Going with the Grain of the Landscape: rethinking our approach to environmental policy

There are doubts about whether the current approach to regulating the impacts of land use in rural Aotearoa is making a difference. This article starts by outlining four challenges policymakers face when designing policies to protect the environment while balancing social, cultural and economic interests. We then discuss some of the barriers landowners encounter when contemplating land use change to address environmental degradation. Finally, we sketch out an adaptive approach to rethinking how we do environmental policy, including by devolving some decision making to communities, providing better environmental information, being explicit about the costs and trade-offs, and reforming the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.