Te Rāngai ā-Rohe | Regional Councils and Unitary Authorities
New Zealand has 16 regional and unitary councils. These councils are responsible for Aotearoa’s environment.
They manage land, air, coast and the quality of water in our lakes and rivers.
These councils are also responsible for biodiversity, regional parks, flood protection, emergency management and regional transport.
The regional councils are:
- Bay of Plenty Regional Council
- Environment Canterbury
- Environment Southland
- Greater Wellington Regional Council
- Hawke's Bay Regional Council
- Horizons Regional Council
- Northland Regional Council
- Otago Regional Council
- Taranaki Regional Council
- Waikato Regional Council
- West Coast Regional Council
Some district and city councils also have the powers of regional councils, these are referred to as unitary authorities. The unitary councils are: