The legal system as a mechanism for making environmental policy comprehensive and ecologically rational

Abstract

This study considers the strengths and weaknesses of the legal system as a mechanism for making environmental policy more comprehensive and ecologically rational. The approach taken is to examine the way in which ideologies about the law influence its usefulness as a policy tool. It was found that the traditional view of the law acts as a barrier to legal involvement in policy making because it adopts a narrow view of justiciability. The private property ideology acts as a barrier because its primary focus is private property interests. The public interest ideology acts as a barrier because of its simultaneous focus on the conflicting interests of resource exploitation and resource conservation. The public participation ideology was found to be the most useful ideology. The Resource Management Act is analysed as an attempt by Parliament to direct the courts to give greater recognition to the public participation ideology. I conclude that this law reform is likely to prove beneficial in terms of using the legal system to make environmental policy more comprehensive and ecologically rational.