Community-Based Environmental Management: Whaingaroa (Raglan) Harbour and Water Catchment

The common failure of regulatory approaches to yield effective environmental management has led to numerous experiments using multistakeholder approaches. These bring together local inhabitants, managers and resource users to develop comprehensive environmental management plans for entire ecosystems. On the west coast of North Island (NZ) the Whaingaroa (Raglan) Harbour is the focus of an inclusive, ecosystem scale project aimed at developing a community-based environmental management strategy for a whole catchment basin. Using a combined 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' process, inhabitants of the catchment have been induced to create a representative steering group to identify issues, establish priorities, and develop plans for future action. Because of their status as Tangata Whenua, Maori participation has been a particular concern. Support to the community is provided through collaborative efforts of central and local government agencies, crown research institutes and a university. The project is also a test of the potential for devolution of decision-making to the community level, as provided in the Resource Management Act (1991).