Tairāwhiti Pharmaceuticals has pleaded guilty to modifying and taking water from Te Whare Wetlands in breach of the Resource Management Act, after Gisborne District Council laid charges. The company excavated 460 metre of channels in the wetlands to reduce flooding of its mānuka plantation, which has been used to produce mānuka oil at its Te Araroa factory. Local Democracy Reporting Tairāwhiti Pharmaceuticals planted 200,000 mānuka trees in late 2019, some of which encroached on Te Whare Wetlands. Ecologist Hannah Dumbleton, who was brought in by Tairāwhiti Pharmaceuticals, disagreed with the extent of the effects the offending had caused to the wetlands. The company will remediate the wetlands by filling in the drains, retiring areas of mānuka plantation in the wetland and installing a fence.

Source: Stuff June 05, 2021 06:00 UTC