EDS has lodged its final submission on the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill, including detailed tracked-change drafting to address significant weaknesses in the legislation. “This is the most significant and complex environmental law reform in decades. There is no more appetite for constant legislative upheaval, so the framework must...
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga is running the Documenting Our Heritage photo competition for Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Photographers of all skill levels are invited to capture Heritage New Zealand listed places across Auckland. Submissions are open until Friday 13 March. Categories: Best Overall, Best Junior (17 and under), and Popular...
The project is progressing steadily and is currently at the final stage of the Detailed Design phase. Documentation required to support the Building Consent (BC) application is being compiled, with the BC application anticipated to be lodged in February. Resource Consent has been successfully obtained. Soft demolition works and temporary...
Plan Change 113 was officially withdrawn on Friday 12 December 2025. PC113 sought to provide greater protection to trees that had been identified as having significant historical, botanical or amenity values. It proposed adding 174 new individual trees and 29 new groups of trees to the Auckland Unitary Plan’s Notable...
The Environmental Defence Society is pleased to see that the government is no longer pursuing several terrible proposed amendments to the Fast-track Approvals Act. It has released an Amendment Paper to the Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill today which strikes through most of the bad ideas. Independent decision-making Panels still have...
The government has today introduced legislation to parliament to replace the Resource Management Act 1991. There are two Bills – a Natural Environment Bill and a Planning Bill – a split which marks an abrupt end to more than three decades of integrated environmental management under the RMA. Collectively, they...
Recent weeks have seen ecocide law reach the UN Security Council, the Vatican, and the climate COP’s opening ceremony. International law is now evolving to meet the crisis it should have prevented. Ecocide law was raised three times during the UN Security Council’s session on environmental impact of armed conflict and climate-driven security risks,...
We are facing a climate crisis. Yet many people seem to be relatively unconcerned about the risk. Why don’t they do more to prevent the looming outcome? One source of this inaction is our psychology. This talk looked at these psychological factors, such as the way we perceive risk and...
The Environmental Defence Society is urging caution following today’s announcement by Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Resource Management Reform Minister Chris Bishop that local government is in for the biggest shakeup since 1989. The government is seeking feedback on a two-stage proposal for change. The first stage would see...
At COP 30, Cambodia’s Secretary of State, His Excellency Soung Sophorn, announced that his country would participate in this powerful global initiative. He said, “We believe its goals are essential to safeguarding our planet and protecting vulnerable communities. Cambodia stresses that developing countries cannot undertake this transition alone. We require...