Biodiversity offsets under the Resource Management Act 1991: A New Environmental Bottom-Line?

Biodiversity offsets, a form of environmental compensation, are increasingly being offered by developers and taken into account as part of the process for determining planning permissions in New Zealand. This paper outlines the concept of biodiversity offsets and, with reference to a case study, the role it currently plays under New Zealand's primary planning legislation – the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The paper argues that while the current approach to offsets under the RMA is sub-optimal, recent developments of the law pertaining to national policy statements provide an opportunity to use biodiversity offsets as part of implementing an environmental bottom line for biodiversity and ecosystem function loss.