Effects Management and Offset Design
The effects management hierarchy and design of effects management programmes lies at the heart of the NZ’s environmental legislation.
Projects that have unavoidable impacts on ecological values risk consent decline unless consideration for mitigation or redress is provided. We have worked in this space for many years, and have helped write national guidance on the subject. We regularly provide advice to Hearings and Court cases on these matters. We are sought out by developers, planners, lawyers, and project managers to provide advice on how to manage unavoidable adverse effects (impacts) for projects.
Because we work across sectors and in conjunction with leading planners and lawyers, we bring the latest understanding and experience with effects management to your project.
That understanding can have a profound positive effect on a project; it can identify key risks for a client’s project team before an application is lodged. It can also identify key risk or cost areas if a consent is granted, and which should ideally be part of a risk and cost analysis prior to lodgement.
Our expertise in this field includes:
-
A detailed understanding of the effects management hierarchy and broad experience with its application.
-
In-depth experience with tools used to assess significance, significance of effects and frameworks for interpreting effects. We helped write the national guidance document on ecological impact assessment in New Zealand (EIANZ 2018 2nd edition).
-
Context is everything. We understand the basis for effects management and biodiversity offsetting in New Zealand. We led DOC’s research programme on biodiversity offsetting for 2 years, we were involved in the international BBOP offsetting forum, and have published on the subject in international, peer-reviewed journals as well as NZ legal and planning forums.
-
We are recognised national leaders in understanding, communicating and applying biodiversity offsetting and the effects management framework. We helped write the NZ national guidance on offsetting under the RMA (2108) that underpins the use of biodiversity offsetting and compensation under the RMA.
-
We regularly provide peer review services for clients on complex projects. Sometimes that advice is internal to the client project team – to provide rigour to designs proposed by others; other times that advice is external and forms part of a client’s assurance of due process and quality to Council, Hearings or Court.
-
We work with standard offset models and calculations on a regular basis. We understand these models well and provide a robust defence of the outputs for clients. We have developed bespoke accounting models for some projects and obtained Council support for biodiversity exchanges that are not the norm – but which result in sensible, and beneficial outcomes.