title: Information Requirements in Natural Resources Law: Geothermal, Fisheries and Petroleum Compared

authors: Parson, Phoebe Ruth

subjects: Natural resources law

abstract: The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the key role of legal provisions for information in natural resource law, particularly legal provisions within a resource manager and resource developer relationship.  Using three legislative regimes, the research examines and compares information provisions’ functions substantively and procedurally. The research shows that limitations in existing provisions for information under these regimes provide important lessons for articulating optimum legal characteristics for information provisions in natural resources law for the future. The main research question: What legal characteristics are desirable in information requirements for managing natural resources? guides the analysis.
Information is at the heart of natural resource decision-making. Information provisions are instrumental in assessing the practical, economic and legal feasibility of resource development and in gauging a resource developer’s compliance with law. To understand what legal characteristics are desirable in information provisions, the thesis compares the management of three natural resources: the geothermal resource under the Resource Management Act 1991, the ocean fisheries resource under the Fisheries Act 1996, and the petroleum resource under the Crown Minerals Act 1991.  In New Zealand, either a central or regional government agency authorises and manages the use of these “subsurface” resources, with statutory requirements for information applying to both a state agency (the resource manager) and to a private developer exploiting a resource. Public accountability for resource management is established through the provision of accurate and relevant information.
The thesis uses a natural resource law lens to examine the (usually) bilateral agreement between resource manager and resource developer. Such agreements take the form of a resource-use permit or licence. To ensure that the terms of the agreement are met, a resource user must regularly provide an agency with information (and data) on how a resource is exploited. Under each legislative regime, non-statutory information management tools such as adaptive management and technical peer review facilitate and provide oversight of the natural resource agreement. The thesis analyses these mechanisms including the use of technical modelling as a regulatory tool. Using regulation theory, the research also explores the influence of the regulatory relationship on the fulfilment of information provisions and the extent to which resource users are involved in rule development and resource co-management, revealing how information problems can arise with process informality and public accountability. 


The research is significant overall because increasing demands on natural resources mean accountable decision-making is increasingly expected. Justifiable and defensible reasons for decisions are vital to long-term sustainable resource management and to human survival and flourishing. While economic justifications for resource development remain relevant, the thesis demonstrates that equitable resource management that benefits multiple interests, including the rights of Māori in natural resources, is needed. 
Significantly, despite substantial advances in industrial-scale geothermal resource exploitation and significant developments in geothermal policy and rules in New Zealand, no thorough legal analysis of geothermal resource management law has occurred in recent decades. By using the geothermal resource as its main case study resource, this research fills a gap in the legal literature. A review of geothermal resources law is therefore valuable and timely in guiding the future management of geothermal resources into a low-carbon energy future.
Commonalities in information challenges across the three resources examined emphasise the key role of legal provisions for information broadly in natural resources law. As Aotearoa New Zealand proceeds with its largest suite of resource management law reform in thirty years, the key role of legal provisions for information in natural resources law must be realised. The study concludes that legal provisions for information in natural resources law must support multilateral interests, contain functional clarity, and provide formalised processes and links with meta-goals that reach beyond each legal regime’s purpose.

text: Information Requirements in Natural Resources Law: Geothermal, Fisheries and Petroleum Compared The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the key role of legal provisions for information in natural resource law, particularly legal provisions within a resource manager and resource developer relationship.  Using three legislative regimes, the research examines and compares information provisions’ functions substantively and procedurally. The research shows that limitations in existing provisions for information under these regimes provide important lessons for articulating optimum legal characteristics for information provisions in natural resources law for the future. The main research question: What legal characteristics are desirable in information requirements for managing natural resources? guides the analysis.
Information is at the heart of natural resource decision-making. Information provisions are instrumental in assessing the practical, economic and legal feasibility of resource development and in gauging a resource developer’s compliance with law. To understand what legal characteristics are desirable in information provisions, the thesis compares the management of three natural resources: the geothermal resource under the Resource Management Act 1991, the ocean fisheries resource under the Fisheries Act 1996, and the petroleum resource under the Crown Minerals Act 1991.  In New Zealand, either a central or regional government agency authorises and manages the use of these “subsurface” resources, with statutory requirements for information applying to both a state agency (the resource manager) and to a private developer exploiting a resource. Public accountability for resource management is established through the provision of accurate and relevant information.
The thesis uses a natural resource law lens to examine the (usually) bilateral agreement between resource manager and resource developer. Such agreements take the form of a resource-use permit or licence. To ensure that the terms of the agreement are met, a resource user must regularly provide an agency with information (and data) on how a resource is exploited. Under each legislative regime, non-statutory information management tools such as adaptive management and technical peer review facilitate and provide oversight of the natural resource agreement. The thesis analyses these mechanisms including the use of technical modelling as a regulatory tool. Using regulation theory, the research also explores the influence of the regulatory relationship on the fulfilment of information provisions and the extent to which resource users are involved in rule development and resource co-management, revealing how information problems can arise with process informality and public accountability. 


The research is significant overall because increasing demands on natural resources mean accountable decision-making is increasingly expected. Justifiable and defensible reasons for decisions are vital to long-term sustainable resource management and to human survival and flourishing. While economic justifications for resource development remain relevant, the thesis demonstrates that equitable resource management that benefits multiple interests, including the rights of Māori in natural resources, is needed. 
Significantly, despite substantial advances in industrial-scale geothermal resource exploitation and significant developments in geothermal policy and rules in New Zealand, no thorough legal analysis of geothermal resource management law has occurred in recent decades. By using the geothermal resource as its main case study resource, this research fills a gap in the legal literature. A review of geothermal resources law is therefore valuable and timely in guiding the future management of geothermal resources into a low-carbon energy future.
Commonalities in information challenges across the three resources examined emphasise the key role of legal provisions for information broadly in natural resources law. As Aotearoa New Zealand proceeds with its largest suite of resource management law reform in thirty years, the key role of legal provisions for information in natural resources law must be realised. The study concludes that legal provisions for information in natural resources law must support multilateral interests, contain functional clarity, and provide formalised processes and links with meta-goals that reach beyond each legal regime’s purpose.

year: 2022

title: Intramolecular OH∙∙∙π interactions in alkenols and alkynols

authors: Miller, Benjamin J.

subjects: chemistry

abstract: The vibrational overtone spectra of propargyl alcohol (prop-2-yn-1-ol, PA), allyl alcohol (prop-2-en-1-ol, AA), propargyl carbinol (but-3-yn-1-ol, PC) and allyl carbinol (but-3-en-1-ol, AC) were recorded with intracavity laser photoacoustic spectroscopy (ICL-PAS) in the ΔvOH = 3, 4 and 5 regions for propargyl alcohol and allyl alcohol and in the ΔvOH = 4 and 5 regions for propargyl carbinol and allyl carbinol. Local mode anharmonic oscillator calculations were performed with explicitly correlated coupled cluster methods to guide spectral assignment. Atoms in molecules (AIM) and non-covalent interactions (NCI) calculations were carried out to analyze the interactions between the OH-group and the π-electrons of the carbon–carbon multiple bonds. We ascertain the effect of the carbon chain length and saturation on the conformation and spectroscopy of the four alcohols in relation to intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions.

text: Intramolecular OH∙∙∙π interactions in alkenols and alkynols The vibrational overtone spectra of propargyl alcohol (prop-2-yn-1-ol, PA), allyl alcohol (prop-2-en-1-ol, AA), propargyl carbinol (but-3-yn-1-ol, PC) and allyl carbinol (but-3-en-1-ol, AC) were recorded with intracavity laser photoacoustic spectroscopy (ICL-PAS) in the ΔvOH = 3, 4 and 5 regions for propargyl alcohol and allyl alcohol and in the ΔvOH = 4 and 5 regions for propargyl carbinol and allyl carbinol. Local mode anharmonic oscillator calculations were performed with explicitly correlated coupled cluster methods to guide spectral assignment. Atoms in molecules (AIM) and non-covalent interactions (NCI) calculations were carried out to analyze the interactions between the OH-group and the π-electrons of the carbon–carbon multiple bonds. We ascertain the effect of the carbon chain length and saturation on the conformation and spectroscopy of the four alcohols in relation to intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions.

year: 2011

title: Māori child rearing and infant sleep practices

authors: Jones, Horiana Majorie

abstract: Sleep is important to a healthy lifestyle for parents and children, and having effective ways of putting a child to sleep contributes significantly to mental and physical wellbeing. Cultural groups around the world have developed a variety of approaches to this task, for example, rocking, co-sleeping, bed-sharing, breastfeeding to sleep, and encouraging infants to self soothe through various methods of infant sleep training. In New Zealand the continuation of traditional Māori approaches to infant sleep, e.g. co-sleeping, bed-sharing, responsivity to infant cues have been over-shadowed by its negative association with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and dependence on parent interaction when initiating infant sleep. In this study, we were interested in the approaches Māori parents used to put their pēpi (child, 2 months-2 years of age) to sleep and the various factors that have influenced these approaches. Data were collected through online surveys (n =58) and face-to-face interviews (n =10) with Māori parents. Survey results indicated that being held and breast or bottle fed to sleep were the most practiced techniques by Māori parents. Parent assisted approaches, e.g., rocking, feeding, lying with baby until they go to sleep, were the most practiced. Many parents planned for their babies to sleep separately but very few actually persisted with self-soothing approaches due to a number of factors, such as discomfort with listening to their babies cry, culture, whānau (extended families) influences safety, and convenience. The majority of participants expressed a desire for separate sleep; however, few within the interview group actually successfully practiced separate sleep regularly.

text: Māori child rearing and infant sleep practices Sleep is important to a healthy lifestyle for parents and children, and having effective ways of putting a child to sleep contributes significantly to mental and physical wellbeing. Cultural groups around the world have developed a variety of approaches to this task, for example, rocking, co-sleeping, bed-sharing, breastfeeding to sleep, and encouraging infants to self soothe through various methods of infant sleep training. In New Zealand the continuation of traditional Māori approaches to infant sleep, e.g. co-sleeping, bed-sharing, responsivity to infant cues have been over-shadowed by its negative association with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and dependence on parent interaction when initiating infant sleep. In this study, we were interested in the approaches Māori parents used to put their pēpi (child, 2 months-2 years of age) to sleep and the various factors that have influenced these approaches. Data were collected through online surveys (n =58) and face-to-face interviews (n =10) with Māori parents. Survey results indicated that being held and breast or bottle fed to sleep were the most practiced techniques by Māori parents. Parent assisted approaches, e.g., rocking, feeding, lying with baby until they go to sleep, were the most practiced. Many parents planned for their babies to sleep separately but very few actually persisted with self-soothing approaches due to a number of factors, such as discomfort with listening to their babies cry, culture, whānau (extended families) influences safety, and convenience. The majority of participants expressed a desire for separate sleep; however, few within the interview group actually successfully practiced separate sleep regularly.

year: 2017