At the recent Resource Management Law Association (RMLA) conference held in Tauranga, the EIANZ was honoured with the award of the RMLA Documentation Award 2015 for their publication ‘Ecological Impact Assessment: EIANZ Guidelines for use in New Zealand’. The award provides further endorsement for the Guidelines and acknowledges that they have been well-received.  

At the awards ceremony the RMLA made the unusual step of announcing the names of the authors of the report; in acknowledgement of the high calibre of expertise that contributed to their content.  It was also acknowledged at the presentation that this award is usually presented to a planning or legal related document and the award to a guidance document was unusual.

The New Zealand Chapter President, Dr Ian Boothroyd, received the award on behalf of the Chapter. In his acceptance speech, Ian made particular reference to the efforts of Dr Judith Roper-Lindsay in making these guidelines a reality. Ian also highlighted how the Guidelines are a work of great passion and commitment having been prepared at ‘the kitchen table at midnight’ by the volunteer authors (a reference to the volunteer hours on top of all the other commitment of these authors). The audience was left with the message to ‘look out for more to come’

Photo is courtesy of Katie Cox Photography and the RMLA