RRI Green Planning Archives: New Zealand
Environmental Policy Review
(current to 1995)

New Zealand: International Aspects of Environmental Policy

New Zealand is a member of the following organizations:

ANZUS (US suspended security obligations to NZ on 11 August 1986), APEC, AsDB, Australia Group, C, CCC, CP, COCOM (cooperating), EBRD, ESCAP, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS, MTCR, NAM (guest), OECD, PCA, SPARTECA, SPC, SPF, UN, UNAVEM II, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOSOM, UNPROFOR, UNTAC, UNTSO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, and WMO.

Regional Concerns and Cooperation

One of the most critical regional concerns for New Zealand has been nuclear testing in the South Pacific, which both the government and the general population have strongly opposed. In the 1980s New Zealand adopted a policy of refusing to allow nuclear-powered ships to dock in its ports, causing an international controversy. New Zealand is a signatory to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Other important regional concerns include protection of the Antarctic, disposal of waste at sea and other threats to marine life, and driftnet fishing. New Zealand is party to a number of agreements dealing with these issues.

New Zealand's contributions to the global problems of climate change and depletion of the ozone layer are minimal. However, it is likely to suffer disproportionately from the potential effects of these problems because of its proximity to the ozone hole over the Antarctic and because most of the country's inhabited areas are in low-lying coastal zones. It is a signatory to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Montreal Protocol and its amendments.

To meet its obligations under these treaties, New Zealand is in the process of developing policies designed to reduce its net emissions of carbon dioxidee to their 1990 levels by the year 2000. Schedules for phasing out its imports containing CFCs are already in force. Priority is being given to developing timetables for phasing out the importation of HCFCs and methyl bromide, and incorporating them into the Ozone Layer Protection Act of 1990. {Source: Environment 2010 Strategy.}