Overview
Who we are
The Ministry for the Environment is a government department established under the Environment Act (1986). It reports to the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Energy.
The Ministry is the Government's principal adviser on the New Zealand environment and on international matters that affect the environment. It provides leadership on the environment across central and local government. Day-to-day environmental management is largely the responsibility of regional councils and territorial authorities.
Statutory functions
The Ministry's functions under the Environment Act can be summarised as: [See Appendix One for transcript of the Environment Act 1986 Section 31 Functions of the Ministry.]
- to advise the Minister on all aspects of environmental administration
- to obtain information, and conduct and undertake research
- to advise the Government and its agencies on:
- environmental legislation
- assessment and monitoring of environmental impacts
- pollution management and control
- identification and reduction of natural hazards
- control of hazardous substances
- to assist in resolving conflict regarding policies and proposals that may affect the environment
- to provide and disseminate information and services to promote environmental policies, including education and mechanisms for promoting participation in environmental planning.
That same Act defines 'environment' very widely.
The Ministry also has specific functions under the:
- Resource Management Act (1991)
- Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (1996)
- Ozone Layer Protection Act (1996)
- Climate Change Response Act (2002).
Vision, mission and values
The Ministry has updated its mission to reflect its new direction and work priorities.
Our vision is of:
- A healthy environment which sustains people and nature.
We see our mission as:
- Delivering the environment that New Zealanders expect and deserve.
The values that are important to us in our work are to be:
- Effective
- Trusted
- Influential.
Our role and strategies
The focus of our endeavours is the environment of New Zealand and how people behave towards the environment. We desire a good environment where biodiversity and natural areas are protected and enhanced, where productive resources are husbanded sustainably, and the places where people live are clean, healthy and safe. We believe in a New Zealand that is reinforced by its sense of place.
We are one important player in the effective delivery of this. The principal role of the Ministry is to ensure purposeful and consistent environmental governance at all levels, with the objective being a good environment for all New Zealanders.
In the short term we aim to put in place the essentials of good environmental governance, fix what is not working well, and firm up the framework that protects our environment. In the longer term, we see ourselves giving a stronger emphasis to action on sustainability - encouraging businesses and other sectors to act more sustainably, rather than merely complying with laws and regulations.
We recognise that high standards of environmental and social performance are what society wants and expects of its organisations in both the public and private sector.
In working to achieve a good environment through good governance, the Ministry will use three strategies:
Leading all government and interdepartmental initiatives
Partnering with key sectors and organisations to develop and implement measures to improve environmental governance
Fixing problems with environmental decision-making.
In carrying out this role, we will use a range of measures, such as:
- leading the development of policies which result in legislation that guides or prescribes behaviour
- making sure legislation and policies work in practice and fixing things where they do not
- developing bottom-line environmental protection measures to provide greater certainty for people and the environment
- encouraging public and private sector organisations to move beyond compliance with regulation and to build sustainability into what they do
- encouraging public awareness and action for the environment.
Development of the Statement of Intent
Last year we developed our first Statement of Intent. Its development was largely a top down exercise and we said that for the 2004-2007 Statement of Intent we would use a more inclusive approach and put more thinking into the indicators and measures.
We have done what we said we would do. We have involved all of our senior management team in its development. We have also had discussions with our third tier managers and received feedback from government agencies. Next year we will aim higher. We will continue to develop our measures so that they are more specific and will better define the connections between our activities and the outcomes. We will also continue to learn and to develop our organisational capability to lead and manage, to ensure that what we do makes a significant contribution to achieving a good environment and engaging who can help.
