The revised New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS) requires councils to map high value areas of the coastal environment and protect them from adverse effects. The Auckland spatial plan is applying a strategic approach to planning for Auckland’s land and coastal marine area, an approach likely to be extended to other metropolitan areas around the country. Burgeoning developments around our lakeshores are proving controversial in both the North and South Islands.

The expansion of oil and gas exploration and undersea mining in our oceans, at a time when there have been unprecedented marine disasters elsewhere, highlights the need for effective environmental controls. Prospective aquaculture growth and the government’s commitment to establish a representative network of marine protected areas by 2012, all reinforce the need to apply spatial planning to our marine areas, as well as underscoring the urgency for more fundamental oceans reform.

Coastlines will examine international experience, the implications of the new NZCPS and the Auckland spatial plan, the application of spatial planning to second generation RMA district, regional and unitary plans, approaches to marine spatial planning, the case for oceans reform, and critically important governance issues.

Go to the EDS website for more info.

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