National Policy Statement for Natural Hazards 2025.

The National Policy Statement for Natural Hazards 2025 (NPS-NH), issued under the Resource Management Act 1991, establishes a nationwide framework for managing risks from natural hazards such as flooding, landslips, coastal erosion and inundation, active faults, liquefaction, and tsunami in relation to subdivision, land use, and development. Applying across all environments and zones—except infrastructure and primary production as defined by legislation—it requires decision-makers to adopt a risk-based and proportionate approach using a mandatory risk matrix to classify hazard risk as low, medium, high, or very high. The policy directs authorities to avoid development in areas of very high risk, avoid or proportionately mitigate medium and high risks, and prevent actions that increase significant risk elsewhere, while relying on the best available information even where uncertainty exists. It also requires consideration of climate change impacts over at least a 100-year timeframe and emphasizes proportionate, cost-effective mitigation measures that account for residual risk.