experienced massive floods last year, which not only had an impact on homes and farms but also on Aotearoa’s largest national park in Fiordland.

"Iconic southern birds such as the Antipodean albatross or hoiho/yellow-eyed penguins are already on the brink, and climate change is forcing them closer to extinction. 

"In New Zealand the coal industry still has years of consented mining. Allowing new or expanded coal mines through the 2020s would lock us into high-emissions scenarios for decades to come. 

Advertisement: Otautau Four Square

"If we want our grandchildren to live in a world that is safe and has clean water, then we need to act now.”"

Nine of NZ's environmental organisations have called on SDC to reconsider its decision to allow access for exploration. 

And at Forest & Bird’s annual conference last month Chief Executive Kevin Hague called on the Government to stop all new and expanded coal mines.  

The organisation has spent decades trying to protect the ecologically diverse Buller Plateau from opencast coal mining operations. This includes Happy Valley on the Stockton Plateau, the mothballed Escarpment Mine on the Denniston Plateau, and ongoing legal challenges against a new proposed mine at Te Kuha.