IC11_II

Importance
In recent decades, the economic uses of natural resources within coastal areas have increased significantly in scope and importance. Consequently, many contemporary developments in this economic sector have focused on potential uses of coastal areas and marine environments, in particular: the utilisation of ocean winds; the tidal power of the sea; and, offshore oil and gas developments. These advancements are complemented by other well-known marine issues such as the overfishing of the world`s oceans which is driven by an ever increasing demand for fish products across the globe.
Coastal areas form a dynamic interface of land and oceans, which therefore results in areas with high levels of ecological and biological diversity, often incorporating natural resources which are of critical economic importance. Coastal waters, for example, represent the natural habitat for the overwhelming majority of the world`s fish stocks.
Given this trend for expanding economic uses of marine natural resources and coastal regions, the processes used to harness their monetary value (along with a range of other industrial activities) are having increasingly significant detrimental impacts on coastal areas, sometimes even causing severe damage to the marine environment. This is particularly problematic as coastal waters are not only the most productive, but also the most vulnerable parts of the world`s oceans.
As a consequence, it is apparent that competing interests and conflicts will continue to arise between conservation efforts and economical utilisation with the likelihood of such contentious and divisive challenges heightening in the future, based on the growing economic importance of these natural resources.
Many of the issues raised above also apply to the coastal areas of Germany and New Zealand. Germany`s coastline along both the North and the Baltic Seas has a length of 2,389 km. These coastal regions are of great importance to Germany as they are densely populated and characterised by a significant level of economic activity. Similarly, the importance of coastal areas and marine environments to New Zealand is evident as it is an island country in the south western Pacific Ocean with an overall coastline of over 15,000 km.
Thus, a closer examination of the respective legal foundation to deal with this conflict and the competing demands seems not only pertinent but timely.

Research Questions
There are two primary research questions underlying my thesis:

Primary research question 1: How do the respective laws of Germany and New Zealand balance the constant conflict between conservation efforts and economic growth in their marine environments?

Primary research question 2: In designing an appropriate universal regime of environmental compensation and adaptive management for environmental damages in marine areas, what might such regime resemble?

For the development of the answers with regard to primary research question 1, it is necessary to divide it into the following subquestions:

Objectives and Methodology
Corresponding to the research questions, the thesis firstly aims to identify the law governing environmental compensation in Germany and New Zealand. The respective legal requirements will be outlined and differences between both national approaches will be carved out and explained. Likewise, the legal foundation and legal requirements of adaptive management in New Zealand will be identified and outlined.
Furthermore, both instruments will be compared critically using the method of comparative law. In applying this method, the commonalities of both instruments as well as the differences will be identified and discussed. The comparative study will also highlight the strengths and possible weaknesses of both approaches, as well as demonstrating how different legal concepts, which seek to address the same problem, function in practical application.
The concept of environmental compensation is well known in Germany since the National Nature Conservation Act (Bundesnaturschutzgesetz) was adopted in 1976. In New Zealand, it is required under the Resource Management Act, 1991. In practice, the application of environmental compensation in both countries is confined to terrestrial developments.
Moreover, the comparative study allows us to more easily define the criteria of improvement for both instruments. This, in turn, will support another major aim of the dissertation to attain a deeper knowledge of an appropriate concept of environmental compensation and adaptive management of coastal waters that functions effectively on a universal level. Such an objective cannot be achieved by solely focusing on one national approach, thus justifying the comparative legal analysis adopted in the dissertation.