Week 1 - RMA

The protection of our environment has many drivers including those which are political, commercial and emotional.  Over the past 50 years, legislation in NZ to protect our environment has been presented in many guises. The most recent Act, the Resource Management Act (RMA), 1991, is a framework which establishes environmental bottom lines to be acted upon by regional and district councils.  The purpose of the RMA is to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources.

In this Act, sustainable management means managing the use, development, and protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, which enables people and communities to provide for their social, economic, and cultural well-being and for their health and safety while:

• Sustaining the potential of natural and physical resources (excluding minerals) to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations; and
• safeguarding the life-supporting capacity of air, water, soil, and ecosystems; and
• avoiding, remedying, or mitigating any adverse effects of activities on the environment.

The RMA is used by councils to create statutory documents to carry out this purpose and this effectively means that for the majority of civil engineering projects, a resource consent of some description will be provided.

The act allows for existing use rights - for example the use of a road has existing use rights, however if we upgrade the road we may need to apply for a consent.  This may be for something simple such as the use of paint on the road which may cause a discharge.

For further reading try "The New Zealanders' Guide to the Resource Management Act, 1991" by Raewyn Peart,