Widening the scope: strategic environmental assessment - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 364

• be documented in a public statement.
The SEA should
contribute to the development of policies, plans and programs on an equal
basis with economic or social analysis… The environmental
considerations should be full integrated into the analysis of each of the
options developed for consideration, and the decision should incorporate
the results of the [SEA]. (CEAA 1999)
12.3.3 New Zealand
In New Zealand, SEA is seen as a tool for achieving sustainability as part of an integrated
planning and assessment process. The basis of SEA in New Zealand is the Resource
Management Act (RMA) of 1991, which reworked over 70 statutes, regulations, laws and
guidance to promote a sustainable process of development.
(1) The purpose of [the RMA] is to promote the sustainable management of natural and
physical resources.
(2) In this act “sustainable management” means managing the use, development and
protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, which enables
people and communities to provide for their social, economic and cultural well-being
and for their health and safety while—
(a) Sustaining the potential of natural and physical resources (excluding minerals) to
meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations; and
(b) Safeguarding the life-supporting capacity of air, water, soil and ecosystems; and
(c) Avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse effects of activities on the
environment. (MftE 1991, Section 5)
To help achieve this purpose, the Act requires all policies, rules, etc. to undergo an
environmental assessment, and for the policy-makers to be “satisfied that any such [PPP]
(i) Is necessary in achieving the purpose of [the] Act; and (ii) Is the most appropriate
means of exercising this function” (MftE 1991, Article 32(c)).
Guidance on how the RMA should be applied is set out in the MftE's (2000) Guide to
Using Section 32 of the Resource Management Act . This guide was partly written in
response to the limited way in which individual authorities were applying the RMA's
requirements. It clarifies that authorities must:
• have regard to the extent to which the policy/rule/etc. is needed at all, other possible
means apart from the policy/rule/etc., and possible reasons for and against the
proposed method and the principal alternative means;
• evaluate the benefits and costs of the proposed option and of the principal alternative
means;
• satisfy themselves that the proposed means is necessary to achieve the purpose of the
RMA and is the most appropriate in terms of effectiveness and efficiency.