1E9Ct5D

The Act incorporates a fixed processfor the development of these planninginstruments, with a particular focus onenabling wide rights of consultationand community participation.Resource consentsRegional and District Plans groupactivities into the categories ofpermitted, controlled, restricteddiscretionary, discretionary, noncomplyingand prohibited. Resourceconsents are required for controlled,restricted discretionary, discretionaryand non-complying activities. Resourceconsents cannot be granted forprohibited activities. Each resourceconsent application must include anassessment of effects of the proposalon the environment, the natureand complexity of which will varydepending on the scale of a particularproject. In making decisions onapplications for resource consents,the consent authority tends to focuson an evaluation of the ‘actual andpotential effects’ on the environmentof allowing the activity and whetheror not granting consent would beconsistent with the policy provisions ofany relevant planning instrument.A particular feature of the Act isdevolved decision making, wherebythe New Zealand Government hasconsistently taken the philosophicalapproach that decisions onenvironmental management are bestmade by those directly impacted.In certain circumstances where, forexample, large infrastructure projectsof national significance are proposed,Central Government can interveneand direct that a decision be madeeither via a call-in process, or by theEnvironmental Protection Authority.Over the term of its existence,the Act has undergone a numberof refinements largely aimed atstreamlining the developmentof planning documents and theconsenting process. Despite its flaws,it continues to be a robust piece oflegislation and one that is likely toremain largely unchanged in theforeseeable future.Climate change and the EmissionsTrading SchemeNew Zealand has committed toreducing its green house gas emissionsto 1990 levels under the KyotoProtocol during the first commitmentperiod from 2008 until 2012. TheEmissions Trading Scheme (“ETS”) isNew Zealand’s method for achievingthis. From 2013 onwards there is nointernational agreement on targetsfor reducing emissions althoughthe indication from the current NewZealand Government is that the ETS willcontinue.Participants in the ETS must monitor,report on and account for greenhousegas emissions they produce. Themethod for “accounting” is an obligationto purchase and surrender “units”(NZUs or other Kyoto units purchasedoverseas), in proportion to the levelsof emissions produced (one unit = onetonne of carbon dioxide released intothe atmosphere).The cost of purchasing units is anincentive to the emissions producer toadopt less polluting techniques andtechnologies. These costs can, in largepart, be passed onto consumers.In many cases “participation” in theETS will be mandatory. However, unitscan also be “produced” by engaging inpractices which ‘capture’ carbon25