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An appraisal of environmental conflict management provisions in New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991
Author(s) -
Montgomery Roy L.,
Kidd Jonathan A.H.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
asia pacific viewpoint
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.571
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8373
pISSN - 1360-7456
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8376.2004.00230.x
Subject(s) - statute , statutory law , mediation , alternative dispute resolution , context (archaeology) , dispute resolution , resource management (computing) , resource (disambiguation) , environmental law , government (linguistics) , political science , promotion (chess) , conflict management , scope (computer science) , public relations , public administration , law , history , computer science , computer network , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , politics , programming language
Since the 1970s a body of literature has developed internationally which can be termed loosely as ‘environmental conflict management’ (ECM) theory and practice. When New Zealand's disparate environmental management framework was reformed during the 1980s a ‘superstatute’ known as the Resource Management Act (RMA), passed in 1991, was the major outcome. During the RMA policy formulation process in the late 1980s, known as Resource Management Law Reform (RMLR), calls were made for better integration of mediation and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) approaches into the statutory framework. The final wording of the RMA includes specific clauses on mediation and the option of ‘pre‐hearing meetings’, suggesting that ECM and environmental dispute resolution (EDR) approaches have become part of the new decision‐making framework in New Zealand. Given such provisions, and the fact that it is now more than ten years since the RMA was passed, an appraisal of ECM/EDR progress to date within this statute seems justified. It is argued that to date very little emphasis has been placed upon early EDR intervention. This lack of emphasis, it is concluded, is due primarily to low levels of awareness and inadequate training and despite limitations on its usefulness in certain resource conflict settings we suggest that there is scope for greater promotion and implementation of EDR approaches in the local government context.