Abstract
This chapter is included in New Zealand’s leading environmental law textbook. It describes and analyses New Zealand environmental law about the protection and conservation of species and ecosystems, and discusses some issues that have arisen in the interpretation and application of that law. It covers relevant parts of more that 20 New Zealand Acts, including the Resource Management, Conservation, Wildlife, Native Plants Protection, Marine Mammals Protection, Reserves, National Parks, Marine Reserves, Trade in Endangered Species, Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects), Forests, Fisheries, Hazardous Substances and New Organisms, and Biosecurity Acts. The author discusses the limitations of the law’s area- and species-based approaches, and criticises the discretionary and limited nature of legal protection and conservation ultimately accorded to ecosystems and species in New Zealand.