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The Environmental Effects of New Zealand’s Free-Market Reforms

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Abstract.

This paper explains one way in which New Zealand’s free-market reforms have adversely affected its environment. Liberalisation of New Zealand’s economy has radically changed the determinants of agricultural export success, largely due to the elimination of subsidies to domestic producers, and of tariffs on imports. In this exposed agricultural milieu, the dairy industry has thrived; cow numbers have increased by over 50%, with commensurate increases in herd and farm sizes. With this rapid expansion has come increasing pollution of New Zealand’s waterways. New Zealand’s Resource Management Act 1991 is potentially capable of controlling these adverse effects; however, its implementation was slow and piecemeal throughout the 1990s. So, at the same time as production and pollution from dairy farming expanded, the efficacy of environmental policy was limited. The resulting implementation gap has put at risk the ‘clean and green’ image that is an important component of New Zealand’s agricultural export success.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Melbourne, 3010, Victoria, Australia

    Jon Barnett

  2. Newham Food Access Partnership, Mansfield House, 30 Avenons Road, London, E13 8HT, UK

    Jonathan Pauling

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  1. Jon Barnett
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Correspondence to Jon Barnett.

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Barnett, J., Pauling, J. The Environmental Effects of New Zealand’s Free-Market Reforms. Environ Dev Sustain 7, 271–289 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-005-7316-0

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