"nga aho tapu"

New Zealand Association 
for Impact Assessment (Inc.)

1999 Conference

NZAIA INFORMATION

IMPACT ASSESSMENT LINKS

LIBRARY OF ACTIVITIES

Improving Practice in Integrated Impact Assessment

Thursday 02 December

9.00 - 4.00 Pre-conference Professional Development Workshop

Beyond the Fourth Schedule: Improving Assessment of Environmental Effects Practices - Richard Morgan

Conference Opening and Initial Keynote/Panel Session, 4.45pm to 7.00pm, Venue: ALR 1 (Level 2)

Session to begin with a mihi by Rev Matua , Chaplain, Queen Victoria School, Parnell, Auckland

"Working in an integrated way with EIA and SIA: we know how we are doing it but how do others view our work?"

• Chairperson: Ken Tremaine, KPMG
  
• Keynote Speaker: Professor Ian Shirley, Massey University, Albany Campus (40mins)
  
• Panelists: Maurice Gray, University of Canterbury; William Kapea, Te Hao o Ngati Whatua (30mins)
  
• Discussion: Plenary session (30mins)

Context

Prof. Hobson Bryan (University of Alabama) has provided a useful context for the conference theme in the Association's Newsletter, IANZ Issue 48. In the argument advances under the title Thoughts on Integrating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, the following points are relevant to the conference (p.4):

"An integrated approach applies that all the environmental effects we care about, almost by definition, have social outcomes and, in fact, any environmental policy is de facto social policy."
"The integrated model is(that) reflexive human activity affects humans (People -> Environment -> People)."
"An important implication is that people who do assessments should be members of truly interdisciplinary teams, members who work together to fill in the webs and chains of causality. Stakeholders have full standing and participate as part of this team. Regardless of scientific speciality or stakeholder group, all involved cooperatively develop models of cause-and-effect relationships and move from entrenched positions to more flexible solutions to issues."

Expressed this way it is likely that many practitioners would believe they are performing consistent with these observations. This is why we are beginning the conference by asking people who have to receive the wisdom of practitioners to comment on how well we are doing!

Issues raised by the panel will be identified and circulated next day as a basis for continuing discussion/framework for workshop sessions.

Friday 3rd December

Major Case Study Presentation - 9.00am to 12.30pm

"Auckland's Regional Growth Strategy: from growth policies to sustainability projects"

Presentation by Auckland Regional Council and contributing territorial authorities

Context

Auckland has brought together various views on the the question "How will the Auckland Region look in 50 years time?" An ad hoc institutional response, The Regional Growth Forum, came out of the perceived need by the regional and territorial local bodies for an integrated body that would speak with one voice. Working with the wider regional community, the RGF has produced a Regional Growth Strategy to 2050. By that time Auckland is expected to have a population of between 1.6 and 2.2 million people. Developing a strategy for this scale of population increase raises a number of environmental and social questions that require assessment.

Technical Presentations (30 mins each)

Public Consultation/participation process: Brenna Waghorn
Natural Physical Constraints: Simon Casford
Intensification and Social Infrastructure: Joy Grant (intensification), Lesley Baddon (social infrastructure)
Transport and Physical Infrastructure: Anatole Sergejew (Transport), Jim Harland (Physical Infrastructure)
Synthesis and Capacity for Growth: Brian Waddell and Peter Fuller

Political Presentation (30 mins)

A Political and Social Assessment of the Regional Growth Strategy: Dr Bruce Hucker, Deputy Mayor, Auckland City

Workshops , 2.00pm to 5.00pm

The workshops follow on each of the technical presentations from the morning with discussion of key aspects of the Regional Growth Strategy, examining in particular the way they have been subjected to either EIA or SIA or an integrated EIA/SIA.

Workshop groups (parallel sessions):

1. Natural and physical resource constraints: Okura Case Study (Greg Pollock, Beca Carter, Auckland)
2. Liveable communities ­ Auckland case study ­ Avondale (Penny Pirrit, ACC)
3. New Lynn node development (Paula Reeves, Waitakere CC)
4. Water supply and wastewater ­ ProjectWest, Craig McIlroy, Watercare
5. Transport ­ Regional Land Transport Plan (to be advised)

Venue: ALR 2, ALR 4 (both Level 2), ALR 5 (Level 3) and PLAN 619 (Level 6)
Note: ALR 2 and 4 and Plan 619 are flat-floored rooms.

Annual General Meeting of NZAIA, 5.00 to 6.00pm

Open Space, 9.00am to 12.30pm

"Open Space" is an opportunity to explore unfinished business or additional topics of interest to participants using a semi-structured process. This involves people at the session coming together and nominating topics for discussion/exploration. The topics are listed, and each person can "sign up" to any number of these. The topics for the round (or the first round if there are more than one) are determined by the level of interest in each, and then topic groups convene. The key points are recorded, and the discussion continues however long there are people participating. People are free to join and leave groups as they wish when they wish. After a set time the round ends and the meeting reconvenes, with the process starting again - perhaps with new topics. In this way, the people at the session get to choose the topics of interest and concern and to deal with things that have come up over the course of the previous day etc, and to participate at will. Topics are determined on the day according the interest shown.

Final Plenary

2.00pm to 4.00pm

"Agenda for Further Work on Integrated Impact Assessment"

• Chairperson: David Hill, Hill Young Cooper Ltd, Consultants
  

• Final Speaker: Prof. Hobson Bryan, President, IAIA; University of Alabama

To wrap up there is an "all in" session where rapporteurs from working groups and individuals nominate matters for further attention which could be referred to the Association and/or other relevant bodies such as MfE for the Sustainable Management Fund work. We could also set up our own small groups to report back at next conference and/or provide reports to the Association's Newsletter during the year. Prof. Hobson Bryan will draw the threads together in a concluding address.