monitoring

1 files changed, 15 insertions, 10 deletions

diff --git a/assignment1/discussion.tex b/assignment1/discussion.tex
index 38fc85a..249766b 100644
--- a/assignment1/discussion.tex
+++ b/assignment1/discussion.tex
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ On the other hand, public participation ... leads to abuse, slow process miller2
 
   
 
-\subsection{Cumulative effects}
+\subsection{Cumulative effects and the devolved mandate}
 
 What sets apart New Zealand's approach to environmental assessment
 from those of other countries is the devolved mandate. The
@@ -110,20 +110,25 @@ not demand an assessment of the cumulative impacts of `Permitted
 Activities'. According to the RMA Survey 2010/2011, a surprisingly
 large percentage of regional councils (91\%) carried out monitoring
 procedures and reported on `Permitted Activities' for the sake of
-assessing cumulative impacts \parencite{rma-survey}. According to the
+assessing cumulative impacts \parencite{rma-survey}.  According to the
 same survey, however, only 68 per cent of those activities that
 required both resource consents and monitoring were monitored by
-regional and territorial councils.
+regional and territorial councils. As a result, it is difficult to
+evaluate the accuracy of the predictions of a considerable number of
+AEE and the effectiveness of local plans and policies.
 
 % This is one of the reasons for the birth of Strategic Environmental Assessment.
 
-- very slow publication of NPS and NES at the national level
-  \textcite{miller2010implementing}
-  - hence: few constraints on local plans, leading to regional differences
-
-- one-off projects that don't improve the knowledge basis or affect
-  the assessment of future projects \parencite{follow-up}
-
+The effectiveness of monitoring to anticipate cumulative effects also
+depends on the institutional framework in which it is performed. For
+local authorities under the RMA, national policy statements and
+national environmental standards are supposed to provide reference
+points for local plans and policies that determine the `intensity' of
+environmental monitoring, yet the Ministry for the Environment has
+been relatively slow in publishing these national
+guidelines \parencite{miller2010implementing}. The relative lack of
+guiding constraints on local plans favours regional differences in the
+implementation of environmental management practices.
 
 
 \subsection{EIA at the policy level}