Bret Birdsong, a Trial Attorney with the Environment and
Natural Resources Division of the US Department of Justice, Washington
D.C., was based in the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the
Environment studying the role of the New Zealand Environment Court in
the development of the law of sustainability under the Resource Management
Act.
"During my Ian Axford Fellowship, I studied the role of New Zealand's
Environment Court in the development of the law of sustainability under
the Resource Management Act (RMA) while placed at the Office of Parliamentary
Commissioner for the Environment. Focusing on three substantive legal
areas - the meaning of sustainability, the practice of effects-based
management, and the promotion of public participation in environmental
decisionmaking - my report offered thoughts on the unique position
of the Environment Court as a specialized tribunal with powers of de novo
review of local government decisions.
As part of my research, I traveled the country widely, talking with resource
management practitioners, lawyers, academics, and Environment Court judges
about the functions and decisions of the court. Before returning home,
I presented my report to the Ministry for the Environment, which was conducting
a comprehensive review of the RMA and several other organizations.
In the United States, I presented my report to the Environmental Law
Institute and facilitated meetings between the New Zealand Parliamentary
Commissioner for the Environment and the U.S. Assistant Attorney General
for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. I also expect to publish
an article on the Environment Court in an American law journal, focusing
on lessons the US courts can draw from New Zealand's system of reviewing
environmental decisions.
Overall, my experience as an Ian Axford Fellow has immeasurably broadened
my horizons and enabled me to see things that were previously obscured."
