Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2002

During 2001/2002 our studies built very strongly on work of the previous two years and in particular focussed on progress with advancement of environmental sustainability. My major study was a review of New Zealand's progress on sustainable development since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. Other investigations examining elements of sustainability included the role of native plants on private lands, the management of wetlands in the Tasman District Council region, an exploration of a Treaty based environmental audit framework and urban sustainability via a study tour to Curitiba, a Brazilian city that has earned global recognition for its sustainable development thinking and action.

This year's work has highlighted that while New Zealand has many of the building blocks to be sustainable, 10 years after implementing the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and signing up to Agenda 21, we are still struggling to think, design and turn sustainable development into a reality at national level.

This year I have included a preliminary triple bottom line report. It focuses of the Office's major resource flows and documents the Office's carbon footprint, electricity consumption, travel modes and paper consumption. Use of our web site is also detailed showing 75,000 downloads of reports, speeches and presentations.