Policy Quarterly

Assessing Aotearoa's latest 'war on nature' or 'Goodbye Freddy'

Jonathan Boston — 2024-11-25

Since taking office in late November 2023, the National/ACT/New Zealand First coalition government in Aotearoa New Zealand has made rapid, comprehensive and far-reaching changes to environmental laws, regulations and policies. Further significant policy reforms are pending. This article outlines the main policy changes and summarises the many concerns that they have generated.
It then discusses the coalition’s apparent rationale for the changes, focusing particularly on resource management reform. Following
this, the article outlines the ecological values and principles that ought to inform environmental policy. It concludes with brief reflections on the longer-term implications of the coalition’s approach to environmental governance and management and the wider global failure to tackle the current ecological crises.

Going with the Grain of the Landscape: rethinking our approach to environmental policy

Simon Upton — 2024-11-25

There are doubts about whether the current approach to regulating the impacts of land use in rural Aotearoa is making a difference. This article starts by outlining four challenges policymakers face when designing policies to protect the environment while balancing social, cultural and economic interests. We then discuss some of the barriers landowners encounter when contemplating land use change to address environmental degradation. Finally, we sketch out an adaptive approach to rethinking how we do environmental policy, including by devolving some decision making to communities, providing better environmental information, being explicit about the costs and trade-offs, and reforming the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.

Property Rights versus Environment? A critique of the coalition government’s approach to the reform of the Resource Management Act

Ben France-Hudson — 2024-11-25

The coalition government in New Zealand intends to repeal the Resource Management Act 1991 and replace it with new legislation ‘based on the enjoyment of private property rights, while ensuring good environmental outcomes’. This article considers the real possibility that the government is intending to place a theory of absolute private property rights at the centre of the new system. It argues that any policy that assumes private property rights should confer absolute rights on owners is a mischaracterisation of those rights and the law of private property. Making policy on a myth of absolute property rights is unlikely to result in good environmental outcomes.

Navigating Murky Waters: characterising capture in environmental regulatory systems

Marie Doole — 2024-11-25

Regulatory capture is the quest by vested interests to exercise excessive influence on one or more aspects of a regulatory system. While conceptually simple, it is difficult to define and thus hard to diagnose and mitigate. In the environmental arena, sound regulation is at risk from, among other things, amorphous and contested conceptualisations of the ‘public interest’, politically salient asymmetries and scant institutional recognition of the breadth and depth of capture impacts. This article examines some indicative scenarios to illustrate potential impacts of capture and characterise motivations, conditions and outcomes that enable capture. We propose a wide-boundary definition which frames capture as a risk present throughout a regulatory system and delineates several potential types of capture and their characteristics.

Legislating for Gene Technologies: a Māori view of the hazardous substances and new organisms act

Sara Belcher — 2024-11-25

In Aotearoa New Zealand, gene technology is currently governed by the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996. Recent Tiriti-led research has resulted in nationwide collaborations with mana whenua towards the culturally inclusive development of gene technology for invasive species management. This article reviews the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act’s fitness for purpose from a Māori and Tiriti perspective. We make recommendations for future legislative review, including that regulation and policy ‘give effect to’ te Tiriti/the Treaty, that whakapapa and mauri considerations are accounted for in gene technology regulation, and that cultural impact assessments are based on whakapapa and mauri.

Drawing upon Covid-19 lessons to equip Aotearoa New Zealand to take bolder climate action

Heather Peacocke — 2024-11-25

This article highlights challenges in public discourse on climate change in Aotearoa New Zealand and explores why framing and narratives matter. Drawing on the country’s Covid-19 experience, it shows how narratives can help unlock climate action (both mitigation and adaptation). It proposes improving climate communications by providing structures to support sense-making and decision making, with more specificity around societal and individual actions. This will give people, businesses and communities more agency to respond to climate change. By fostering narratives that are hopeful, practical and people-centred, and that relate to people’s needs and aspirations, it is possible to build more momentum around climate action.

In the mix: managing policy complexity in climate change mitigation

David Hall — 2024-11-25

The policy mix is an analytical framework for understanding the elements, processes, dimensions and characteristics of complex policy systems. This article applies this framework to Aotearoa New Zealand’s policy mix for climate mitigation, both to understand why we have the policies we have, and also to stimulate ideas about how to improve outcomes. Instead of a comprehensive analysis, the article focuses on the mix of policy instruments, the evaluative principles that guide policy appraisal, the challenge of harmonising multiple principles, and the influence of economic principles on the scope and intent of policy mixes.

A Sea Change is Needed For Adapting to Sea-Level Rise in Aotearoa New Zealand

Tim Naish — 2024-11-25

Sea-level rise is accelerating globally and will continue for centuries under all shared socioeconomic pathways. Although sea-level rise is a global issue, its impacts manifest heterogeneously at the local scale, with some coastal communities and infrastructure considerably more vulnerable than others. Aotearoa New Zealand is poorly prepared to deal with sea-level rise impacts, and some places are already approaching the limits of adaptation, short of relocation. Maladaptive choices threaten Aotearoa’s ongoing ability to adapt going forward. Development of climate-resilient pathways requires an immediate adoption of non-partisan, long-term, systemscale approaches to governance and decision making (from local to national), that integrate effective adaptation and emissions mitigation. This also requires proactive and collective action underpinned by indigenous and actionable knowledge (e.g., NZ SeaRise projections) designed for our unique circumstances. There is still time to put in place sustainable, equitable and effective solutions, but funding and governance models need urgent attention.

Supporting justice in Local Government: Climate Response in Aotearoa New Zealand

Gradon Diprose — 2024-11-25

While climate justice concerns are increasingly incorporated into policy at international scales, there is less research on climate justice and policy at local scales. Recognising how structural inequalities intersect with climate change influences how rights, responsibilities, distribution of resources and procedures for adaptation are understood and implemented. We describe how some local governments in Aotearoa New Zealand are using recognition practices to improve their understanding of the impacts of climate change, and re-allocating resourcing so mana whenua and communities are better able to participate in climate adaptation procedures. We suggest national policy and legislative changes that could support local governments’ climate justice recognition practices.

Enhancing Climate Decision Making

Sara Walton — 2024-11-25

This article investigates the early implementation of the Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards, the world’s first mandatory climate-related disclosure regime, and its influence on New Zealand business practices. Through interviews with 20 organisations, the study explores challenges and opportunities associated with the new disclosure requirements. Findings range from viewing disclosures as compliance to recognising the strategic value. Key needs include enhanced policy support, data access and capacity building to ensure disclosures contribute meaningfully to New Zealand’s climate goals. The insights provide a foundation for refining the Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards and offer broader lessons for the global adoption of climate risk disclosure standards.

A Just Transition for Aotearoa New Zealand’s Dairy Sector

Milena Bojovic — 2024-11-25

Aotearoa New Zealand has a strong history, culture and political economy of dairy agriculture, all of which are deeply interconnected in the global production and trade of dairy. However, changes in the environment, markets and regulations, and the development of alternative proteins, are disrupting traditional pastoral practices, leading to uncertain food futures. This article draws on insights gleaned over a three-year doctoral project investigating just and sustainable transitions for the nation’s dairy sector. The article puts forward three key considerations to shape future policy design principles and guidelines for more just and sustainable dairy futures: navigating intensification pressures; supporting the development of alternative proteins; and supporting farmer agency in the transition process.

The Missing Ingredient in New Zealand’s climate policy: food

Paula Feehan — 2024-11-25

The food system is a major producer of greenhouse gas emissions. There is a growing consensus that to achieve net zero we need to change production and consumption patterns. Mitigation policies that rely on improving production methods used to farm animals, rather than reducing the number of animals farmed, will likely, for multiple reasons, have only a limited overall impact. Policies that fail to address consumption miss opportunities for reducing emissions, as well as a range of other co-benefits. This article proposes that the representation of agriculture and its impact on climate needs to change. There is a compelling case for the food system to be included in climate policy as a coherent whole.

Too Many Cows? An exploration of relationships between livestock density and river water quality in Aotearoa New Zealand

Emily Carr — 2024-11-25

Intensive cattle farming is a major driver of freshwater pollution in Aotearoa New Zealand, yet research on the link between cattle intensity and river water quality is limited. This exploratory study investigated relationships between livestock intensity and freshwater indicators – nitrates and macroinvertebrates. We found that higher dairy stocking rates and total cattle numbers are linked to increased nitrate pollution at regional and district levels, with no significant correlations for beef cattle or MCI (macroinvertebrate community index) scores. Our findings underscore an urgent need for further research, particularly at the catchment level, to inform farm management plans and freshwater policy.