Contested rural futures: New Zealandʹs East Coast forestry project

The East Coast Forestry Project (ECFP) is a grant scheme introduced in 1991 to encourage the establishment of commercial forestry on erosion-prone land on the East Coast of the North Island, New Zealand. In that it is government subsidised, the project stands in stark contrast to New Zealandʹs recent restructuring programme. This in itself has been a basis for contestation of the ECFP, but conflict over the scheme has extended to other issues as well. We draw upon ideas that have been developed in the literature on regulation as a basis for analysing the social contestation of the ECFP. Themes of particular importance include the geography of regulation, the role of local agency, and the significance of private regulation. The study draws also on concepts of place, particularly as a basis for interpreting the role of local agency in the contestation of the ECFP.