New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2010.

The New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS) is a national policy statement under the Resource Management Act 1991. The purpose of the NZCPS is to state policies in order to achieve the purpose of the Act in relation to the coastal environment of New Zealand. The coastal environment has characteristics, qualities and uses that mean there are particular challenges in promoting sustainable management: the coastal environment varies in nature and extent around the country; coastal environment contains established infrastructure, such as ports, airports, railways, roads and submarine cables; natural and physical resources important to the economic and social wellbeing of the nation and communities; the natural and recreational attributes of the coast and its attraction as a place to live and visit combine with a growing pressure on coastal space and other resources; activities inland can have a major impact on coastal water quality; activities in the coastal environment are susceptible to the effects of natural hazards and those associated with climate change; there is continuing and growing demand for coastal space and resources for commercial activities as diverse as aquaculture and sand mining; and the coast has particular importance to tangata whenua, including as kaitiaki.
The Policy has the following objectives. Objective 1: To safeguard the integrity, form, functioning and resilience of the coastal environment and sustain its ecosystems, including marine and intertidal areas, estuaries, dunes and land, by: maintaining or enhancing natural biological and physical processes in the coastal environment and recognising their dynamic, complex and interdependent nature; protecting representative or significant natural ecosystems and sites of biological importance and maintaining the diversity of New Zealand’s indigenous coastal flora and fauna; and maintaining coastal water quality, and enhancing it where it has deteriorated from what would otherwise be its natural condition, with significant adverse effects on ecology and habitat, because of discharges associated with human activity. Objective 2: To preserve the natural character of the coastal environment and protect natural features and landscape values through: recognising the characteristics and qualities that contribute to natural character, natural features and landscape values and their location and distribution; identifying those areas where various forms of subdivision, use, and development would be inappropriate and protecting them from such activities; and encouraging restoration of the coastal environment. Objective 3: To take account of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, recognise the role of tangata whenua as kaitiaki and provide for tangata whenua involvement in management of the coastal environment.
Objective 4: To maintain and enhance the public open space qualities and recreation opportunities of the coastal environment by: recognising that the coastal marine area is an extensive area of public space for the public to use and enjoy; maintaining and enhancing public walking access to and along the coastal marine area without charge, and where there are exceptional reasons that mean this is not practicable providing alternative linking access close to the coastal marine area; and recognising the potential for coastal processes, including those likely to be affected by climate change, to restrict access to the coastal environment and the need to ensure that public access is maintained even when the coastal marine area advances inland.
Objective 5: To ensure that coastal hazard risks taking account of climate change, are managed by: locating new development away from areas prone to such risks; considering responses, including managed retreat, for existing development in this situation; and protecting or restoring natural defences to coastal hazards. Objective 6: To enable people and communities to provide for their social, economic, and cultural wellbeing and their health and safety, through subdivision, use, and development. Objective 7: To ensure that management of the coastal environment recognises and provides for New Zealand’s international obligations regarding the coastal environment, including the coastal marine area.