Week 3 - AEE

When enacted, the RMA repealed 78 statutes and regulations, and amended numerous others, to provide a single piece of legislation for the management of land, water, soil and air throughout New Zealand. The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 subsequently replaced the hazardous substances section of the RMA, which never came into force.

Some significant resource management activities are outside the jurisdiction of the RMA, or have overlapping management regimes.

These include the harvesting of fish, shellfish and seaweed stocks which are managed under the Fisheries Act 1996, the logging of indigenous forests on private land which are also managed under the Forests Act 1949 and marine pollution from ships and offshore structures which is also managed under the Maritime Transport Act 1994. The RMA does not, therefore, provide a fully integrated resource management regime.  As an example, the development of Auckland had no strategic planning in terms of environmental constraints when building new communities - it was more a case of who was willing to sell land at that time rather than a structured design. (image www.ontario.sierraclub.ca)