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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Parliamentary Council Office. (2014). Resource Management Act 1991. Retrieved from http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1991/0069/latest/DLM230265.html
An issue facing society is whether the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), is sufficient in balancing the rights of Indigenous Australians and the rights of current land owners. To determine whether legislation is sufficient and fair, an investigation into the current societal view points needs to be considered by legislators, with an evaluation into the ways in which other societies cater to the needs of Indigenous land owners should be made. This information then allows recommendations and changes to be debated, to therefore to ensure more equitable legislation on land rights within Australia.
I think this wholesale framing of environmental justice issues solely or primarily in terms of distribution is seriously problematic. Drawing on both ecofeminist insights concerning the inextricable interconnections between institutions of human oppression and the domination of the natural ...
An issue facing society is whether legislation in place is sufficient in balancing the rights of Indigenous Australians and the rights of current land owners who will be affected by the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). To determine whether legislation is sufficient and fair, an investigation into the current societal view point needed to be considered by legislators. These legislators needed to evaluate the ways in which other societies had catered to the needs of indigenous land owners. Through consideration of these points, recommendations and changes to legislation need to be debated and enacted to ensure more equitable legislation on land rights within Australia
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Again, this section will give a working definition of the “urban question’. To fully compare the political economy and ecological perspectives a description of the “urban question” allows the reader to better understand the divergent schools of thought. For Social Science scholars, from a variety of disciplines, the “urban question” asks how space and the urban or city are related (The City Reader, 2009). The perspective that guides the ecological and the social spatial-dialect schools of thought asks the “urban question” in separate distinct terminology. Respected scholars from the ecological mode of thinking, like Burgess, Wirth and others view society and space from the rationale that geographical scope determines society (The City Reader, 2009). The “urban question” that results from the ecological paradigm sees the relationship between the city (space) as influencing the behaviors of individuals or society in the city. On the other hand...
The next step is determining the information decision makers need to know and answer to arrive at a conclusion – the investigative questi...
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Tietenberg, Thomas. Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. Addison Wesley: New York, 2003. pp. 561. ISBN 0-201-77027-X, pp. 7-11.
The development of environmental regimes involves a five-fold process. The first process is the agenda setting and issue definition stage, which identifies and brings attention to an issue to the international community. Secon...
Tyson, B., Panelli, R., & Robertson, G. (2011). Intergrated Catchment Managment in New Zealand: A Field Report on Communication Efforts in the Taieri River Watershed. Applied Environmental Education and Communication, 73-80.
Ranganathan, J. et al. (2008). Ecosystem Services a Guide for Decision Makers. World Resources Institute.
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.