Select Committee Report On Resource Management Guts Environmental Protections

Select Committee Report On Resource Management Guts Environmental ProtectionsTuesday 21 July 2026Forest & Bird says the Environment Committee report on the biggest overhaul of resource management law in Aotearoa New Zealand in a generation is bad news for nature. The Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill are set to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA) and have been undergoing the select committee process since the end of 2025. The recommendations from the select committee report strip out the few protections included in the draft bills," says Acting General Counsel May Downing. The Committee has recommended a range of changes to the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill, many amounting to a serious erosion of protections for nature. Extraordinarily, the phrase “within environmental limits” has been cut from the Natural Environment Bill’s goal for enabling use and development.