NZAIA
  • Home
    • Environmental Impact Assessment
    • Social Impact Assessment
    • Strategic Environmental Assessment
    • Community & Stakeholder Engagement
    • Management, Monitoring and Reporting
  • About Us
    • Core Group >
      • Core Group Meeting Minutes
    • Our Partners and Affiliates
    • AGMs
    • Constitution changes 2025
    • Ethics
  • Membership
    • Sign Up for NZAIA Membership
    • 2025 Calendar Year Membership Subscription Renewal
  • Conferences
    • Conference 2024 >
      • Conference Programme 2024
      • Proceedings 2024
    • Proceedings from Past Conferences >
      • Conference 2023 >
        • Pacific Day 2023
        • 2023 Students
      • 2022 - Wellbeing, Sustainability and Impact Assessment: towards more integrated policy-making >
        • Posters
        • 2022 Students
      • 2021 - Social Impact Assessment >
        • Posters
        • 2021 Students
      • 2019 - Climate Change >
        • Posters
        • 2019 Students
        • Conference Photos
        • Contact List
      • 2018 - Regional Development
      • 2016 - Strategic Environmental Assessment
      • 2015 - Where to for Impact Assessment?
      • 2014 - Transport Infrastructure
      • 2013 Fresh Water Management
      • 2012 - Mineral Extraction
    • Sign up for occasional updates from NZAIA
  • Impact Connector
    • Issue #16 SIA for rural resilience and wellbeing >
      • SIA for rural resilience and wellbeing: Intro
      • The drivers and agents of on-farm change in Aotearoa New Zealand
      • Social-ecological assessment for remote and island communities
      • The Impact of Substandard Rural Housing on Resilience and Wellbeing in Te Tai Tokerau
      • Success factors for planning regeneration in rural areas
    • Issue #15 Economic methods and Impact Assessment >
      • Economic methods in impact assessment: an introduction
      • The Nature of Economic Analysis for Resource Management
      • The State-of-the-Art and Prospects: Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services in Environmental Impact Assessment
      • Economic impact assessment and regional development: reflections on Queensland mining impacts
      • Fonterra’s policy on economic incentives for promoting sustainable farming practices
    • Issue #14 Impact assessment for infrastructure development >
      • Impact assessment for infrastructure development - an introduction
      • Place Matters: The importance of geographic assessment of areas of influence in understanding the social effects of large-scale transport investment in Wellington
      • Unplanned Consequences? New Zealand's experiment with urban (un)planning and infrastructure implications
      • Reflections on infrastructure, Town and Country planning and intimations of SIA in the late 1970s and early 1980s
      • SIA guidance for infrastructure and economic development projects
      • Scoping in impact assessments for infrastructure projects: Reflections on South African experiences
      • Impact Assessment for Pacific Island Infrastructure
    • Issue #13 Health impact assessment: practice issues >
      • Introduction to health impact assessment: practice issues
      • International Health Impact Assessment – a personal view
      • Use of Health Impact Assessment to develop climate change adaptation plans for health
      • An integrated approach to assessing health impacts
      • Assessing the health and social impacts of transport policies and projects
      • Whither HIA in New Zealand….or just wither?
    • Issue #12 Risk Assessment: Case Studies and Approaches >
      • Introduction
      • Risk Assessment and Impact Assessment : A perspective from Victoria, Australia
      • The New and Adaptive Paradigm Needed to Manage Rising Coastal Risks
      • Reflections on Using Risk Assessments in Understanding Climate Change Adaptation Needs in Te Taitokerau Northland
      • Values-Based Impact Assessment and Emergency Management
      • Certainty about Communicating Uncertainty: Assessment of Flood Loss and Damage
      • Improving Understanding of Rockfall Geohazard Risk in New Zealand
      • Normalised New Zealand Natural Disaster Insurance Losses: 1968-2019
      • Houston, We Have a Problem - Seamless Integration of Weather and Climate Forecast for Community Resilience
      • Innovating with Online Data to Understand Risk and Impact in a Data Poor Environment
    • Impact Connector #11 Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Impact Assessment: views from the Pacific >
      • Introduction
      • Climate change adaptation and mitigation, impact assessment, and decision-making: a Pacific perspective
      • Climate adaptation and impact assessment in the Pacific: overview of SPREP-sponsored presentations
      • Land and Sea: Integrated Assessment of the Temaiku Land and Urban Development Project in Kiribati
      • Strategic Environmental Assessment: Rising to the SDG Challenge
      • Coastal Engineering for Climate Change Resilience in Eastern Tongatapu, Tonga
      • Climate-induced Migration in the Pacific: The Role of New Zealand
    • Impact Connector #10 Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation >
      • Introduction
      • Is a “just transition” possible for Māori?
      • Adapting to Climate Change on Scale: Addressing the Challenge and Understanding the Impacts of Asia Mega-Cities
      • How responding to climate change might affect health, for better or for worse
      • Kanuka, Kereru and carbon capture - Assessing the effects of a programme taking a fresh look at the hill and high country land resource
      • Wairoa: Community perceptions of increased afforestation
      • Te Kākahu Kahukura Ecological Restoration project: A story within a story
    • Issue #9 Impacts of Covid-19 >
      • Introduction to Impact Connector Issue 9 – Impact assessment and Covid 19
      • Covid-19 fast-track consenting: climate change legacy key to success
      • Tourism – the long haul ahead
      • Making sense of the impact of Covid-19: planning, politics, and the public good
    • Issue #8 Social Impact Assessment >
      • Challenges for Social Impact Assessment in New Zealand: looking backwards and looking forwards
      • Insights from the eighties: early Social Impact Assessment reports on rural community dynamics
      • Impact Assessment and the Capitals Framework: A Systems-based Approach to Understanding and Evaluating Wellbeing
      • Building resilience in Rural Communities – a focus on mobile population groups
      • Assessing the Impacts of a New Cycle Trail: A Fieldnote
      • The challenges of a new biodiversity strategy for social impact assessment (SIA)
      • “Say goodbye to traffic”? The role of SIA in establishing whether ‘air taxis’ are the logical next step in the evolution of transportation
    • Issue #7 Ecological Impact Assessment >
      • The future of Ecological Impact Assessment in New Zealand
      • Ecological impact assessment and roading projects
      • EcIA and the Resource Management Act
      • Professional Practice and implementation of EcIA
      • EcIA in the Marine Environment
    • Issue #6 Landscape Assessment >
      • Introduction
      • Lives and landscapes: who cares, what about, and does it matter?
      • Regional Landscape Inconsistency
      • Landscape management in the new world order
      • Landscape assessment and the Environment Court
      • Natural character assessments and provisions in a coastal environment
      • The Assessment and Management of Amenity
      • The rise of the THIMBY
      • Landscape - Is there a common understanding of the Common?
    • Issue #5 Cultural Impact Assessment >
      • Introduction
      • Potential of Cultural Impact Assessment
      • The Mitigation Dilemma
      • CIA and decision-making
      • Insights and observations on CIA
      • Achieving sustainability through CIA
      • CIA - Enhancing or diminishing mauri?
      • Strategic Indigenous Impact Assessment?
    • Issue #4 Marine Environment >
      • Introduction
      • Iwi, Impact Assessment and Marine Environment
      • Sea-Bed Mining Application in Taranaki
      • The wreck of the MV Rena
      • High Court RMA Controls on Fishing
      • Initiatives in the Pacific Islands
      • SEA in an NZ context
    • Issue #3 Strategic Environmental Assessment
    • Issue #2
    • Issue #1
  • Resources
    • Webinars
    • IAIA Resources
    • United Nations Guidance
    • Donors Guidelines and Principles
    • Oceania and the Pacific
    • Natural Systems >
      • Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services
      • Agriculture & Food Systems
      • Water Management
    • Social Impact Assessment
    • Health Impact Assessment >
      • Climate Change & Health
      • Air Quality Impact Assessment
    • Cumulative Impact Assessment
    • Community and Stakeholder Engagement
    • Indigenous Peoples
    • Climate Change and Disaster Risk Resilience >
      • Adaptation Planning
      • Nature-based Solutions
    • Urban Development
    • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Strategic Environmental Assessment
    • Regulatory Impact Assessment
    • Methods in Impact Assessment
  • Community
    • Membership Directory
    • News
    • Policy Submissions >
      • Submissions
    • Courses
  • 2025 Calendar Year Membership Subscription Renewal

Cultural Impact Assessment:
​A decision-maker's perspective 

Raewyn Solomon

Introduction - what triggers a CIA? 

Strictly speaking I view every Iwi/Hapū response to a development proposal as a cultural impact assessment, whether it is a formal documented report (formal CIA) or a paragraph on a piece of paper (in-office assessment). This is because all Iwi/Hapū assessments of proposals are viewed through the lens of cultural values. However, to acknowledge the importance of the process taken to develop a formal CIA, I refer here to a formally produced report that follows a particular process rather than a standard in-office assessment. Formal CIA Reports are an ideal tool and are what decision-makers most often work with in a  hearing context. This then begs the question -  what triggers a formal CIA process?

Two Iwi Management Plans provide guidance on this matter:

Te Taumutu Rūnanga Natural Resources Management Plan 2004
If a proposal impacts on tangata whenua values to the extent that is of concern to the Runanga, the applicant can be required to commission a CIA report.  These assessments enable applicants to  better understand tangata whenua values and concerns and, suggest ways to avoid, remedy or mitigate adverse effects.

Te Poha o Tohu Raumati - Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura Iwi Management Plan 2005 provides specific triggers:
  • Where an in-office assessment cannot be made because the impacts of an activity on cultural values is unknown or unclear or cannot be determined until research and investigations have occured.
  • Where there are a number of activities being proposed that need multiple approvals from both the District and Regional councils and other regulatory authorities such as Heritage New Zealand.
  • The proposed activity is either on, adjacent to or will impact on a site of cultural importance or within an area of cultural significance.
  • The size and scale of the proposal is such that multiple values or multiple effects need to be considered. 
  • The proposal is considered to have significant cultural effects
 
As we learn and experience we evolve and naturally, so do the triggers. With experience they become more refined while still, importantly, remaining open ended. However, the key message is that there must be potential adverse effects on cultural values to warrant a CIA.   ​

CIA - writing a report and having it heard

Notwithstanding the contributions of the CIA writer, CIA are developed in the main by individual and identified whānau members, sharing their values and explaining how those values may be impacted upon by a development proposal.  Whānau members are normally selected because they are known for their knowledge and expertise of those natural resources and values that may be impacted upon by a development proposal.

Developing the CIA can involve a range of things, from spending time interviewing whānau members  to facilitating and organising hui, co-ordinating paperwork and feedback with contributors, to organizing and helping to establish working parties, through to finalising the CIA with whānau.  The writer spends a lot of time with whānau, learning about and discussing values.  A lot of trust and faith is placed in the CIA writer.  Whānau would not trust just anyone with their precious information, understandably they would need to have faith and feel secure with the writer.

CIAs are best commissioned early in the project development process, well before resource consent applications are lodged with a council. This will save unnecessary delays and costs at later stages. For example, a CIA process may result in the need to modify or do further technical investigations required for the Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE), to accommodate whānau concerns or respond to a cultural issue.

Once a CIA is completed and provided to the applicant, the CIA writer may be required to prepare expert evidence to present at the hearing, as part of the applicant’s team. This is because the CIA is prepared for both the whānau and the applicant, and usually paid for by the applicant. Having a CIA writer prepare and present evidence on behalf of the applicant can be uncomfortable for whānau, particularly if they are fundamentally opposed to the development proposal. They could see 'their' CIA writer as now giving evidence 'for' the opposition.  This could cause discomfort for the CIA writer too.  Well delivered evidence, clear, understandable and consistent language, and good communication with whānau are skills any CIA writer must have. They need to be astute, sensitive, responsive and made of sturdy stuff. 

A CIA writer's area of expertise is the process followed to develop the CIA. Their role is specific - it is not to answer questions or give their personal view about cultural values. Nor is it to speak on behalf of the whānau or to discuss and answer questions about cultural values. A CIA writer must be independent and work in an independent manner.    ​

CIA, whānau and expert evidence

The Making Good Decisions resource for RMA decision-makers describes the value of community submissions and the nature of expert evidence. Various members of the community will make submissions at hearings and all for different reasons. They can range from neighbours who are directly affected by a proposal, to those organisations or individuals who have an interest in the area, to those who have a long term relationship with and use of its natural resources - such as hapū and whanāu. Local submissions are necessary and valuable. 

Expert witnesses are experts because of their qualifications. Expert witnesses include planners, water quality scientists, biologists, geo-tech engineers, landscape architects for example and are often called upon to give evidence on behalf of applicants and submitters. Expert witnesses have clear obligation under the Environment Court's code of conduct:
  • have an overriding duty to assist the court impartially on relevant matters within the expert's area of expertise
  • are not advocates for the party who engages the witness

It is important that there is a strong connection between the CIA, whānau evidence and any expert evidence presented by iwi/hapū. I highlight this point because if the whānau evidence is not, even in part, consistent with their expert evidence it can influence decision-making considerations. Two particular hearings come to mind where whānau evidence was very sound and delivered in a powerful and influential way, but the associated expert evidence did not support the whānau evidence to the extent it could have. This resulted in the panel not being able to accommodate the Iwi/Hapū requests and concerns  to the extent it could have.

I have also participated in a hearing as a decision-maker for a relatively large piece of infrastructure where no formal CIA was provided to support the whānau evidence. The historical evidence presented by whānau was indisputable; but some other matters outlined in their submissions were not relevant to the hearing. Therefore we as a hearing panel had no authority to consider the points raised. In addition, further supporting information requested by the panel could not be provided, because there was no coordinated or completed assessment of cultural impacts.

In this second example, a formal CIA process would have benefited the decision-making process by providing information relevant to the hearing in a coordinated and comprehensive way. A CIA is advantageous to a hearing because it can reaffirm and consolidate Iwi/Hapū information, and as a decision-maker its best if submissions and evidence is presented to the panel in this way.  It is always reassuring to know that submitters and applicants have done their homework when preparing to present at a hearing. ​

What is a successful outcome?

Sometimes, unless one has a reasonable understanding of the Resource Management Act 1991 process, a successful outcome is not always obvious to those who contribute their values to a CIA process. For instance when an adaptive management process and has been put forward to address some potential unexpected effects that could arise as a result of the proposal, it does take a leap of faith to trust in a regime that will adapt its management approach depending on how and to what extent a value has being effected. Even to understand how the regime will work can be challenging.
​
Further, sometimes the wider hapū/iwi members who have not been part of a CIA process may not realise a success has been acheived if for example, a development proposal is declined, due in part to the significance of cultural impacts as expressed in a CIA. In this case, there will be nothing to see at the end of it so the success may not be fully appreciated or acknowledged. ​

Conclusion - CIA and decision-making

It is not a decision-makers role to find the solutions. Like the proposal itself and its associated potential issues being presented to a decision-making panel, the panel anticipates and expects that solutions will be put before them too. They cannot consider or change past decisions, nor can they  address points that fall outside of a resource consent application. Their decision-making framework is restricted to the application in question and the Resource Management Act. 

CIAs make a valuable contribution to the decision-making process, when well written and endorsed by the iwi or hapū for whom they are prepared. CIAs provide a clear assessment of the cultural values that may be impacted by a proposed development, the nature of the impacts, and culturally appropriate ways to avoid, remedy or mitigate adverse effects. This enables decision-makers to recognise and provide for RMA Part 2 matters and to ensure that a project’s AEE is comprehensive.  A good CIA provides a basis for developing consent conditions.  Hence my takeaway message: decision-makers are only as good as the information put before them.
Download Article as PDF
Raewyn Solomon is of Ngāti Kuri descent and was born and raised in Ōaro along the Kaikōura coast.  She is a fisherman's daughter and has long line of hunter/gatherers in her whakapapa. Raewyn is an experienced CIA practitioner and certified RMA Commissioner, and has sat on numerous plan, plan change and resource consent hearings since 2001.  She is currently employed by Te Taumutu Rūnanga as an environmental advisor and mentor.
CONTACT US
​NZAIA Incorporated is a registered charity 
#CC54658
This website and all its content is SSL Protected. 
Privacy Policy

  • Home
    • Environmental Impact Assessment
    • Social Impact Assessment
    • Strategic Environmental Assessment
    • Community & Stakeholder Engagement
    • Management, Monitoring and Reporting
  • About Us
    • Core Group >
      • Core Group Meeting Minutes
    • Our Partners and Affiliates
    • AGMs
    • Constitution changes 2025
    • Ethics
  • Membership
    • Sign Up for NZAIA Membership
    • 2025 Calendar Year Membership Subscription Renewal
  • Conferences
    • Conference 2024 >
      • Conference Programme 2024
      • Proceedings 2024
    • Proceedings from Past Conferences >
      • Conference 2023 >
        • Pacific Day 2023
        • 2023 Students
      • 2022 - Wellbeing, Sustainability and Impact Assessment: towards more integrated policy-making >
        • Posters
        • 2022 Students
      • 2021 - Social Impact Assessment >
        • Posters
        • 2021 Students
      • 2019 - Climate Change >
        • Posters
        • 2019 Students
        • Conference Photos
        • Contact List
      • 2018 - Regional Development
      • 2016 - Strategic Environmental Assessment
      • 2015 - Where to for Impact Assessment?
      • 2014 - Transport Infrastructure
      • 2013 Fresh Water Management
      • 2012 - Mineral Extraction
    • Sign up for occasional updates from NZAIA
  • Impact Connector
    • Issue #16 SIA for rural resilience and wellbeing >
      • SIA for rural resilience and wellbeing: Intro
      • The drivers and agents of on-farm change in Aotearoa New Zealand
      • Social-ecological assessment for remote and island communities
      • The Impact of Substandard Rural Housing on Resilience and Wellbeing in Te Tai Tokerau
      • Success factors for planning regeneration in rural areas
    • Issue #15 Economic methods and Impact Assessment >
      • Economic methods in impact assessment: an introduction
      • The Nature of Economic Analysis for Resource Management
      • The State-of-the-Art and Prospects: Economic Valuation of Ecosystem Services in Environmental Impact Assessment
      • Economic impact assessment and regional development: reflections on Queensland mining impacts
      • Fonterra’s policy on economic incentives for promoting sustainable farming practices
    • Issue #14 Impact assessment for infrastructure development >
      • Impact assessment for infrastructure development - an introduction
      • Place Matters: The importance of geographic assessment of areas of influence in understanding the social effects of large-scale transport investment in Wellington
      • Unplanned Consequences? New Zealand's experiment with urban (un)planning and infrastructure implications
      • Reflections on infrastructure, Town and Country planning and intimations of SIA in the late 1970s and early 1980s
      • SIA guidance for infrastructure and economic development projects
      • Scoping in impact assessments for infrastructure projects: Reflections on South African experiences
      • Impact Assessment for Pacific Island Infrastructure
    • Issue #13 Health impact assessment: practice issues >
      • Introduction to health impact assessment: practice issues
      • International Health Impact Assessment – a personal view
      • Use of Health Impact Assessment to develop climate change adaptation plans for health
      • An integrated approach to assessing health impacts
      • Assessing the health and social impacts of transport policies and projects
      • Whither HIA in New Zealand….or just wither?
    • Issue #12 Risk Assessment: Case Studies and Approaches >
      • Introduction
      • Risk Assessment and Impact Assessment : A perspective from Victoria, Australia
      • The New and Adaptive Paradigm Needed to Manage Rising Coastal Risks
      • Reflections on Using Risk Assessments in Understanding Climate Change Adaptation Needs in Te Taitokerau Northland
      • Values-Based Impact Assessment and Emergency Management
      • Certainty about Communicating Uncertainty: Assessment of Flood Loss and Damage
      • Improving Understanding of Rockfall Geohazard Risk in New Zealand
      • Normalised New Zealand Natural Disaster Insurance Losses: 1968-2019
      • Houston, We Have a Problem - Seamless Integration of Weather and Climate Forecast for Community Resilience
      • Innovating with Online Data to Understand Risk and Impact in a Data Poor Environment
    • Impact Connector #11 Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Impact Assessment: views from the Pacific >
      • Introduction
      • Climate change adaptation and mitigation, impact assessment, and decision-making: a Pacific perspective
      • Climate adaptation and impact assessment in the Pacific: overview of SPREP-sponsored presentations
      • Land and Sea: Integrated Assessment of the Temaiku Land and Urban Development Project in Kiribati
      • Strategic Environmental Assessment: Rising to the SDG Challenge
      • Coastal Engineering for Climate Change Resilience in Eastern Tongatapu, Tonga
      • Climate-induced Migration in the Pacific: The Role of New Zealand
    • Impact Connector #10 Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation >
      • Introduction
      • Is a “just transition” possible for Māori?
      • Adapting to Climate Change on Scale: Addressing the Challenge and Understanding the Impacts of Asia Mega-Cities
      • How responding to climate change might affect health, for better or for worse
      • Kanuka, Kereru and carbon capture - Assessing the effects of a programme taking a fresh look at the hill and high country land resource
      • Wairoa: Community perceptions of increased afforestation
      • Te Kākahu Kahukura Ecological Restoration project: A story within a story
    • Issue #9 Impacts of Covid-19 >
      • Introduction to Impact Connector Issue 9 – Impact assessment and Covid 19
      • Covid-19 fast-track consenting: climate change legacy key to success
      • Tourism – the long haul ahead
      • Making sense of the impact of Covid-19: planning, politics, and the public good
    • Issue #8 Social Impact Assessment >
      • Challenges for Social Impact Assessment in New Zealand: looking backwards and looking forwards
      • Insights from the eighties: early Social Impact Assessment reports on rural community dynamics
      • Impact Assessment and the Capitals Framework: A Systems-based Approach to Understanding and Evaluating Wellbeing
      • Building resilience in Rural Communities – a focus on mobile population groups
      • Assessing the Impacts of a New Cycle Trail: A Fieldnote
      • The challenges of a new biodiversity strategy for social impact assessment (SIA)
      • “Say goodbye to traffic”? The role of SIA in establishing whether ‘air taxis’ are the logical next step in the evolution of transportation
    • Issue #7 Ecological Impact Assessment >
      • The future of Ecological Impact Assessment in New Zealand
      • Ecological impact assessment and roading projects
      • EcIA and the Resource Management Act
      • Professional Practice and implementation of EcIA
      • EcIA in the Marine Environment
    • Issue #6 Landscape Assessment >
      • Introduction
      • Lives and landscapes: who cares, what about, and does it matter?
      • Regional Landscape Inconsistency
      • Landscape management in the new world order
      • Landscape assessment and the Environment Court
      • Natural character assessments and provisions in a coastal environment
      • The Assessment and Management of Amenity
      • The rise of the THIMBY
      • Landscape - Is there a common understanding of the Common?
    • Issue #5 Cultural Impact Assessment >
      • Introduction
      • Potential of Cultural Impact Assessment
      • The Mitigation Dilemma
      • CIA and decision-making
      • Insights and observations on CIA
      • Achieving sustainability through CIA
      • CIA - Enhancing or diminishing mauri?
      • Strategic Indigenous Impact Assessment?
    • Issue #4 Marine Environment >
      • Introduction
      • Iwi, Impact Assessment and Marine Environment
      • Sea-Bed Mining Application in Taranaki
      • The wreck of the MV Rena
      • High Court RMA Controls on Fishing
      • Initiatives in the Pacific Islands
      • SEA in an NZ context
    • Issue #3 Strategic Environmental Assessment
    • Issue #2
    • Issue #1
  • Resources
    • Webinars
    • IAIA Resources
    • United Nations Guidance
    • Donors Guidelines and Principles
    • Oceania and the Pacific
    • Natural Systems >
      • Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services
      • Agriculture & Food Systems
      • Water Management
    • Social Impact Assessment
    • Health Impact Assessment >
      • Climate Change & Health
      • Air Quality Impact Assessment
    • Cumulative Impact Assessment
    • Community and Stakeholder Engagement
    • Indigenous Peoples
    • Climate Change and Disaster Risk Resilience >
      • Adaptation Planning
      • Nature-based Solutions
    • Urban Development
    • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Strategic Environmental Assessment
    • Regulatory Impact Assessment
    • Methods in Impact Assessment
  • Community
    • Membership Directory
    • News
    • Policy Submissions >
      • Submissions
    • Courses
  • 2025 Calendar Year Membership Subscription Renewal