Hon Andrew Hoggard
Associate Minister for the Environment

The three-year suspension of identification of new significant natural areas (SNAs) has passed its third reading.

“We’ve made this change via the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Act because we’ve heard concerns from some stakeholders that the approach to identifying new SNAs was too broad, capturing areas with less significant native biodiversity and overly restricting land use,”Associate Minister for the Environment Andrew Hoggard says.

Councils had to identify new SNAs and include them in district plans as part of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity.

“The suspension of this requirement allows time for a review of SNAs that will consider how they should be identified, assessed and managed.”

Some SNA implementation timeframes have also been extended to 31 December 2030 under the new legislation.

As part of the review of SNAs, Ministry for the Environment officials met with selected groups and individuals with technical knowledge including ecologists, local government officials, Māori, landowners and others.

Policy options have been prepared and will be sent to Ministers in due course.

Consultation on proposed changes to the NPSIB following the review will take place early next year.

“We want to work collaboratively with landowners to make sure that the most unique and special environments are sensibly protected, without putting undue restrictions on land use change.”

Notes:

Under the NPSIB, an area qualifies as an SNA if it meets any one of the attributes of the following four criteria: (a) representativeness; (b) diversity and pattern; (c) rarity and distinctiveness and (d) ecological context and once the council has followed processes for consultation and engagement with landowners.

National direction supports local decision-making under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). It includes national policy statements, national environmental standards, national planning standards and section 360 regulations.

In May, the Government introduced a Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill which proposed, amongst other matters, to suspend for three years NPSIB requirements for councils to identify new SNAs and include them in district plans. This Bill today passed its third reading.

The obligation to protect indigenous biodiversity under the Resource Management Act is unaffected by the suspension. Other NPSIB provisions including the management of existing SNAs continue to apply.

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