A guide to implementing the effects management hierarchy in the Natural Resources Plan.

In 2020 the Government gazetted a replacement National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) and new National Environmental Standards for Freshwater (NES-FW) which aim to stop further degradation of our freshwater resources and restore our rivers, lakes and wetlands to a healthy state within a generation.

Alongside the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2010 (NZCPS), the NPS-FM and NES-FW provide strong national direction to protect and restore aquatic ecosystem health and indigenous biodiversity in freshwater and marine habitats.

The Natural Resources Plan for the Wellington Region 2022 (the NRP) sets out the objectives, policies, rules and other methods to be applied by people and organisations that use the region’s natural resources to achieve the purpose of the Resource Management Act 1991 and the outcomes sought through national policy directions.

Two key objectives of the NRP are objectives O25 and O35. Objective O25 aims to safeguard biodiversity, aquatic ecosystem health and mahinga kai in freshwater bodies and the coastal marine area. Objective O35 aims to protect ecosystems and habitats with significant indigenous biodiversity values from the adverse effects of use and development and, where appropriate, restore them to a healthy functioning state.