Biodiversity Offsetting under the Resource Management Act (New Zealand)

Under New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), activities that harm indigenous biodiversity must first avoid, minimise and remedy their effects on-site; only residual, unavoidable impacts may be addressed through biodiversity offsetting or compensation. In 2014 the New Zealand Government — the Department of Conservation and the Ministry for the Environment — published "Guidance on Good Practice Biodiversity Offsetting in New Zealand" to standardise how consent authorities and applicants design, size and monitor offsets, built around a stated goal of "no net loss" and preferably a net gain of biodiversity.

The guidance applies across varied contexts, including: Waikatea Station (799-hectare podocarp-broadleaf forest offset for 354 hectares of kanuka scrub clearance); Lower Waitaki (wetland creation/enhancement offsetting hydroelectric dam impacts); and Brookby Quarry (112 hectares revegetation plus 190 hectares pest control across four ecosystem types).

A peer-reviewed evaluation found that 35.2% of 245 ecological-compensation conditions across 81 consents were not being achieved (Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 2013). The 'no net loss' principle was reinforced nationally in the 2023 National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity, extending offsetting's role beyond individual RMA consents.