Creating a Framework for Sustainability in California: Lessons Learned from the New Zealand Experience

This report assesses key principles and strategies that can inform policy in California. These principles include integrated management of environmental media, decentralization, public participation, flexibility, and accountability. This report also evaluates the process by which the New Zealand Resource Management Act (RMA) was established and implemented, and makes specific recommendations for how certain elements of the RMA could be considered in California’s pursuit of more effective and efficient environmental policies.