National Direction for Natural Hazards

Being scoped
This regulation is not finalised or in effect.

The Government is considering national direction on managing natural hazard risk as part of its phased approach to the reform of the resource management system.  

Official title

National Direction for Natural Hazards

Would be under the

Resource Management Act 1991

Lead agency

Ministry for the Environment

Development in high-risk areas without appropriate steps to address natural hazards can pose a risk to lives, businesses and homes. This can leave communities, insurers, councils and government facing costs for repairs and recovery.  

The Government is reforming the resource management system in phases. In phase three, the Resource Management Act 1991 will be replaced with two new acts. This new system will set environmental limits to protect natural resources and will provide more certainty around where development can and should be enabled.

See Replacing the Resource Management Act cabinet paper.

In the meantime, the Government is seeking to progress scaled-back national direction on managing natural hazard risk, while the new system is being developed and implemented.

This is part of phase two of the Government’s Resource Management Act reform programme, which also includes changes to other national direction instruments.

See National direction programme - Phase two of resource management reform for more information.

Subject to further Cabinet decisions, the Government will consult on targeted changes to national direction in mid-2025. 

Previous consultation

In 2023, the Ministry for the Environment consulted on a two-phase approach for national direction on natural hazards under the RMA. A National Policy Statement for Natural Hazard Decision-making (NPS-NHD) was proposed as an interim step, with more comprehensive national direction to be developed over time. 

Overall, there was support for the intention of the proposals, but some submitters considered that it would be more workable to make changes once rather than repeatedly.

Read the summary of submissions.