Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity and Society and Water Research Centre Submission for Amendments to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPS-FM) and Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Freshwater) Regulations 2020 (NES-F), 27 July 2025

On 29 May 2025, the Government put out a public call for submissions on their proposed amendments to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 and the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Freshwater) Regulations 2020. These policies form the Ministry for the Environment’s national direction on managing freshwater.We strongly oppose most of the Government’s amendments. Overall, we hold that many of these proposals push for short-term gains for the primary sector at the expense of much greater long-term costs that everyone will have to shoulder – such as ecosystem repair, healthcare, and a declining natural basis for agriculture and industry. The proposals removing the hierarchy of obligations and “rebalancing” Te Mana o te Wai especially neglect the fundamental dependency of all freshwater use on underlying ecosystem healthWe are in favour of policies that help researchers study and anticipate future freshwater risks. As such, we support the Government’s proposal for mapping threats to drinking water, and oppose the removal of other data collection policies.