Science for Policy: The role of science in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management

This report takes a rare ‘behind the scenes’ look at how environmental policy is developed in Aotearoa New Zealand. The report includes comments from confidential in-depth interviews with policymakers, members of advisory groups, and consultants and scientists involved in the development of the 2020 National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.

The report finds deficiencies in the policy support area, and makes several recommendations for how environmental policy can reflect a strong science evidence base in the future.

The study also identified a wide disjunct between the science funding system and the science needs of policy-makers. A dedicated fund to properly support environmental policy-making would help rectify this, suggests this report. The establishment of a national independent science advisory agency, to work on environmental policy, could also foster a more cohesive evidence-based approach.

This project seeks to increase understanding of the science-policy interface and identify key lessons from the NPS-FM 2020 process to inform future work. The objective is to ensure that environmental policy-making in Aotearoa New Zealand is more strongly evidence-based and therefore more effective in achieving positive outcomes for the country.