Project overview
EDS is conducting research to inform new and enduring resource management laws.
The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) has been at the heart of New Zealand’s system for land use planning and managing the environment for over three decades. But it has many problems, not least that it has failed to protect the natural environment from significant degradation.
The previous Labour government replaced the Act with new legislation, which was promptly repealed in 2023 (and the RMA reinstated) by the National-led coalition government. In its ‘phase 3’ reforms, the government now intends to replace the RMA with two new statutes of its own: a Planning Act and an Environment Act. While the details of this system will remain uncertain until legislation is introduced to Parliament at the end of 2025, we know it will be radically different from the RMA in several ways. Among other things, the intention is for the enjoyment of property rights to be a driving force.
Please contact Dr Greg Severinsen at greg@eds.org.nz for further information.
We thank Forest and Bird and the Borrin Foundation for supporting this mahi.
