With thanks to our sponsor: |
|
KEYNOTE :
|
Raewyn Peart, EDS
|
As Policy Director, Raewyn currently heads EDS’s environmental policy think-tank group. She has over 20 years professional experience in environmental law and policy having worked as a resource management lawyer and policy adviser to business, government and the not-for-profit sector.
Raewyn's presentation provided an overview of EDS's work on Resource Management Reform, identifying key challenges and potential options. Raewyn began with the challenges and outcomes of the current system, then went back to " first principles" (the role and purpose of the RM system) and what outcomes we need the system to deliver. Finally she discussed the design and tools of the system and how these might change to deliver better outcomes.
|
Session 1 - Strategic Assessment |
Roger Maaka
|
Māori, Cultural Impact Assessment and Regional Development
Roger CA Maaka is a Professor Emeritus of Māori and Indigenous Studies at the Eastern Institute of Technology. As a member of the Waitangi Tribunal he sat on the Indigenous Flora and Fauna enquiry (Wai 262), and he was among the group who first drafted the Mataatua Declaration to the UN on Indigenous Intellectual Property and Environmental concerns.
Roger CA Maaka argued for local control over local solutions. ‘It’s not about surviving; it’s about flourishing and adopting’, he said. He compared the urbanisation from 1980s with the present, described rural changes and rural employment issues, and suggested the need for interaction among different groups.
|
Pip Wallace
|
Environmental Models, Regional Planning and Projects:
Building a Reliable Evidence Base Pip Wallace is the Convenor of the Environmental Planning programme at the University of Waikato. Her research has focused on the intersections between natural systems and regulatory frameworks.
Environmental models are highly influential decision support tools, but they are vulnerable to legal challenge. Pip discussed her research which analysed 85 of environmental decisions identified as of particular interest in terms of modelling practice and identified the key practices and factors to strengthen them.
|
Stephen Swabey
|
Environmental data collection, storage, evaluation and dissemination:
the regional state of play Stephen Swabey is the Environmental Science Manager at Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.
Environmental data underpins precise, accurate, timely decision-making in many environmental, economic, cultural and social domains. Stephen described recent technological changes in data collection and management, and showed us some of the great things being done with GIS and data presentation to enable more responsive decision-making.
|
Session 2 - Transport |
Dyanna Jolly
|
Cultural Impact Assessment and port developments:
a case study of Whakaraupō / Lyttelton Harbour Dyanna Jolly is from Whitebear First Nations in Saskatchewan, Canada. She has worked with iwi and hapū in Aotearoa New Zealand for the last 15 years on resource management matters, including preparing Iwi Environmental Management Plans and Cultural Impact Assessments (CIA).
Dyanna described the experience of using cultural impact assessment (CIA) to facilitate Ngāi Tahu involvement in the recovery and development of Lyttelton Port following the Canterbury earthquakes.
|
Stephen Daysh
|
Whakatu Arterial Link: A Community-Led Decision
Making and Design Process Stephen Daysh is the founding director of Environmental Management Services, which merged with Mitchell Partnerships Limited in 2016 to form Mitchell Daysh. He has a wide environmental consulting and management experience in New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific.
The Whakatu Arterial Link was identified as the highest priority roading project for the Hawke’s Bay region to provide key links within the Hastings District. Stephen described the stakeholder engagement in the route selection process which ultimately led to minimal opposition and speedy construction.
|
Nick Aiken
|
Kuaka Amidst the Wetlands: Safety, Heritage, or Amenity?
Designing a new Northern Gateway For Napier Nick Aiken is the NZ Sector Leader for all Environment disciplines at WSP Opus, and the Market Leader for all the company’s services to Local Government clients. He is a practicing Environmental Planner and Urban Designer.
Nick described his work on one of New Zealand's most dangerous intersections: SH2-SH2A-Watchman Road near the Hawke's Bay Airport. With such a level of interest, site-sensitivity, timeframes and constraints, there was little margin for error. Getting it technically right was critical. But beyond that, sequencing and true stakeholder engagement was also critical.
|
Session 3 - Water |
Mary-Anne Baker
|
TANK: how impact assessment was provided within a collaborative engagement process
Mary-Anne Baker is a Senior Planner at Hawke's Bay Regional Council. She has been involved with a range of challenging resource management issues at regional as well as national scales. Lately she has helped the TANK group to draft a Plan Change.
The Hawkes Bay Regional Council embarked on a community led decision making process to review the land and water management provisions for the Tūtaekurī, Ahuriri, Ngaruroro and Karamu catchments in 2012. Mary-Anne Baker reflected her experience working in TANK and the complex science, social and cultural challenges that were required to be addressed in their decision making.
|
Tom Kay
|
Resource management: Lessons from the collaborative process
Tom Kay is Forest & Bird’s Regional Manager for the Hawkes Bay and Greater Wellington regions.
Tom was unable to present on the day due to illness, so Vaughan Cooper stepped in (thanks Vaughan!) Vaughan provided an example of the difficulty in engaging groups of people that truly believe in different things. He described TANK as a robust process which covered a lot of ground which he himself found difficult in terms of communication.
|
KEYNOTE :
|
Paul Spoonley
|
Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Massey University. He has been involved in some major research projects on immigration and diversity in New Zealand, including Capturing the Diversity Dividend of Aotearoa New Zealand (2014-2020).
Some of the key themes of the 2016 book "Rebooting the Regions" – population stagnation, young adult outmigration, economic diversification and disruption, the Māori economy – have ongoing impacts on questions of sustainability. One tough question many regions are reluctant to engage with is how to plan for " smart decline".
|
Session 4 - Forestry |
Elizabeth Heeg
|
National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry (NES-PF)
- what is ahead Elizabeth Heeg is the Manager of Land Management Analysis at Te Uru Rākau (NZ Forestry). Her team is responsible for the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry, and policy implementation and outreach to support MPI’s other forestry grants, schemes and programmes.
NES-PF provides nationally consistent regulations to manage the environmental effects of forestry. This talk will address what been the lessons learnt have been from the first six months of implementation, the scale of the NES-PF and how has it tackled regional issues.
|
Chris Perley
|
The Ethical Forester: Because even the Right Tools aren't Enough
Chris Perley has an extensive background in land, community and regional economies in management practice, policy and research. He is an affiliated researcher for Otago University’s Centre for Sustainability, a member of Wise Response, and the youngest forester to be made a fellow of the NZ Institute of Forestry.
Chris Perley provided a philosophical analysis on the limits of positivism when dealing with the management of forests.
|
Lisa Sharma-Wallace
|
Forestry isn’t just about the forests: Serious games for
understanding communities and complexity Lisa Sharma-Wallace is a social scientist at Scion. As part of her work in Scion’s MBIE-funded programme “Weaving the Korowai”, she has helped develop tools for more effective multi-party decision-making, including a serious game to introduce new ways of thinking to communities and government agencies.
Lisa summarised Scion's experience developing and implementing a role-playing game in the case of large-scale erosion and afforestation on New Zealand’s East Coast.
|
Session 5 - Social |
James Rowe
|
What is Napier’s and Hawke’s Bay Economic Competitive Advantage:
the Importance of Economic Impact Assessment James E. Rowe is a Senior Consultant with Economic Solutions Limited and the former Economic Development Manager for the Napier City Council. Dr. Rowe holds a PhD in planning from the University of Auckland and master degrees from the University of Tennessee and the College of New Jersey.
James' presentation examined the concept of competitive advantage and the importance of economic impact assessment. He discussed the concepts of competitiveness, globalisation and global cities, and a framework for understanding competitive advantage from the local economic development perspective.
|
Sue Ira
|
Activating Water Sensitive Design in New Zealand:
Understanding Costs and Values Sue is the Director of Koru Environmental and has a Master of Science (Environmental and Geographical Science) from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She has long had a passion for sustainable water management, investigating ways of building resilience into stormwater management, and working with local communities.
Sue presented the costs and values of water-sensitive urban design using a case study of the Kirimok Park subdivision in Wanaka.
|
Etienne Nel
|
Small Town Change and Challenges: The New Zealand Experience
Etienne Nel is a Professor in Human Geography at the University of Otago. His research focuses on issues of local economic development, smalls towns, regional development and community development. His work has been primarily in New Zealand and Southern Africa.
Etienne discussed the challenges and opportunities of long-term economic and demographic change in small-town New Zealand, which are accelerated by post-1980s restructuring, globalization and neo-liberal policies.
|
Session 6 - Tourism |
Neil Miller
|
How to benefit from freedom camping and manage the local impacts
Neil Miller is the Senior Policy Advisor for Engineering New Zealand (IPENZ). Neil worked with the DIA on advice to the previous Minister of Local Government about freedom camping regulation based upon the experiences of the Far North District.
Neil discussed the Freedom Camping Act and the difference in attitude between undesirable freeloaders and other tourists who are sought after and encouraged - yet freedom campers can be the highest spending tourists.
|
Nick Taylor
|
Cycles in the local economy: impacts of cycle trails
and the A2O in the Waitaki Valley Nick Taylor is a principal of Nick Taylor and Associates, previously a founding director of Taylor Baines & Associates. With a PhD from the University of Canterbury he has been involved since the early 1980s in development of approaches and techniques for social assessment and undertaken a wide variety of assessments for the public and private sector.
The A2O is helping to diversify and revitalise the local economy, which typically experiences cycles of economic development. Nick presented on the benefits and negative effects of the A2O.
|
Marion Read
|
The end of desire: a reflection on the development and management of
tracks and trails within the landscape of Aotearoa/New Zealand Marion Read has a PhD in Landscape Architecture from Lincoln University and a Masters of Resource and Environmental Planning with Honours from Massey University. Marion worked as a Landscape Planner in the South Island from 2005 to 2017.
Marion, a keen tramper, taught us about desire lines - tracks that reflect the desire of walkers to access a picturesque landscape feature: a valley; a mountain; a pass; a lake. In recent years trails and tracks have become objects of design instead of desire, with bulldozers replacing feet and shovels as means of construction; abstract rather than topographical constraints determining routes; and tourism becoming the focus.
|
Poster Session
A review of Strategic Environmental Assessment practice in Australia and New Zealand
Zobaidul Kabir and Richard Morgan
Stakeholders’ influence on impact assessment for infrastructure projects
Weqas Ali
A review of Strategic Environmental Assessment practice in Australia and New Zealand
Zobaidul Kabir and Richard Morgan
Stakeholders’ influence on impact assessment for infrastructure projects
Weqas Ali