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Green Plans in Action: New Zealand: History
New Zealand is an island nation about the size of California, 965.6 km (600 miles) from another country, with many rare plants and animals evolving in isolation. Currently there are 4 million New Zealanders with 80-86% living in urban areas. The indigenous people, Maori, comprise around 15% of the population. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 representing an agreement between representatives of the Crown and of Maori Iwi (tribes) and Hapu (subtribes) with principles of partnership, active protection, consultation, and obligations to act reasonably, honorably and in good faith. Currently, this Treaty is legally effective in NZ Courts and recognized in Acts of Parliament. (More...) New Zealanders colloquially refer to themselves as "Kiwis," after the country's native bird. The terrain is predominately mountainous with large coastal plains and a temperate climate with sharp regional contrasts. Maori hunting ancestors first reached New Zealand about 1,000 years ago. Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1840, three-quarters of the original vegetation and forests have been cut or burned, causing deforestation and soil erosion. In addition, invasive species and land changes have caused a large number of flora and fauna to become endangered or extinct. These devastating changes in their environment caused New Zealanders to create a number of resource laws, leading up to green plans. Over time the government created 59 acts of Parliament to protect their natural resources and control environmental degradation. These acts covered all resource laws separately for each resource such as land, water, air, etc., and also town and country planning. They were developed at different times with dissimilar philosophies, were completely disconnected from each other but also overlapped. This caused conflicts and confusion, which created extra costs and further environmental harm by lack of a cohesive plan. The energy crisis of the 1970's combined with the economic crisis of the 1980's highlighted serious flaws in the myriad of resource laws and a lack of integration across them. This led New Zealand to seek a comprehensive, integrative Green Plan strategy of environmental planning reform. New Zealand has a unicameral system of government - one house of parliament, an advantage for streamlining reform. They recognized the tangle of regulations were pointless to try and reform; it was best to start over. The three-phase reform process involved reaching public consensus on whether there should be a law for the management of natural resources and which resources to include, options for achieving the objectives, and development of specific policies and laws. The result was a broad-based consensus and the repeal and replacement of 59 acts being brought together into one act, the Resource Management Act (RMA), adopted in 1991. At the national level this Act is their Green Plan. The RMA has a single overriding purpose of sustainable management of natural and physical resources, thereby providing for people's social, economic, and cultural well-being, and for future generations. RMA's sustainable management is accomplished by defining ecological bottom lines beyond which they will not go, and by internalizing social and environmental costs. Industry and Maori were crucial in the creation of the Green Plan and continue to play large roles in its implementation. In addition, environmental groups played an important role in negotiations and drafting of the RMA and in public education. The RMA is maturing as a legislative tool protecting the environment through innovative green plan strategies within the framework of a market economy and cohesive society. |
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