Inside the Koutu Nui

The members of the Koutu Nui turned out in force for the opening ceremony on Wednesday for the induction of new members: Tautu Mataiapo Tutara, Pakau Mataiapo, Keu Rangatira, Keu Poto Rangatira, Tuki Rangatira, Toko Rangatira and Ngarue Rangatira.
On Thursday, they heard a number of presentations on topics including the Manganese Nodules, Land Use, Water Management, the proposed USP Pacific Studies campus in Totokoitu ki Uta and Fish Farming.
Manganese Nodules and Protection of our Rights
Acting Solicitor General, Tingika Elikana (Crown Law) and Florence Syme-Buchanan (DPM’s office) reported on the activities of the Manganese Nodule committee (in lieu of the DPM and Nandi Glassie).
The acting Solicitor General told the Koutu Nui there are two Bills being drafted to ensure that our resources remain in our control and not that of ‘outsiders’, namely the Mining Resources Bill and the Sea Bed Mining Bill which are ready in draft form but need further refinement pending policy considerations and similar.
They propose two types of licences/permits:
1) exploration (for feasibility studies and experimentation);
2) exploitation (mining and retention of the benefits.
Existing laws cover our Territorial Seas extending 12 nautical miles from our shores under the Convention of the Law of the Sea; the Continental Shelf Act and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under the UN Convention which enables us to prosecute ships illegally fishing in our EEZ.
Rights are ‘vested in the Crown’ subject to anyone proving it is theirs by ‘custom and tradition’ such as in Manhiki and Rakahanga where certain parts of the lagoon have been proved to belong to particular clans (and now used for pearl farming)..
The protection of our environment and long term sustainability is very important and we will receive assistance from Commonwealth Secretariat with drafting of the relevant legislation.
Elikana explained the rights of the Aronga Mana on the land, but the ocean belongs to ‘all of us’ and is ‘vested in the Crown’ and explained the laws of the country as from Colonial times until self government in 1965 and enacting the Cook Islands Constitution as our supreme law. At question time, he indicated that the Committee is likely to hold a series of public meetings to seek the opinions of the people of the Cook Islands.
Florence said the manganese are a ‘precious natural resource’ and it was important to ensure that whatever we choose to do with the nodules needs to be ‘environmentally sound and sustainable’ and needs to be protected at all times for the ‘benefit of our people’.
To that end, Government has requested and is receiving technical assistance from the World Bank and the Commonwealth Secretariat to come up with an overall plan that will protect our interests with ‘robust environment protection’ and a sound taxation regime.
So far, the country has received several ‘unsolicited enquiries and proposal’ but they have been rejected for various reasons. One proposal advocated ‘futures trading’ but that was dismissed as ‘unsound’; another was to use the manganese deposits as ‘collateral to obtain funds’ but that was also ‘unsound’ and a third wanted an ‘exclusive licence’ in exchange for conducing a feasibility study in our waters at their own expense but on advice, this was not followed up.
The advice from a senior World Bank representative was to first put into place legislation to protect our interests before making any such decisions. They have suggested a ‘harmonisation approach’ between the various Pacific nations as a ‘blueprint to guide other Pacific countries’ and a team from ComSec will arrive in mid August and will be based in the Crown Law office.
The DPM has been in Norway with the FinSec and met with their Government who are ‘advanced in deep sea mining’ and met with a company called ‘Ocean Futures’ that is a multidisciplinary research unit in ocean mining. The research company is to come up with a plan to carry out a feasibility study. The price of manganese has risen to a very high level and Norway says the time might be right.
At question time, Te Pa Mataiapo reminded the Koutu Nui about the Nauru experience where at one stage they were one of the richest nations in the Pacific from the exploitation of the lugano. However, Nauru is now one of the most impoverished in the Pacific with their wealth stolen by scam artists who embezzled their money through dubious schemes and their island has been reduced to huge craters where the mining was carried out and cannot grow crops because there is no land as such.
Members of the Manganese Committee are: Junior Maoate (chairman), Ivaiti Sholan (Finsec), Tingika Elikana (Crown Law), Ian Bertram (Marine), Garth Henderson (MFEM), Mike Mitchell (Foreign Sec), Vaitoti Tupa (NES) and Derek Johnson (policy at OPM) and Florence Syme-Buchanan (DPM’s office).
The Koutu Nui acknowledges the efforts of Government so far, but wants input by the Aronga Mana at this intermediate stage and have voted to send a formal request to expand the composition on the Committee to include representation from the House of Ariki and another from the Koutu Nui.

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