Regional councils develop policies and plans to manage natural and physical resources within their regions.

We provide regional leadership in activities that prevent, reduce or eliminate adverse effects from invasive pests and diseases that can significantly damage our environment, economy and native species.

We are responsible for regulating the use of the region’s natural resources, such as water, soil, air, geothermal areas and the coastal marine area. We also seek ways to sustainably manage the adverse effects of resource use, to people, property and the environment.

We plan, fund, build and maintain assets that protect our communities, productive land, the main trunk, state highways, roads and other essential infrastructure from flooding.

We’re responsible for planning and funding land transport initiatives within the Waikato region, including public transport, road infrastructure, and managing regional land transport plans in collaboration with the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

We provide incentives to landowners in priority catchments and sites to carry out erosion prevention and mitigation, fence off native bush, and retire and plant riparian margins, wetlands and steep hill country.

We work to increase regional resilience to natural hazards and have significant obligations and responsibilities in times of emergency.

We have responsibilities to maintain indigenous biodiversity on private land and in coastal areas and freshwater environments, but we also invest in community-led projects that includes public conservation land.

We monitor the state of the environment and produce significant science and data on water quality and quantity, soil health, biodiversity, geothermal activity, coastal and marine ecosystem health, coastal hazards, and air quality. We also collect information about our communities and the economy.

We look after the region’s harbours and coastal and inland waterways to ensure they are safely navigable.