A Common Direction for Water
Management in New Zealand

Water provides great opportunities for all of us – for our ecologies and environments, our farms and our cities, for recreation and for tourists, as well as for energy production and industry. It is a source of life and food, and it is a central part of our identity, particularly for iwi. Water thus has multiple uses and sustains multiple values, which sometimes complement each other, and sometimes conflict.

To maximise these opportunities for now as well as for future generations, and to protect and enhance our unique heritage, we need a better way to manage water in New Zealand – less confrontational, more collaborative, and more effective.

The Land and Water Forum brings together a range of industry groups, environmental and recreational NGOs, iwi, scientists, and other organisations with a stake in freshwater and land management. The Forum’s members are joined by active observers from local and central government.

The Forum’s objective is to develop a shared vision and a common way forward among all those with an interest in water, through a stakeholder-led collaborative 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 (pdf 1.07MB), which identifies a set of outcomes and goals for freshwater management in New Zealand and recommends a number of policy changes to achieve those.

A second phase started in September 2011 and will last until late 2012. The Forum will agree recommendations on the methods, tools and governance processes required for setting and managing limits on water quality and quantity.

Find out more about the Land and Water Forum’s work