Most legal practitioners need some working knowledge of the Resource Management Act (RMA) and as a result RMA has become a major subject within Law Faculties. However, it is a complex and dense subject and students often struggle, particularly as most RMA courses are condensed into a single semester. FOCUS ON RESOURCE MANAGEMENT LAW provides a straightforward introduction to resource management law. It explains the main statutory provisions; includes summaries of the leading cases, suggestions for further reading and prepares students for exams by including practice exam questions and answers. Features: A ' new' type of student law textbook for New Zealand. The text is in simple language, with case summaries alongside the moment the case is mentioned allowing the user/student a better understanding of context and why the case has been mentioned.

A treatise on the Resource Management Act 1991 in 14 chapters by 12 authors. The chapters are: introduction to environmental law; Resource Management Act 1991; land use and subdivision; forests, trees and native plants; mining; water law; marine pollution; air pollution; pesticides and other hazardous substances; noise; environmental assessment; environmental litigation and dispute resolution; and statutory remedies.

Constitutions and the Commons looks at a critical but little examined issue of the degree to which the federal constitution of a nation contributes toward or limits the ability of the national government to manage its domestic natural resources. Furthermore it considers how far the constitution facilitates the binding of constituent states, provinces or subnational units to honor the conditions of international environmental treaties. While the main focus is on the US, there is also detailed coverage of other nations such as Australia, Brazil, India, and Russia. After introducing the role of constitutions in establishing the legal framework for environmental management in federal systems, the author presents a continuum of constitutionally driven natural resource management scenarios, from local to national, and then to global governance. These sections describe how subnational governance in federal systems may take on the characteristics of a commons – with all the attendant tragedies – in the absence of sufficient national constitutional authority. In turn, sufficient national constitutional authority over natural resources also allows these nations to more effectively engage in efforts to manage the global commons, as these nations would be unconstrained by subnational units of government during international negotiations. It is thus shown that national governments in federal systems are at the center of a constitutional 'nested governance commons,' with lower levels of government potentially acting as rational herders on the national commons and national governments potentially acting as rational herders on the global commons. National governments in federal systems are therefore crucial to establishing sustainable management of resources across scales. The book concludes by discussing how federal systems without sufficient national constitutional authority over resources may be strengthened by adopting the approach of federal constitutions that facilitate more robust national level inputs into natural resources management, facilitating national minimum standards as a form of "Fail-safe Federalism" that subnational governments may supplement with discretion to preserve important values of federalism.

Renowned cultural resource management consultant Thomas F. King demystifies this web of regulations surrounding this field, providing frank, practical advice on how to ensure regulatory compliance in dealing with archaeological sites, historic buildings, urban districts, sacred sites and objects, shipwrecks, and archives. In this new edition, King reports on changes in cultural resource laws, regulations, and executive orders in the past five years and adds material on Section 106 review, NEPA, and the 'Preserve America' executive order.

"As Secretary of the Interior, implementing the Endangered Species Act was one of my most important, and challenging, responsibilities. All who deal with this complex and critical law need a clear and comprehensive guide to its provisions, interpretation, and implementation. With chapters written by some of the foremost practitioners in the field, the new edition of Endangered Species Act: Law, Policy, and Perspectives is an essential reference for conservationists and the regulated community and the attorneys who represent them."---Bruce Babbbitt, former Secretary of the Interior --

The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that wetlands be protected from degradation because of their important ecological functions including maintenance of high water quality and provision of fish and wildlife habitat. However, this protection generally does not encompass riparian areasâ€"the lands bordering rivers and lakesâ€"even though they often provide the same functions as wetlands. Growing recognition of the similarities in wetland and riparian area functioning and the differences in their legal protection led the NRC in 1999 to undertake a study of riparian areas, which has culminated in Riparian Areas: Functioning and Strategies for Management. The report is intended to heighten awareness of riparian areas commensurate with their ecological and societal values. The primary conclusion is that, because riparian areas perform a disproportionate number of biological and physical functions on a unit area basis, restoration of riparian functions along America's waterbodies should be a national goal.