The export of fresh water from Deep Cove, Fiordland

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the use of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the management of preservation, conservation and use of resources in a national park.

This study uses a comparative approach for analysing EIA procedures and administrative arrangements of two different proposals to export water from Deep Cove, one in 1984 prior to the government restructuring and the enactment of the Resource Management Act 1991, and the other in 1994. These processes are analysed to discover the extent to which they enhance rational decision making by providing information and incorporate people's values into the decision making process.

In conclusion this study finds evidence to suggest that EIA of site-specific development in a national park does not allow for cumulative learning through the establishment of an information base. In respect to the incorporation of values, EIA does give legitimation to the input of values into the decision making process, but it is not an appropriate method for incorporating those values.