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Natural Environment Bill

Foundations - Environmental limits - What are environmental limits and why they are required

49: Where human health limits must be set

You could also call this:

"Setting limits to keep people healthy in our environment"

Illustration for Natural Environment Bill

The Minister will have to set limits to protect human health in different areas. You will see these limits in freshwater, coastal water, land and soil, and air. The Minister can also set limits across two or more of these areas if it helps manage human health. The Minister must set these limits for attributes in each area. You can think of attributes like characteristics of the environment. The Minister will decide which attributes need limits to protect human health. The Minister can set limits for attributes that affect human health in more than one area. This means the Minister can look at how different areas affect human health together. You will see these limits in place to help keep you and your community healthy.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1520967.

This page was last updated on 14 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Health and wellbeing > Public healthEnvironment and resources > ConservationEnvironment and resources > Climate and energyEnvironment and resources > Town planning

48: How environmental limits are expressed, or

"How environmental limits are shown"

50: Where ecosystem health limits must be set, or

"Setting limits to keep our environment healthy"

Part 2Foundations
Environmental limits: What are environmental limits and why they are required

49Where human health limits must be set

The Minister must set human health limits for attributes within each of the following domains:
freshwater:
coastal water:
land and soil:
air.

The Minister may set human health limits for an attribute across 2 or more domains if the attribute is relevant to managing human health across those domains.