Around the introduction of Agenda 21 at Rio in 1991, some countries like the Netherlands and New Zealand were already leading the way with quite innovative approaches to environmental planning. Focusing on the New Zealand government''s innovations in sustainable and environmental planning, particularly the Resource Management Act of 1991, this book highlights planning and governance under devolved and co-operative mandates. It uses multiple methods to evaluate the quality of policy statements and district plans prepared by regional and local councils respectively, as well as the various inter- and intra-organizational and institutional factors affecting them. It also analyses the quality of the plans'' implementation through the consensus or permits process, and the quality of the environmental outcomes.