Natural and physical resources are of significant importance to the New Zealand economy and its people. For this reason correct resource management is important to New Zealand. The current system used for resource management in New Zealand is the Resource Management Act (Parliamentary Council Office, 2014). The purpose of this document is to promote sustainable management of resources, both natural and physical, as New Zealand’s primary legislation on environmental management (EM). However, since the RMA was passed it has faced significant resistance due to mainly being expensive and overly-time consuming. In 2013 the Ministry for the Environment (MFE), the New Zealand government’s principal adviser on the environment, published a discussion document on improving the New Zealand resource management system (Ministry for the Environment, 2013). This report will look to summarise, evaluate and critically assess the MFE document looking to reform the RMA. Rather than cover the entire document, this report will focus specifically on the section regarding ‘more efficient and effective consenting’ and whether this proposed reform will lead to better EM in New Zealand.
Summary and Assessment of MFE discussion document
The MFE believe that the current system put in place for resource management, the RMA, could be managed more effectively and with greater efficiency. They believe that while the RMA in terms of decision making results in the correct outcome the processes leading up to this can be “long, cumbersome and inefficient” (Ministry for the Environment, 2013, p.9). The purpose of this discussion document is to improve the resource management system in New Zealand through identification of areas in which the RMA could potentially b...
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Another way to manage resource is to set national quotas. The quota system will conserve the stock and optimize harvesting levels. When the quota is in place, wildlife will be protected from over-exploitation. Quotas may be auction to the highest bidder; therefore the winner will enforce rules for harvesting. Open-access problems can be managed if individuals or a certain group controls property rights. While controlling the property rights, regulations may be enforced for better results. Regulations can determine what is allowed or not allowed on the land. To be economically efficient and conserve wildlife, people should harvest at certain time of the day. This will reduce overexploitation and give time for the stocks to reproduce. Ultimately, regulation, quotas, taxes and control will help overexploitation decline at a dramatic rate.
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Current definitions of natural resources generally rely on the argument by Zimmerman (1933), where he stated that “resources are not, they become.” Resources are therefore described as appraisals that are mediated culturally for the physical environment (@@@). These appraisals are shaped by belief systems, political institutions, economic factors, and social attributes. Using this perspective, resource geography aims at explaining how the global economy is differentiated and integrated by these mediations. It also aims at examining the environmental outcomes and the wellbeing
Our Congress created the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969 in order to establish an environmental foundation for mankind. This policy endorses harmony between humans and the vast ecosystems surrounding them. To obtain this goal and provide our future with resources as well, NEPA is separated into two titles. The first title declares the policy in detail while the second title focuses on the Council on Environmental Quality. The CEQ oversees the effectiveness of current methods, the reactions of the environment to those methods, and implements revisions as necessary.
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of the land was one of the many reasons that led to the New Zealand
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Legislation aimed at protecting New Zealand’s environment and natural resources has been through countless reforms to better tailor it to the various discourses that surround environmental management. In Simin Davoudi’s (2012) reading “Climate Risk and Security: New Meanings of “the Environment” in the English Planning System”, Davoudi discusses that environment can be seen in various different ways, as local amenity, heritage ,landscape ,nature reserve, as a store house of resources, as a tradable commodity, as a problem, as sustainability and as a risk (Davoudi, 2012). Although, Davoudi’s typology relates to aspects of New Zealand’s environmental management paradigms, it fails to include some important aspects such as indigenous and community inclusion. Davoudi’s (2012) typology can provide for future guidance in the discourse surrounding environment as risk.
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Effective natural resource management has increasingly become important as human interaction and destruction of resource use rises. I will examine two types of natural resource models currently used in today’s world. The two types of systems are International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) and integrated adaptive management (IAM). After a comparing and contrasting the two resource models, I will provide a real world example that can use the two management systems. Finally, a third natural resource application spatial system dynamics (SSD) will be briefly discussed to see if improvements can be made to enhance EMS or IAM.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) refers to a tool that assists in limiting the potential environmental damage of various developments that are undertaken in an area (Handley & Handley, 2001). Other researchers and scholars consider EIA as a key aspect of many large-scale planning applications; whereby, the EIA is used as the technique that help developers understand the potential environmental impacts of any major development proposal (Wathern, 1988). EIA entails information gathering practice that is carried out by both the developer and other relevant bodies to enable the Local Planning Authority appreciate the potential environmental effects of any form of development before giving directions on its commencement or stoppage (Dougherty & Hall, 1995; Wathern, 1988). Therefore, EIA can simply be described as the scientific and public consultation process that helps identify the potential impacts of any proposed project on the environment; that is, the biophysical component of the physical environment.
In Namibia, there are various legislation and policies designated to protect the environment, however, research into the effectiveness of these legislations and policies is rare. Environmental law is a multidisciplinary field which involves the integration of natural sciences, social sciences, and economics therefore this complexity makes evaluating the effectiveness of an environmental framework necessary. It is crucial to assess the effectiveness of