title: Liability for pollution damage from offshore oil spills: The CLC and fund conventions, the EU's Environmental Liability Directive and their implications for New Zealand law

authors: Farnworth, Steven Edward

subjects: Offshore

abstract: This thesis will apply conventional methods of legal analysis to ask how New Zealand’s offshore petroleum liability regime came to be created from a pair of international shipping liability and fund conventions, and explaining how the EU and Member States developed and implemented the Environmental Liability and Offshore Safety Directives. New Zealand’s government has actively encouraged growth in its offshore petroleum sector in the belief that seabed drilling can be carried out safely and profitably at any depth, and that the owners of offshore petroleum installations will pay administrative penalties and damages to compensate for all oil pollution claims. The recent Deepwater Horizon disaster has had global repercussions for operators and regulators, but has sparked little discussion of legal liability issues in the New Zealand context.  
New Zealand’s offshore petroleum liability regime used two international shipping conventions which had created a system of strict and limited liability for oil pollution damage, channelled to the shipowner, and backed up by mandatory insurance and an industry-fed compensation fund. The shipping conventions became the standard model for many regional and international environmental damage liability regimes, because there is no international offshore liability convention, but New Zealand’s offshore petroleum liability regime has diverged from this ideal. New Zealand sought to capture a broad range of owners and operators of offshore installations in a net of strict and unlimited liability, but without providing adequate mandatory insurance regulations or a compensation fund. Meanwhile, the European Union created its own environmental damage liability regime and only later applied it to offshore oil and gas operators, but also without providing harmonized mandatory insurance regulations or an EU-wide compensation fund. Much like New Zealand, EU Member States have struggled to implement consistent and predictable environmental liability laws, or to develop appropriate financial security guarantees.  
Analysing New Zealand’s offshore petroleum liability regime in this context accomplishes two overall objectives. First, a detailed examination of the international shipping conventions will provide guidance about how New Zealand should interpret, quantify and allocate liability for the key elements of pollution damage liability. Second, the comparison of New Zealand and the EU Member States’ experiences demonstrates the difficulties that nations face in adopting disparate over-arching international or supranational legal frameworks to create domestic statutory liability systems. The discussion has profound implications, not just for the specifics of any one country’s liability laws, but also for future attempts to create a practical and durable regional or international offshore petroleum liability and fund convention.

text: Liability for pollution damage from offshore oil spills: The CLC and fund conventions, the EU's Environmental Liability Directive and their implications for New Zealand law This thesis will apply conventional methods of legal analysis to ask how New Zealand’s offshore petroleum liability regime came to be created from a pair of international shipping liability and fund conventions, and explaining how the EU and Member States developed and implemented the Environmental Liability and Offshore Safety Directives. New Zealand’s government has actively encouraged growth in its offshore petroleum sector in the belief that seabed drilling can be carried out safely and profitably at any depth, and that the owners of offshore petroleum installations will pay administrative penalties and damages to compensate for all oil pollution claims. The recent Deepwater Horizon disaster has had global repercussions for operators and regulators, but has sparked little discussion of legal liability issues in the New Zealand context.  
New Zealand’s offshore petroleum liability regime used two international shipping conventions which had created a system of strict and limited liability for oil pollution damage, channelled to the shipowner, and backed up by mandatory insurance and an industry-fed compensation fund. The shipping conventions became the standard model for many regional and international environmental damage liability regimes, because there is no international offshore liability convention, but New Zealand’s offshore petroleum liability regime has diverged from this ideal. New Zealand sought to capture a broad range of owners and operators of offshore installations in a net of strict and unlimited liability, but without providing adequate mandatory insurance regulations or a compensation fund. Meanwhile, the European Union created its own environmental damage liability regime and only later applied it to offshore oil and gas operators, but also without providing harmonized mandatory insurance regulations or an EU-wide compensation fund. Much like New Zealand, EU Member States have struggled to implement consistent and predictable environmental liability laws, or to develop appropriate financial security guarantees.  
Analysing New Zealand’s offshore petroleum liability regime in this context accomplishes two overall objectives. First, a detailed examination of the international shipping conventions will provide guidance about how New Zealand should interpret, quantify and allocate liability for the key elements of pollution damage liability. Second, the comparison of New Zealand and the EU Member States’ experiences demonstrates the difficulties that nations face in adopting disparate over-arching international or supranational legal frameworks to create domestic statutory liability systems. The discussion has profound implications, not just for the specifics of any one country’s liability laws, but also for future attempts to create a practical and durable regional or international offshore petroleum liability and fund convention.

year: 2018

title: Learning in later life: Benefits and challenges for volunteers and agencies

authors: Findsen, Brian

subjects: age

abstract: This article explores the relationship between learning for older adults and volunteerism. It discusses how volunteerism among older adults may enhance their learning and the kinds of benefits and challenges they encounter in their work for employing authorities. Usually, this co-operative arrangement is based on a premise of a “win-win” situation in which the volunteer builds up further knowledge and skills at the same time as the goals of the agency are fulfilled. Yet there are opportunities and constraints which operate in dynamic workplaces wherein the role of volunteer can be marginalised. The article analyses some factors which function as enhancers or limitations for older volunteers in their work and learning.

text: Learning in later life: Benefits and challenges for volunteers and agencies This article explores the relationship between learning for older adults and volunteerism. It discusses how volunteerism among older adults may enhance their learning and the kinds of benefits and challenges they encounter in their work for employing authorities. Usually, this co-operative arrangement is based on a premise of a “win-win” situation in which the volunteer builds up further knowledge and skills at the same time as the goals of the agency are fulfilled. Yet there are opportunities and constraints which operate in dynamic workplaces wherein the role of volunteer can be marginalised. The article analyses some factors which function as enhancers or limitations for older volunteers in their work and learning.

year: 2016

title: Ecological modelling of water quality management options in Lake Waahi to support Hauanga Kai species: Technical Report

authors: Allan, Mathew Grant

abstract: This report describes a numerical modelling approach for Lake Waahi to assess the effects of various future scenarios on water quality attributes known to affect the appearance of the lake’s multiple hauanga kai species across differing spatial scales. Hauanga kai refers to customary gathering and use of naturally occurring and cultivated foods. Numerical models were used to support shared learning and development of future scenarios in response to different management options and environmental pressures. The shallow lakes of the Waikato region have been particularly impacted by anthropogenic eutrophication. This is due to the fact that many of these lakes have already undergone a degree of natural eutrophication due to their geomorphic properties, such as their low elevation and shallow depth. The main contributing factors to water quality decline in shallow Waikato lakes have been identified as: high external nutrient and sediment loads, internal loading exacerbated by high sediment resuspension and bioturbation from pest fish (carp), reduced water depth due to installation of water control structures, reduction in wetland filtering potential due to draining, and stock access to wetlands. A 1-D hydrodynamics model, the General Ocean Turbulence Model was coupled to a complex ecological model (PClake) via the Framework for Aquatic Biogeochemical Models (FABM). FABM is an open source FORTAN-based code that facilitates the coupling of hydrodynamic and ecological models. FABM-PCLake is a redesigned PCLake. The consensus from the model simulations carried out in the study suggests that, for Lake Waahi to undergo restoration whereby the lake is restored to clear-water stable state, both external load needs to be reduced significantly by greater than 50%, along with changes in lake ecological structure, resulting from re-establishment of macrophytes aided by the control of carp biomass. These finding supports the general view within the literature that for lake restoration success, external load reduction (catchment load) is critical. Finally, if the ultimate goal of lake restoration in Lake Waahi is to address the decline in tuna (shortfin eel - Anguilla australis) biomass, a return to a clear-water stable state should facilitate improvement in tuna habitat and provide the conditions for development of a healthy eel population. Coupled modelling approaches will provide a more complete picture of potential responses of Hauanga kai species to land and lake management scenarios.

text: Ecological modelling of water quality management options in Lake Waahi to support Hauanga Kai species: Technical Report This report describes a numerical modelling approach for Lake Waahi to assess the effects of various future scenarios on water quality attributes known to affect the appearance of the lake’s multiple hauanga kai species across differing spatial scales. Hauanga kai refers to customary gathering and use of naturally occurring and cultivated foods. Numerical models were used to support shared learning and development of future scenarios in response to different management options and environmental pressures. The shallow lakes of the Waikato region have been particularly impacted by anthropogenic eutrophication. This is due to the fact that many of these lakes have already undergone a degree of natural eutrophication due to their geomorphic properties, such as their low elevation and shallow depth. The main contributing factors to water quality decline in shallow Waikato lakes have been identified as: high external nutrient and sediment loads, internal loading exacerbated by high sediment resuspension and bioturbation from pest fish (carp), reduced water depth due to installation of water control structures, reduction in wetland filtering potential due to draining, and stock access to wetlands. A 1-D hydrodynamics model, the General Ocean Turbulence Model was coupled to a complex ecological model (PClake) via the Framework for Aquatic Biogeochemical Models (FABM). FABM is an open source FORTAN-based code that facilitates the coupling of hydrodynamic and ecological models. FABM-PCLake is a redesigned PCLake. The consensus from the model simulations carried out in the study suggests that, for Lake Waahi to undergo restoration whereby the lake is restored to clear-water stable state, both external load needs to be reduced significantly by greater than 50%, along with changes in lake ecological structure, resulting from re-establishment of macrophytes aided by the control of carp biomass. These finding supports the general view within the literature that for lake restoration success, external load reduction (catchment load) is critical. Finally, if the ultimate goal of lake restoration in Lake Waahi is to address the decline in tuna (shortfin eel - Anguilla australis) biomass, a return to a clear-water stable state should facilitate improvement in tuna habitat and provide the conditions for development of a healthy eel population. Coupled modelling approaches will provide a more complete picture of potential responses of Hauanga kai species to land and lake management scenarios.

year: 2018