The Resource Management Act: What about it? Why do we even need one?
New Zealand is just beautiful, isn't it? And this beauty is part of our everyday lives. On Saturday mornings we might be lying in bed in a suburb and by lunchtime be swimming at the beach, tramping through the bush or snowboarding down a mountain on fresh snow. We have more gardens and parks than you can poke a stick at. People come from all over the world to marvel at what some of us tend to take for granted.
But if we look a bit closer at 'clean and green New Zealand' we see things aren't that way at all. For years we've been damaging our soil, air and water in ways that couldn't be restored. This approach just wasn't sustainable and meant our grandchildren could have missed out on the quality of life that we have enjoyed.
The Resource Management Act (usually called the 'RMA') is the main piece of legislation that sets out how we should manage our environment. It's based on the idea of the sustainable management of our resources, and it encourages us (as communities and as individuals) to plan for the future of our environment.
This doesn't mean that we have to get rid of our cars, stop building things and plant native trees on our farms. The RMA is really more concerned with managing the effects our activities have on the environment so the environment doesn't suffer.
We need to think about how our activities today can affect the future - to keep our eyes and ears open and to do what we can to stop other people's behaviour that might damage the environment. The RMA also encourages us to get involved in deciding what is best for the environment.
Perhaps most importantly, the RMA expects us to tell our local councils what we value about our environment, so they can look after it for us. This is because we - as locals - are best placed to know our own surroundings, and we should be involved in deciding what needs to be protected and how. While the RMA provides a guide to what's important in our environment, it generally leaves the decisions about how to manage the environment in the hands of the local community.
Summary - cutting to the chase
The RMA:
- helps us look after the environment
- is based on the idea of the sustainable management of resources
- encourages us to get involved in decisions about our environment.
