The earth is facing a human-induced environmental crisis. Although people have always impacted on the natural environment, sometimes to the point that adverse effects contributed to the collapse of societies, the scale and seriousness of today’s environmental problems is unprecedented, presenting a great challenge to the ways societies manage their environment, from the local to the global level.
The environmental problématique is complex and multi-facetted, encompassing the need to identify and understand environmental processes and problems and their linkages and root causes, the recognition of environmental limits, the development and adoption of management frameworks, policies and institutions for the sustainable use of resources, and the (re-)design and management of the modified environment and technologies with the aim of protecting and enhancing human and ecological well-being. Environmental management raises issues associated with environmental values and ethics, social and cultural beliefs, behaviour and practices, rights and equity, costs and interests, power and conflict, security and uncertainty. Increasingly, the interconnected and systemic nature of environmental problems is recognised, necessitating a comprehensive and integrated approach if they are to be addressed and resolved effectively, at all levels.
The Department of Environmental Management promotes the advancement of knowledge, through teaching and research, that will allow the sustainable management of the natural and human environment. Central to this is a commitment to a multi-, trans- and interdisciplinary approaches, based on a wide range of staff expertise, which includes environmental policy, politics and planning, environmental economics, environmental science, biological systems, integrated environmental management, integrated systems modelling, neural networks and advanced computational methods, natural resources engineering, and geographic information systems. Such approaches are applied, in teaching and research, to all kinds of natural resources and environmental issues, including land, water, energy, transport, urban and rural development, nature conservation and pest management, river management, pollution control and waste management.
The Department has collaborative links with a wide range of environmental organisations, resource users, consultancies, regional and territorial authorities, industries, and research institutes. Departmental staff are involved in a broad range of professional and research bodies, including the Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand, the New Zealand Planning Institute, the NZ Association for Resource Management, the Centre for Land, Environment and People, the Isaac Centre for Nature Conservation, and the Centre for Advanced Computational Solutions.