The primary method used to analyze this topic is comparative institutional analysis. This approach will be used to compare the policies of other local governments around the world with Horizons Regional Council (HRC) in New Zealand. By comparing the improved river management techniques of foreign municipalities with local ones in New Zealand, ideas and policies will be generated and proposed to HRC. The adopted table from Michael Mintrom’s book, Contemporary Policy Analysis shows this.[1]
The reason why Mexico is being used as a comparative template is because of the class of policy issues which relate to the issues surrounding the Manawatu River. The polluted Manawatu River will not be cleaned up unless there is consensus amongst regional government, local business and civil society. This was the process that the Mexican state of Colima applied to minimize waste into the Ayuquila, and open up the water source once again to festivity, enjoyment and a place of natural attraction. The policy project has to factor in all these different aspects of society, in order to be effective and sustainable.
HRC has lenient environmental policy due to the economic gains that are associated around the river. Federated Farmers and Fonterra provide significant contributions to the local economy and are therefore able to put political pressure on the local and regional governments to bend according to their goals. In chapter 4 of Contemporary Policy Analysis there are a few key strategies that both central and local governments consider when devising strategies to govern a territory. One of these strategies is sustainability. [2]Sustainability does not just refer to upholding clean environmental conditions but also in regards to economic development. HRC who has active consents with Fonterra and Wanganui District Council to release effluent and sewerage discharge into the Manawatu River is very conscious of this dilemma.[3] On one hand the regional government wants clean and swimmable rivers but yet on the other hand they want to encourage infrastructural development via economic advances.
Social equity is another important factor to consider. The Manawatu River has become unsafe to swim in now and this prevents people around the area enjoying it for recreational purposes. The livelihoods gained by those using the river for wastes have to be weighed up with the costs to everyday ‘Palmerstonians’ who enjoy the river in the summer. This was indicated in 2006 when a group of around 100 protestors marched against HRC for their elaborate grants to regional dischargers. [4]
[1] Michael Mintrom, Contemporary Policy Analysis (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), pg 248.
[2] Michael Mintrom et al., pg 62.
[3] 2Horizons-Regional-Council, “About Resource Consents,”(2010), http://www.horizons.govt.nz/managing-environment/resource-management/consents-2/current-notified-applications/fonterra-co-operative-group-limited-105070/. (accessed October 23, 2010).
[4] One-News, “Hundreds March against River Pollution,” ed. TVNZ (2010).