About Us

Who participates in the Land and Water Forum?

The Land and Water Forum brings together a range of industry groups, electricity generators, environmental and recreational NGOs, iwi, scientists, and other organisations with a stake in freshwater and land management. They are joined by central and local government observers in developing a common direction for freshwater management in New Zealand and provide advice to the Government.

The Land and Water Forum is the trading name for the Land and Water Trust. A Small Group, with representatives from 21 organisations, meets on a monthly basis and reports to the Plenary, which has a membership of 62 organisations. The Small Group is joined by active observers from local and central government. The Land and Water Forum members are assisted in their work by a Secretariat.

The Forum’s Process

The first phase of the Forum’s work lasted from August 2009 to August 2010 and resulted in the report A Fresh Start for Freshwater, which identifies a set of outcomes and goals for freshwater management and recommends a number of policy changes to achieve those. Public meetings to discuss the Forum’s Report were held around the country at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011.

The government issued a response to the Forum’s recommendations in September 2011, and asked that it carries on its consensus-building work and come up with recommendations on the methods, tools and governance processes required for setting and managing limits on water quality and quantity.

The Land and Water Forum will report to Government in the course of 2012, first on a general framework for setting limits, including the governance arrangements which would ensure the successful involvement of all stakeholders and in particular of iwi, and second on the methods and strategies required to achieve and manage those limits, through better land use management and improved allocation mechanisms.