The Water Resource Management Framework in New Zealand: A Case Study of Moving towards a Less Adversarial Approach

New Zealand appears to be a water rich country; however there are considerable water allocation issues. Mostly these revolve around balancing environmental concerns with economic development. The largest economic sector is agriculture which currently utilizes around 80% of the allocated water and has considerable potential to increase in size. The resource management framework that New Zealand has developed over the past twenty years revolves around local decision-making and sustainable management principles. As the demands for water have grown there has been growing concern that this framework is inadequate to deal with the issues of declining water quantity and quality through agricultural intensification. In Canterbury, the region with the highest water allocation and demand, a new approach is being trialed. The Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) recognizes the need for: ecological restoration for past damage; infrastructure development for increased irrigation; and the need to link infrastructure with more efficient use of water by both existing and new water users. These three elements are recognized as having equal value. The CWMS builds on the local decision-making concept but is deliberately aimed at consensus building in order to remove expensive and adversarial resource management hearings. It is practical enough to recognize that economic development is needed but that it need not proceed in conflict with the environment, but rather can be a means towards environmental improvement.