Environmental education : towards active and informed participation in resource management decision-making : an investigation to determine whether environmental education can and should be used to contribute to public participation under the provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate whether environmental education can and should contribute to public participation under the provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991. To achieve this aim an elaborate research framework is created which is based upon a series of intuition points derived from work experience. This research framework establishes a detailed research process to substantiate these intuition points. The research process is also designed to determine whether environmental education and public participation complement each other and whether New Zealand's resource management legislative context necessitates a particular form of environmental education.

Public participation is defined and this leads to a debate concerning distinctions between public participation and consultation. Opportunities for public participation under the provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991 are outlined and barriers to these opportunities are discussed. Based on this discussion, characteristics of effective public for the New Zealand context are derived.

Definitions, agendas, goals and aims of environmental education are synthesised and the development of environmental education, internationally and in New Zealand, is outlined. Major themes are consolidated to formulate characteristics of environmental education for the contemporary international context.

The characteristics of environmental education and public participation are compared and contrasted to determine whether they can be integrated to contribute to public participation under the provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991. Institutional analysis is used to draw a relationship between values, behaviour and institutions. This relationship is required to determine whether environmental education should contribute to public participation under the provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991. As part of the institutional analysis, New Zealand's development of environmental education is contrasted against its environmental policy development. This is undertaken to determine whether New Zealand's resource management legislative context necessitates a particular form of environmental education.

An integrated, strategic set of recommendations is presented. These draw on a range of existing policy documents and environmental education initiatives. This agenda suggests a series of actions which have the potential to enhance the quality of public participation under the provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991.