A summary of NZAIA's past and future
Nick Taylor (Taylor Baines and Associates) and Mike Mackay (Lincoln University)
At last year’s NZAIA conference in Wellington, held in memory of Jamie Newell, we reflected on impact assessment in New Zealand, where it has come from and where it is going. This forum provided an opportunity for new and established practitioners to come together and reflect on the foundations and evolution of impact assessment in New Zealand, critique current practices and consider prospects for the future.
This included our reflecting on some of the history of NZAIA and what the association and its members achieved. Perhaps the key feature of this history is that our members have always originated from many different backgrounds and work environments, including central government, universities, regional and local government, private sector firms and self-employed researchers and consultants. This has resulted in a cross fertilisation of ideas from the different aspects of impact assessment: social, health, economic, bio-physical and cultural as well as involving a mix of planners and assessors. Throughout, our activity has focused on better practice and ways to influence a more sustainable and equitable future.
The early work of our members had a strong focus on social impact assessment in the era of 'think big' energy projects that had significant impacts on their host communities in the early 1980s. One of the first integrated assessments we are aware of was on the potential social and environmental impacts of a proposed open-cut lignite mining and synthetic fuel production industry in Southland, led by the Joint Centre for Environmental Sciences at Lincoln University and University of Canterbury in 1982. This assessment (nowadays we would call it a strategic assessment) was notable for its integration of several natural resource specialties including economics and sociology, with promotion of an integrated approach and the principles of adaptive environmental management. It was also notable for its reliance on a participatory method, with two field researchers based in Southland for several months gathering data and facilitating input from local communities and stakeholders.
The social/collegial and professional networks which flourished among New Zealand-based SIA practitioners during the 1980s were maintained, extended and strengthened through the 1990s as the Resource Management Act started to shape our practice. Of particular importance was the formation in 1990 of a formal professional organisation called the New Zealand Association for Social Assessment (NZASA), comprising academics, policy analysts, consultants and stakeholder/community groups. NZASA took over some of the regular informal group activities that had started in the 1980s supported by the Ministry of Works, including the writing and distribution of the Social Impact Assessment Newsletter (first published in 1983). From 1990, NZASA – with its own new letterhead – continued to publish the newsletter, under a new moniker of SIAN.
In 1990, the NZASA formally organised and hosted the first social impact assessment conference in New Zealand. This conference became the key annual event for impact assessment practitioners and has been held every year since, with the exceptions of 1998 when New Zealand played host to the 18th Conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) and in 2010 when Prof Richard Morgan organised the Asia-Pacific conference on Health Impact Assessment at Otago University. The hosting of the IAIA conference in 1998 – titled Sustainability and the Role of Impact Assessment in the Global Economy – was a particular turning point for the network. NZASA members worked very hard to bring the conference to Christchurch, and reflected the high international regard for practice here. Integral were the efforts of Nick Taylor, Colin Goodrich, Gerard Fitzgerald, James Baines and Richard Morgan. The conference was particularly important because it introduced a broader interpretation of impact assessment to include areas such as health and ecological analysis. This broadening of the field featured in conference discussions by NZASA members, who decided to reconstitute NZASA as the New Zealand Association for Impact Assessment (NZAIA) signposting a broader mandate and broader applicability of impact assessment, one in which SIA still plays a significant part.
The NZAIA, with its links retained to IAIA as an affiliate of the international group, and more recently to EIANZ as well, has continued to represent a network of diverse practitioners. Despite some ups and downs, we have continued to lead practice in New Zealand, particularly through the annual conference. The network of practitioners, otherwise spread over disparate organisations, has a role to play in strengthening practice and ensuring our practice has a voice.
Of particular importance to the future, is our ability to attract graduate students and early professionals to our meetings and also to involvement in activities such as this newsletter, social media and our web page, writing submissions on government policy and national guidelines, and running the organisation through the Core Group. Collaboration is 'in' for managing resources such as land and water. But first, we need to ensure our members collaborate to achieve the goals of the organisation and develop future practice.
This included our reflecting on some of the history of NZAIA and what the association and its members achieved. Perhaps the key feature of this history is that our members have always originated from many different backgrounds and work environments, including central government, universities, regional and local government, private sector firms and self-employed researchers and consultants. This has resulted in a cross fertilisation of ideas from the different aspects of impact assessment: social, health, economic, bio-physical and cultural as well as involving a mix of planners and assessors. Throughout, our activity has focused on better practice and ways to influence a more sustainable and equitable future.
The early work of our members had a strong focus on social impact assessment in the era of 'think big' energy projects that had significant impacts on their host communities in the early 1980s. One of the first integrated assessments we are aware of was on the potential social and environmental impacts of a proposed open-cut lignite mining and synthetic fuel production industry in Southland, led by the Joint Centre for Environmental Sciences at Lincoln University and University of Canterbury in 1982. This assessment (nowadays we would call it a strategic assessment) was notable for its integration of several natural resource specialties including economics and sociology, with promotion of an integrated approach and the principles of adaptive environmental management. It was also notable for its reliance on a participatory method, with two field researchers based in Southland for several months gathering data and facilitating input from local communities and stakeholders.
The social/collegial and professional networks which flourished among New Zealand-based SIA practitioners during the 1980s were maintained, extended and strengthened through the 1990s as the Resource Management Act started to shape our practice. Of particular importance was the formation in 1990 of a formal professional organisation called the New Zealand Association for Social Assessment (NZASA), comprising academics, policy analysts, consultants and stakeholder/community groups. NZASA took over some of the regular informal group activities that had started in the 1980s supported by the Ministry of Works, including the writing and distribution of the Social Impact Assessment Newsletter (first published in 1983). From 1990, NZASA – with its own new letterhead – continued to publish the newsletter, under a new moniker of SIAN.
In 1990, the NZASA formally organised and hosted the first social impact assessment conference in New Zealand. This conference became the key annual event for impact assessment practitioners and has been held every year since, with the exceptions of 1998 when New Zealand played host to the 18th Conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) and in 2010 when Prof Richard Morgan organised the Asia-Pacific conference on Health Impact Assessment at Otago University. The hosting of the IAIA conference in 1998 – titled Sustainability and the Role of Impact Assessment in the Global Economy – was a particular turning point for the network. NZASA members worked very hard to bring the conference to Christchurch, and reflected the high international regard for practice here. Integral were the efforts of Nick Taylor, Colin Goodrich, Gerard Fitzgerald, James Baines and Richard Morgan. The conference was particularly important because it introduced a broader interpretation of impact assessment to include areas such as health and ecological analysis. This broadening of the field featured in conference discussions by NZASA members, who decided to reconstitute NZASA as the New Zealand Association for Impact Assessment (NZAIA) signposting a broader mandate and broader applicability of impact assessment, one in which SIA still plays a significant part.
The NZAIA, with its links retained to IAIA as an affiliate of the international group, and more recently to EIANZ as well, has continued to represent a network of diverse practitioners. Despite some ups and downs, we have continued to lead practice in New Zealand, particularly through the annual conference. The network of practitioners, otherwise spread over disparate organisations, has a role to play in strengthening practice and ensuring our practice has a voice.
Of particular importance to the future, is our ability to attract graduate students and early professionals to our meetings and also to involvement in activities such as this newsletter, social media and our web page, writing submissions on government policy and national guidelines, and running the organisation through the Core Group. Collaboration is 'in' for managing resources such as land and water. But first, we need to ensure our members collaborate to achieve the goals of the organisation and develop future practice.
