What is the Resource Management Act?

This content is from the Ministry for the Environment website.

The RMA is New Zealand’s main piece of legislation that sets out how we should manage our environment. The RMA is based on the principle of sustainable management which involves considering effects of activities on the environment now and in the future when making resource management decisions.

As well as managing air, soil, fresh water and coastal marine areas, the RMA regulates land use and the provision of infrastructure which are integral components of New Zealand’s planning system.

While the RMA provides an overarching guide on what’s best for our environment, with national direction on significant issues, it allows communities to make decisions on how their own environment is managed through regional and district resource management plans. Decisions on resource consents are made with consideration to these plans, national direction and the objectives in the RMA.

This framework means that most decisions on resource management are made by local government who also have a wider planning role in transport, infrastructure and economic development. The RMA also recognises the Treaty of Waitangi in decision making.