Resource management and environmental law are significant because it sets out how one ought to maintain the environment. It supports individuals as well as communities to plan for the future of the environment and it is based on the notion of the sustainable management of resources. The report will provide an understanding of the history of resource management and environmental law in New Zealand and a visual timeline of key acts and legislation. Moreover, it will demonstrate an incident in history and how the issue related to resource management and environmental law. Finally, the study will outline the key players in the development of environmental law in New Zealand.
The history of the environment is wide-ranging with ironic twists of fate, and it cannot be denied that the Resource Management Act is not considered an exception. In 1975-84, the “Think Big” era of the Muldoon government was considered an indirect method, instrumental in the growth and enhancement that led to the formulation of the Resource Management Act (Szöllősi-Cira, 2022). Wholesale reform of environmental legislation in New Zealand arose during the 1980s. In the late 1980s, a Labour Government with Geoffrey Palmer as the environment minister developed the Resource Management Bill. The concept of “sustainable development” underpinned the bill, on the basis of a principle of balancing economic goals contrary to environmental goals (Palmer, 2016).
Although, the Labour government lost power prior to the bill could be implemented in 1990, and a National Government handled and took office, with Simon Upton pretentious the portfolio of the environment. The government surprisingly decided not to abandon the Resource Management Bill but rather review it. Consequently, there was a move from harmonizing environmental as well as economic goals to the goals of economic being “constrained” through environmental ones; the basic purpose of the law is “sustainable management” (section 5). In 1991, when the legislators enacted the act, it was, as per long-lasting environmentalists and then Guy Salmon, the government advisor, “greener” abstractly compared to the Bill actually regarded by the more leftish Labour Government (Wynyard, 2019). This remains a chief piece of environmental law within the nation, however, several environmental resources are handled and maintained under other laws.
Over the previous 21 years, the principles supporting the Resource Management Act were on the basis of developments in both local as well as international thinking. The Stockholm UN Conference on Environment and Development 1972 given the primary forum for a global discussion on principles like integrated sustainable development and environmental management. The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development's subsequent audit of environmental management in the nation, which led to a report highlighting Environmental Policies in the nation in 1981, outlined the requirement to enhance environmental management locally (Environment Guide, 2021). Further, the Nature Conservation Council 1981 made a report. It was considered one of the initial documents to recognise how the chief notion underlying the sustainable development concept can be adopted in the nation. After that decade, the New Labour Government in New Zealand started to implement and investigate institutional reform for the management of the environment at both the local and national government levels.
In 1988 after the Labour Government was re-elected, work started on officially reviewing a number of environmental laws. A proposal was issued by the government for a sole combined statute of resource management that would substitute the several present statutory processes (Roper, 2018). In 1989, the Resource Management Bill was presented to Parliament, although in 1990, the Labour Government lost power prior to the bill being enacted into legislation (Gallangher, 2017). The New Government in the nation decided to continue with the bill, but provide the bill to a Review Group for consideration. In 1991, the Parliament passed a revised act.
When enforced, the Resource Management Bill 1991 revoked several regulations and statutes and modified various others to give a sole piece of law for the management of air, soil, water, and land all over the nation (Rodgers, 2017). The notable acts revoked were the Town and Country Planning Act 1977 and the Water and Soil Conservative Act 1967.
In the complex technologies as well as high-risk environments, the world is in the age of organisational incidents. Incident arises as often long-standing hidden or latent failures, occurring in the organisational and managerial areas, merge with the local conditions to breach the defences of the systems. In 1995, the manager of the Department of Punakaiki Field Centre of Conservation and 17 people of a Polytechnic course from Greymouth fell nearly 30 meters from the Cave Creek viewing area because it collapsed. Consequently, 4 people were injured and 14 young people lost their lives. There were various things which were absent as safeguards, barriers, and defences both at the Regional and National Conservancy level. Most significant was the absence of an affirmative safety climate. It could result in the collapse of management philosophy which recognises individuals and their objectives and production objectives. This incident was related to resource management and environmental law because it directly or indirectly violated the legislation (Howard, 2019).
Stockholm United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1972 given the initial forum for a global debate on principles like combined sustainable development and environmental management. The second key player is the Nature Conservation Council which prepared a report to recognise how the chief ideas underlying the sustainable development concept can be adopted in the nation. The Third key players are the New Zealand Labour Party and the National Development Act as in the 1984 election campaigns, demonstrating a platform of adopting better environmental policies. Other players are Geoffrey Palmer, the deputy Prime Minister, who attempted a complete reform project for environment and planning legislation in New Zealand. He then chaired a Cabinet committee directing a chief group of 4 individuals encouraged by the Environment Ministry (Law & Borrin, 2018). Although the select committee process was not accomplished due to amends in government. Simon Upton, the new National Minister for the Environment remained in the process of law reform leading to the RMA’s enactment. He appointed a Review Group to examine the principle and purpose of clauses (Palmer, 2016). The group comprised Brent Wheeler; an economist, Guy Salmon; planner Ken Tremaine, Prue Crosson; a lawyer, and Tony Randerson; a lawyer. In 1991, the Parliament passed a revised act.
To conclude, the history of environment is ample with ironic twists of fate, and it cannot be denied that the Resource Management Act is not considered an exception. In the late 1980s, a Labour Government with Geoffrey Palmer as the environment minister developed the Resource Management Bill. In 1989, the Resource Management Bill was presented to Parliament, although in 1990, the Labour Government lost power prior to the bill being enacted into legislation. The New Government in the nation decided to continue with the bill, but provide the bill to a Review Group for consideration. In 1991, the Parliament passed a revised act. The study defined the Cave Creek incident history and its connection to Resource management and environment law. Finally, Stockholm United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, New Zealand Labour Party, Geoffrey Palmer, and Simon Upton are the chief players in the development of environmental law.
References
Environment Guide. (2021). History • Environment Guide. Environmentguide.org.nz. Retrieved 5 August 2022, from https://www.environmentguide.org.nz/overview/#:~:text=After%20an%20extensive%20consultation%20process,Review%20Group%20for%20further%20consideration.
Gallagher, M. (2017). The Oireachtas: president and parliament. In Politics in the Republic of Ireland (pp. 164-190). Routledge.
Howard, A. (2019). Ministerial responsibility in cases of serious policy failure: The role of extra-parliamentary inquiry in upholding political legitimacy. Australasian Parliamentary Review, 34(1), 49-70.
Law, P. S. T., & Borrin, J. J. (2018). Can Judges Make a Difference? The Scope for Judicial Decisions on Climate Change in New Zealand Domestic Law Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC 191. LAW REVIEW, 49(2).
Palmer, G. (2016). What the New Zealand bill of rights act aimed to do, why it did not succeed and how it can be repaired. NZJPIL, 14, 169.
Palmer, Q. C. (2016). The resource legislation amendment bill, the productivity commission report and the future of planning for the environment in New Zealand. Policy Quarterly, 12(4), 71-76.
Rodgers, C. (2017). A new approach to protecting ecosystems: The te awa tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017. Environmental Law Review, 19(4), 266-279. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461452917744909
Roper, B. (2018). Neoliberalism's war on New Zealand's universities. New Zealand Sociology, 33(2), 9-39.
Szöllősi-Cira, L. (2022). New Zealand’s Role in Facilitating Trade Liberalisation. In New Zealand’s Global Responsibility (pp. 195-248). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7349-8_5
Wynyard, M. (2019). Dairying, Dispossession, Devastation: Primitive Accumulation and the New Zealand Dairy Industry, 1814–2018. Counterfutures, 8, 11-41.
