From concept to practice: Implementing cumulative impact assessment in New Zealand

In 1991, provisions for environmental impact assessment in New Zealand were changed significantly with the enactment of the Resource Management Act. Among other provisions, this act requires consideration of cumulative impacts in environmental assessment activities undertaken by planners in newly created regional authorities and district and city councils. The institutional context in which the act is being implemented offers both opportunities and constraints to cumulative impact assessment. A lack of methods for CIA is a recognized problem. However, methods that have been developed for environmental impact assessments can be modified to incorporate second-, third-, and fourth-order impacts as well as to identify the direction and magnitude of additive and synergistic impacts. Layered matrices and combined networks are examples of such methods. While they do not allow for scientific prediction, they do provide the practitioner with the ability to consider the cumulative impacts of decisions. This is crucial in New Zealand, where statutory requirements are ahead of established methodologies.     

ESTABLISHING WATERSHED MANAGEMENT IN LAW: NEW ZEALAND'S EXPERIENCE1

ABSTRACT: New Zealand is one of the first countries in the world to enshrine the concept of watershed management in law, through institutional arrangements and the Resource Management Act of 1991 ‐ a law constructed on a watershed management legacy begun in 1941. This paper outlines the development of New Zealand's Resource Management Act (as it applies to water management) and the lessons that have been learned in its implementation.     

Innovation in environmental policy: the National Environmental Policy Act of the US and the Resource Management Act of New Zealand

On enactment, both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 1970 of the US and the Resource Management Act (RMA), 1991 of New Zealand received accolades for innovativeness. However, is such praise justified when these acts are explored through the literature on policy innovation? This paper suggests that it is. More importantly, recognizing how different attributes of innovation contribute to having a policy adopted suggests what the crafters of future environmental policies might do well to consider. It is critical to attend to the political climate in which a policy is being drafted.     

The integration of EIA and planning in New Zealand: changing process and practice

The Resource Management Act, passed in 1991, has significantly revised the practice of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in New Zealand. In contrast to a previous emphasis on environmental impact reports of major projects, the new requirements call for environmental impact assessment of all resource consent applications and of all regional, district and city policies and plans. This signals a change directed at incorporating environmental considerations into day‐to‐day planning decisions, with the purpose of achieving sustainable management. The paper identifies and discusses some key issues which are critical for successful integration of EIA within a planning framework.     

Evaluating environmental plan quality: the case of planning for sustainable development in New Zealand

This study examines the quality of local and regional environmental plans produced under New Zealand's Resource Management Act (RMA) of 1991, which sets forth a national sustainable development strategy. Plan quality characteristics are defined and used as criteria for plan evaluation. A key finding is that planning programmes have significantly advanced since passage of the RMA, but that high quality plans are not necessarily produced by simply passing mandate legislation. Implications of study findings for sustainable development initiatives in other countries and for future research are presented.     

Towards sustainable management of natural ecosystems on farms? a New Zealand perspective

Many New Zealand farms still have large remnant indigenous forest patches. This paper discusses constraints and opportunities for the sustainable management of these remnants. First, the paper analyses why the specific ecological situation of the New Zealand vegetation poses severe constraints for sustainable management. Second, results from a case study are presented suggesting that analysis of farmers’ attitudes to remnant ecosystems might provide valuable data for improving existing environmental legislation. Finally, the possible management implications of the new Resource Management Act 1991 and Forest Amendment Act 1993 are discussed. It is argued that these Acts may bring to an end a thousand years of wilful and accidental destruction of New Zealand's natural environment.     

Planning under a Co-operative Mandate: New Plans for New Zealand

The Resource Management Act 1991 provides a new mandate for effectsbased planning with its goal of sustainable management. Regional, city and district councils are responsible for administering the Act, including preparation of regional policy statements, regional and district plans. The paper reports on a collaborative research programme,funded by the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. The three-year programme has two objectives: (1) to determine the quality of policy statements and plans; and (2) to identify the extent and means by which councils co-ordinate policy statements and plans. Preliminary findings on implementation of the Act are presented.     

Progress with Implementing the Environmental Assessment Requirements of the Resource Management Act in New Zealand

The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) has introduced environmental impact assessment (EIA) into the operations of territorial authorities at the regional and district level in New Zealand. The system established by the RMA is not only devolved in administrative terms, it is also comprehensive in its application. This paper reports the findings of an interview-based survey of key personnel in selected regional and district councils, along with others from government departments, planning consultancies and law firms. The purpose is to assess the success of the councils in developing appropriate and workable procedures, and to identify the main problems likely to inhibit the development of an effective EIA system in New Zealand. Overall, the task of implementing the EIA requirements has been tackled positively by councils, but there are signs of major differences emerging in the EIA procedures they are developing. Key issues that need to be considered by councils include: the need for explanatory documentation for, and verbal advice to, resource consents applicants at the earliest stage possible; the lack of public involvement in the EIA activities and the need for council staff to encourage and facilitate such participation; and problems with ensuring the adequacy of EIA information in such a devolved and comprehensive EIA system.     

Regional Perspectives on Resource Policy: Implementing Sustainable Management in New Zealand

In 1991, New Zealand implemented new legislation to govern the management of natural resources and the environment. The Resource Management Act establishes sustainable management as the guiding principle for decisions in respect of the allocation and use of natural resources. The reform has also brought about the devolution of decision-making authority from central government to the local level. Underlying this shift to a 'bottom up' decision-making framework is the belief that it is communities of interest that should have the most direct voice in the allocation and use of natural resources. Regional policy statements will be amongst the most important mechanisms through which the principle of sustainable management will be implemented at the local scale. A sample of these policy documents is reviewed, with the aim to identify what specific regional interpretations are given to the principle of sustainable management, what particular resource management issues are considered to underpin the achievement of the principle and to identify what visions have been crafted for the future. An underlying objective was to identify whether characteristics of locality have influenced the interpretations of sustainable management.     

PROFILE: Hungry Water: Effects of Dams and Gravel Mining on River Channels

/ Rivers transport sediment from eroding uplands to depositional areas near sea level. If the continuity of sediment transport is interrupted by dams or removal of sediment from the channel by gravel mining, the flow may become sediment-starved (hungry water) and prone to erode the channel bed and banks, producing channel incision (downcutting), coarsening of bed material, and loss of spawning gravels for salmon and trout (as smaller gravels are transported without replacement from upstream). Gravel is artificially added to the River Rhine to prevent further incision and to many other rivers in attempts to restore spawning habitat. It is possible to pass incoming sediment through some small reservoirs, thereby maintaining the continuity of sediment transport through the system. Damming and mining have reduced sediment delivery from rivers to many coastal areas, leading to accelerated beach erosion. Sand and gravel are mined for construction aggregate from river channel and floodplains. In-channel mining commonly causes incision, which may propagate up- and downstream of the mine, undermining bridges, inducing channel instability, and lowering alluvial water tables. Floodplain gravel pits have the potential to become wildlife habitat upon reclamation, but may be captured by the active channel and thereby become instream pits. Management of sand and gravel in rivers must be done on a regional basis, restoring the continuity of sediment transport where possible and encouraging alternatives to river-derived aggregate sources.KEY WORDS: Dams; Aquatic habitat; Sediment transport; Erosion; Sedimentation; Gravel mining     

Efficient management of marine resources in conflict: An empirical study of marine sand mining, Korea

This article develops a dynamic model of efficient use of exhaustible marine sand resources in the context of marine mining externalities. The classical Hotelling extraction model is applied to sand mining in Ongjin, Korea and extended to include the estimated marginal external costs that mining imposes on marine fisheries. The socially efficient sand extraction plan is compared with the extraction paths suggested by scientific research. If marginal environmental costs are correctly estimated, the developed efficient extraction plan considering the resource rent may increase the social welfare and reduce the conflicts among the marine sand resource users. The empirical results are interpreted with an emphasis on guidelines for coastal resource management policy.     

New Zealand's Planning Revolution Five Years On: A Preliminary Assessment

It is now five years since New Zealand radically changed its environmental planning regime by introducing the Resource ManagementAct 1991 (RMA). The RMA swept away the entire tradition of town and country planning which New Zealand had inherited from Britain, replacing this with an integrated framework for resource management that attempts to emphasize efficiency, sustainability and public participation in the new system of development control. These new emphases of the RMA reflect the agendasof New Zealand'sgreen and New Right lobbies which gained political influence during the 1980s.However,the green and neo-liberal agendaswhich the RMA attempts to embrace are potentially contradictory. In this paper we investigate this potential contradiction through a preliminary assessment of the first five year's of the new legislation's implementation.In particular, we focus on the operational success, or otherwise, of three 'efficiency' innovations of the RMA, and consider the consequences of these for the environmental and public participation ideals of the legislation.     

Coastal Environmental Impacts Brought About by Alterations to Freshwater Flow in the Gulf of Mexico

/ Freshwater inflow is one of the most influential landscape processes affecting community structure and function in lagoons, estuaries, and deltas of the world; nevertheless there are few reviews of coastal impacts associated with altered freshwater inputs. A conceptual model of the possible influences of freshwater inflows on biogeochemical and trophic interactions was used to structure this review, evaluate dominant effects, and discuss tools for coastal management. Studies in the Gulf of Mexico were used to exemplify problems commonly encountered by coastal zone managers and scientists around the world. Landscape alteration, impacting the timing and volume of freshwater inflow, was found to be the most common stress on estuarine systems. Poorly planned upstream landscape alterations can impact wetland and open-water salinity patterns, nutrients, sediment fertility, bottom topography, dissolved oxygen, and concentrations of xenobiotics. These, in turn, influence productivity, structure, and behavior of coastal plant and animal populations. Common biogeochemical impacts include excessive stratification, eutrophication, sediment deprivation, hypoxia, and contamination. Common biological impacts include reduction in livable habitats, promotion of "exotic" species, and decreased diversity. New multiobjective statistical models and dynamic landscape simulations, used to conduct policy-relevant experiments and integrate a wide variety of coastal data for freshwater inflow management, assume that optimum estuarine productivity and diversity is found somewhere between the stress associated with altered freshwater flow and the subsidy associated with natural flow. These models attempt to maximize the area of spatial overlap where favorable dynamic substrates, such as salinity, coincide with favorable fixed substrates, such as bottom topography. Based upon this principle of spatial overlap, a statistical performance model demonstrates how population vitality measurements (growth, survival, and reproduction) can be used to define sediment, freshwater, and nutrient loading limits. Similarly, a spatially articulate landscape simulation model demonstrates how cumulative impacts and ecosystem processes can be predicted as a function of changes in freshwater, sediment, and nutrient inflows.KEY WORDS: Resource management; Landscape impacts; Freshwater discharge; Coastal, ecosystem models; Coastal wetlands     

Simulating Direct and Indirect Damages to Commercial Fisheries from Marine Sand Mining: A Case Study in Korea

Rapid growth in marine sand mining for construction and other uses poses environmental challenges to coastal nations virtually worldwide. Yet the development of management policies, such as a system of fees imposed on operators for damage caused by mining, has been frustrated by a lack of studies to support such measures. Adapting a Beverton-Holt bioeconomic model, this paper attempts to contribute to the estimation of external costs to commercial fisheries due to marine mining. Using the major mining area of Ongjin in Korea as a case study, we estimate economic losses in use value of commercial fisheries through the time to recovery of the injured resource stocks. Present value of lost catch over a 1-year period from mining to resource recovery is estimated at $38,851 for a single “prototype” mining site. Estimated cumulative damages due to recurring mining for 5 and 10 years are $1.5 million and $2.2 million, respectively, at 20 mining sites. Sensitivity analyses are used to examine the effects of alternative assumptions to assess the many sources of uncertainty. Using a form of meta-analysis, dose-response information is used to assess the excess mortality the mining sediment plume has on eggs and larvae and, ultimately, on the value of lost catch ($841). Also addressed is the importance of specifying the appropriate “premining” conditions against which to assess environmental losses at the mining site. Damages estimated with premining fish populations are $23,066 higher than is the case using postmining conditions. Overall, the illustrative results suggest the variety of complex conditions which influence damage to fisheries from mining and which can benefit from further study to improve management guidelines. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Application of the pressure-state-response framework to perceptions reporting of the state of the New Zealand environment

The Pressure-State-Response framework for environmental reporting was used as a basis to develop a long-term study of people's perceptions of the state of the New Zealand environment. A postal survey of 2000 people, randomly drawn from the New Zealand electoral roll was used to gather data--an effective response rate of 48% was achieved. A range of different resource sectors was examined. We report on New Zealand's air, native animals and plants, and marine fisheries, as well as New Zealand compared to other developed countries. Respondents generally considered that in terms of pressures, states and responses, New Zealand was performing better than other developed countries and that for the resources examined here overall performance was in the adequate to good range, except for marine fisheries. The survey appears to be a useful tool for linking perceptions data into State of the Environment reporting. It also helps identify policy issues where perceptions do not match other scientific evidence or management initiatives. Such findings can be important for the successful implementation of policy measures.     

Global trends in gold mining: Towards quantifying environmental and resource sustainability

In recent years, due to public concern over perceived and actual environmental impacts, the global mining industry has been moving towards a more sustainable framework. For gold mining, there are a number of fundamental issues with regard to assessing sustainability. Commonly perceived as a finite and non-renewable resource, long-term gold production trends include declining ore grades and increasing solid wastes (tailings, waste rock) and open cut mining. Conversely, core sustainability issues include water, energy and chemical consumption and pollutant emissions—also known as ‘resource intensity’. It is important to recognise the links between gold production trends and resource intensity, as this is critical for understanding future sustainability challenges. This paper links data sets on historic gold mining production trends with emerging sustainability reporting to estimate resource intensity, demonstrating the sensitivity of ore grade for gold production and sustainability. Final judgement of the sustainability of gold mining must take account of the sensitivity of the ore grade in the resource intensity of gold production. This has implications for environmental policy and sustainability reporting in the gold mining sector.     

Forest service experience with interdisciplinary teams developing integrated resource management plans

The National Forest Management Act and National Environmental Policy Act require the use of an interdisciplinary team (ID team) to do integrated resource planning for the National Forests and the concurrent environmental analysis. A survey sent to all National Forest planning officers (82% response) reveals the composition of the ID teams used in integrated resource and land management planning. More than half the National Forests ID teams met NEPA and NFMA compositional requirements. National Forest planners recount their experiences with these ID teams. Despite frustrations with many aspects of the ID teams, the planners strongly support the idea that ID teams are an important part of the land-use planning process and think that their use leads to better National Forest integrated resource plans.     

Livestock grazing and habitat for a threatened species: Land-use decisions under scientific uncertainty in the White Mountains,California, USA

The North Fork of Cottonwood Creek, in the White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, California, is a critically important refuge for the Paiute cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki seleniris), a federally listed threatened species. Habitat for these fish appears to be limited by excessive levels of fine sediment in the channel, and livestock grazing of riparian meadows has been implicated in delivery of sediment to the channel. However, the relationships between land use and sediment yield have not been conclusively determined, in large part because there are no historically ungrazed sites to serve as long-term controls. Accordingly, land-use decisions must be made under scientific uncertainty. To reduce erosion and sedimentation in the stream, the Forest Service spent approximately US$260,000 from 1981 to 1991 to repair watershed damage from livestock grazing, prevent livestock from traversing steep banks, and limit livestock access to the channel. Throughout this period, livestock grazing has continued on these lands, yielding less than $12,000 in grazing fees. In revising its Allotment Management Plan for the basin, the Forest Service rejected the “no-grazing” alternative because it was inconsistent with its Land and Resource Management Plan, which specifies there is to be no net reduction of grazing. Joint appointment with the University of California White Mountain Research Station, East Line Street, Bishop, California 93518, USA.     

Environmental Impact Assessment Under the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act: Deliberative Democracy in Canada’s North?

We consider the extent to which the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (MVRMA) provides an opportunity for deliberative democracy to emerge within the context of resource management in Canada's North. The focus is on the extent to which the tenets of deliberative democracy are exercised in the environmental assessment (EA) of the Snap Lake diamonds project. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with assessment participants, and a review of documentation surrounding the EA process, and the case study. Results combined four principles of deliberative democracy: generality, autonomy, power neutrality, and ideal role taking. The EA conducted under the MVRMA can serve as a deliberative process, as illustrated by opportunities for dialogue, access to different perspectives, and learning outcomes. However, many of these positive results occurred through nonmandated technical sessions. The absence of participant funding also limits the deliberative potential of the MVRMA.     

The Use of Geographic Information Systems for Resource Evaluation: A New Zealand Example

Over the last decade, New Zealand has implemented innovative reforms in respect of natural resource and environmental management. These include the Resource ManagementAct 1991 (RMA), a notable feature of which is the adoption of 'sustainable management' as the key principle guiding resource allocation and use. This and other features of the new administrative context for resource management strongly suggest a prominent role for geographicinformation systems (GIS) and related spatial information technology. In this paper we present an outline of the Regional Resource Evaluation Project (RREP), a project that has been established to explore and demonstrate the capabilities of GIS and related spatial information technology in the context of resource analysis and decision making. To date, the RREP has achieved important outcomes in terms of database design and development. An extensive information base which incorporates data on the physical and natural environment, patterns of human activity, and on social and demographic characteristics has been assembled. We describe the information systems, as well as some of the technical issues that attend to database design and development.We also provide brief reviews of two applications of the GIS to resource evaluation. One relates to the evaluation of changes in regional land use, with a focus on natural habitats. The other is concerned with land suitability assessment for plantation forestry.