A model for integrated coastal management legislation: A principled analysis of New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991

Abstract

In this article we set out the key components of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) legislation and show how the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) implements ICM in New Zealand. We briefly discuss why ICM is needed and the definition of ICM. We then identify the key tools for delivering ICM, and outline three general components that we consider need to be provided for in any successful legislative framework for ICM, namely: policy goals, legislative provision and decision-making bodies. Next we discuss five specific kinds of tools that we consider an ICM legal framework should make provision for in order to give effect to ICM in decision making. We finish by acknowledging that the ability of ICM to successfully manage intensive use and conflict is not without criticism, and briefly considering these criticisms in light of New Zealand’s experience with the RMA.