Around the introduction of Agenda 21 at Rio in 1991, some countries like the Netherlands and New Zealand were already leading the way with quite innovative approaches to environmental planning. Focusing on the New Zealand government's innovations in sustainable and environmental planning, particularly the Resource Management Act of 1991, this book highlights planning and governance under devolved and co-operative mandates. It uses multiple methods to evaluate the quality of policy statements and district plans prepared by regional and local councils respectively, as well as the various inter- and intra-organizational and institutional factors affecting them. It also analyses the quality of the plans' implementation through the consensus or permits process, and the quality of the environmental outcomes.

"Thirty-four papers from the Open Ocean Aquaculture IV symposium are compiled here. Theme sessions included: (1) Marine Policy and Social/Economic​s: policy and regulatory challenges to open ocean aquaculture development, and the social and economic benefits/impact​s; (2) Ocean Engineering: cage designs, shellfish grow-out platforms, feeding systems, mooring options, and other logistical issues; (3) Ocean Environmental: research and monitoring of open ocean aquaculture's environmental impacts; (4) Candidate Species and Logistics/Opera​tions: advancements in the culture of candidate marine species, and the mitigation of logistics of operating an open ocean aquaculture enterprise"--National Sea Grant Library publication website.