Improving New Zealand water governance: challenges and recommendations

Authors

  • Elizabeth Eppel

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/pq.v10i3.4501

Keywords:

New Zealand’s agricultural and horticultural exports, management of fresh water allocation, water governance; Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), Environmental Protection Authority, Treaty of Waitangi, complex adaptive system, sustainability of freshwater systems, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Abstract

Our lives and our livelihoods depend on fresh water. Our cities and the appeal of our countryside to New Zealanders and tourists alike are based on plentiful supplies of fresh water. The overwhelming majority of New Zealand’s exports – not least agricultural and horticultural – require water, and in large quantities. Indeed, in many respects water is New Zealand’s largest export. Yet the management of our fresh water has not been ideal. We have over-allocated, and badly polluted some of our water resources. Such problems point to significant weaknesses in the governance of fresh water in this country. This article explores these governance issues through a complex adaptive systems lens and outlines some possible solutions.

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Published

2014-08-01