30 April 1993 New Zealand Leading World in Conservation Laws Says Honorary Doctorate Recipient

New Zealand is once again leading the world in passing legislation aimed at achieving United Nations goals for conservation and development, says Parliamentary Environment Commissioner Helen Hughes of Wellington, who was awarded an honorary doctorate by Lincoln University at its graduation ceremony this afternoon. (Fri.30 April)

"Parliament has made sustainable use of natural and physical resources a key element of the Environment Act and now sustainable management of natural and physical resources is the purpose of the Resource Management Act," she said.

"I and my Office have a duty to Parliament to see that full and balanced account is taken of the sustainable use of natural and physical resources, and it is particularly pleasing to receive an honorary degree from a University which is focusing on natural resource management."

Mrs Hughes was one of two prominent New Zealanders to receive honorary Doctor of Science degrees at Lincoln University today. The other was Mr Sidney Hurst O.B.E. of Oamaru, a former chairperson of Lincoln's governing Council.

Oamaru-born, Mr Hurst is a farmer who most of his life has managed natural resources sustainably and practised what is now being preached about integrated systems and diversification.

He was a member of Lincoln's Council from 1962 to 1985 and chaired it for the last six of those years. In his work with Lincoln he was an early advocate of autonomy for the institution, which was then a college of Canterbury University.

Mr Hurst has given a lifetime to farming and matters related to rural New Zealand, particularly in North Otago. He farms a 1200-hectare property "Invernia" at Awamoko, near Oamaru, in partnership with his son Russell. He also has half share in a large property at Milton, Otago.

His name is inseparably associated with irrigation developments in the Lower Waitaki, company farming (which led to many young farmers being settled on the land), the development of the Fortex enterprise of which he was a founding director, and affairs of Federated Farmers, of which he is a life member. He was awarded the O.B.E. in 1989.

Mr Hurst's farming career has been characterised by a readiness to diversify and to take up new challenges. At different stages over the years he has been involved with sheep, dairying, cattle, deer, orcharding, bees and farm forestry.

In honouring Mr Hurst, Lincoln acknowledges its rural links and the preparatory years of discussion and debate which led up to the college becoming an autonomous university.

The award to Mrs Hughes betokens Lincoln University's close involvement with environmental matters and natural resources.

Nelson-born Helen Hannah Hughes holds an M.Sc. with 1st class Honours from Canterbury University and is a former Fulbright Scholar, secondary school science teacher (Christchurch and Wellington), agricultural research officer (Fiji), university lecturer (University of the South Pacific, Suva), DSIR Ecology Division scientist, and Assistant Commissioner for the Environment. She has been Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment since 1987.

Mrs Hughes is a member of the Cawthron Trust Board and her father, Sir Theodore Rigg, was the foundation Director of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson.

As an environmental co-ordinator for the DSIR, Mrs Hughes was responsible for bringing together environmental information and ensuring that appropriate specialists were consulted before papers such as Environmental Impact Reports were compiled. She was also a prime mover behind the pioneering document on integrating conservation and development.

This was the first time that Lincoln University has awarded its own honorary degrees. A number of awards have been made in the past, notably at the time of Lincoln's centennial in 1978, but these were awarded by the then college's parent university, Canterbury.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.