Beyond Manapouri 50 years of environmental politics in New Zealand

This volume traces the evolution of environmental administration in New Zealand since the dawn of the environmental era in the late 1960s. The national campaign to stop the government from raising the water level in the scenically spectacular Lake Manapouri for a hydro dam is widely credited with the awakening of environmental awareness in New Zealand. Since then, New Zealand has established institutions and legislation dedicated to managing our environment, and the public’s ability to participate in environmental decision-making has been strengthened markedly. At the same time, New Zealanders’ knowledge and awareness of environmental issues have also increased. Even so, the latest reports on our environment indicate that all is not well: our waterways continue to deteriorate, our biodiversity is in decline and our greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb. Beyond Manapouri is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand why, in spite of the legislation and institutions put in place to improve the stewardship of our environment, we’re now facing more urgent environmental issues than ever before. In this richly illustrated and engagingly written history, Knight also identifies the cultural shifts that will need to take place if New Zealanders are to live up to the "clean, green" image they have constructed for the country.

Catherine Knight is the award-winning author of New Zealand’s Rivers: An environmental history (selected as one of the Listener’s Best Books for 2016) and Ravaged Beauty: An environmental history of the Manawatu. She is a policy and communications consultant and lives with her family on a small farmlet in the Manawatu.