ELI has submitted comprehensive feedback for the government on the Natural Built and Environment Bill (NBEB) and the Spatial Planning Bill (SPB), both of which are set to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA). The RMA is one of NZ’s most important pieces of legislation – governing what can be built, when, where and how.

MPI recently sought feedback on its guidelines for “identifying habitats of particular significance” for fisheries management. Facing mounting pressure to address the declining health of coastal environments, MPI has claimed that this initiative is one of several to move Aotearoa New Zealand towards ecosystem-based management (EBM) of its fisheries.

ELI welcomes this end-goal, having made our views on the importance of EBM in Aotearoa’s fisheries known, both in court and in our public policy submissions. But we’re equally concerned that these proposals in their current form are unlikely to get us there. Here’s why.

NZ Parliament recently collected feedback on The Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment Bill, which seeks to clarify that company directors can consider a range of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters when making decisions for their company. Read our submission on the Bill here.

Recently, the New Zealand government made changes to the 2020 Freshwater Package after collecting input from the public. The 2020 Freshwater Package was supposed to provide increased protections for wetlands, in line with the government's policy goal of "no further wetland loss." However, following a lengthy consultation process, the government has proceeded with significant changes against recommendations of eNGOs and other concerned groups. Here, we break down what the new policy means and why it is significant.

ELI is pleased to announce the success of our first major litigation. The case, “CRA1”, is a judicial review by ELI and Te Uri o Hikihiki hapū, challenging the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Total Allowable Catch (TAC) decision for the Northland Rock Lobster stock in 2021 and 2022. The High Court today released its decision, finding that the 2021 and 2022 total allowable catch decisions for rock lobster in Northland were unlawful, and that the Minister must consider wider ecosystem when setting catch limits for fishing.

ELI has requested that the Department of Conservation (DOC) immediately cancel a permit it has issued, which authorises NZTA to kill native species during the building of the Mt Messenger Bypass. DOC's permit (91389-FAU) authorises NZTA to kill 46 species, including north island brown kiwi, short-tailed and long-tailed bats and Archey's frog. Read our full letter to DOC here.

New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is home to at least 113 species of shark, more than 70 of which have been recorded in NZ’s fisheries. Sharks play an important role in maintaining healthy marine ecosystems, but face a litany of significant threats, most of which are human induced. Read our submission to FNZ and DOC on their Draft National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks 2022.

Our submission to the Ministry for the Environment on their proposed changes to provisions for wetlands in the coastal marine area (CMA).

The Environmental Protection Authority report into the use of glyphosate is open to criticism for presenting scientific information on a par with the opinions of industry. With growing evidence of its negative environmental effects, a reassessment should get the go-ahead

Our submission to Ministry for Environment on the 2022 Exposure drafts of the NPS-FM and NES-F: “Managing our Wetlands” and Technical Amendments.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) is in the process of making targeted amendments to several pieces of conservation legislation, particularly the Conservation Act 1987, the National Parks Act 1980, and the Reserves Act 1977.

In ELI’s view, however, these reforms misdiagnose problems, and overlook the core issues hampering DOC from effectively doing its job. Read our full submission here.

Read our full submission on the Fisheries Amendment Bill, and why the proposed changes are unlikely to fulfil the Govt’s stated intentions for our Oceans and Fisheries.

Read our analysis in The Conversation on Aotearoa’s biodiversity crisis, and why we must strengthen our plan for addressing it.

ELI is pleased to announce that their recommendations have been heard in the EPA’s reassessment of diazinon, fenamiphos and methamidophos. These chemicals are known as organophosphates (OPs), which are the main component of herbicides, pesticides and incecticides widely used across New Zealand.

Read our submission on MfE’s consultation to improve environmental reporting.

ELI is concerned at proposals to invoke a special procedure to review the status of public Stewardship Land. As presently set up, the Government’s proposed measures for carrying out this review suffer from a number of shortcomings which could see large swathes of precious public land disposed of to mining interests. Read our full submission to DOC here.

Two resource consent applications have been lodged to Auckland Council by private company McCallum Bros to continue sand mining in-shore and mid-shore around the Pakiri beach area. If successful, these developments are likely to have negative effects on a number of indigenous species, habitats and taxa, including the New Zealand Fairy Tern (the rarest endemic bird species in Aotearoa). In ELI’s view, because of lack of available evidence on the ecological effects of the development, Auckland Council is obligated to apply a precautionary approach and decline the application, or pause it until further information is available.

Aotearoa is suffering a serious marine biodiversity crisis. Considering this, it is surprising that Fisheries NZ does not mention the word biodiversity once in its plan to implement camera technologies on its inshore commercial fishing fleet. In ELI’s view, the proposal lacks the urgency and context of the crisis the rollout is designed to address. Read our submission to FNZ here.

Our submission to MfE on why we must prioritise the restoration and conservation of wetlands and peatlands into our emissions reductions approach.

With an EEZ that occupies a relatively generous share of the world’s oceans, New Zealand lags behind other countries in its adoption of international standards and norms. This consultation provides the perfect opportunity for New Zealand to do a stock take against international developments in fishing over the past 25 years, redress the current inadequacies in the Fisheries Act (we have suggested two), and fully implement the international obligations we have signed up to on the world stage.