The aim of Impact Connector is to provide a place where NZAIA members and impact assessment (IA) practitioners can write about current practice, case studies and IA research. We provide a platform for discussion of practice issues, rather than academic research and debates better published in journals such as Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal. Each Impact Connector issue has a topical theme: in this issue we explore the role of social impact assessment (SIA) in helping to build the resilience and wellbeing of rural areas and communities.
Papers in Impact Connector typically vary in length and here we have four longer papers that explore issues of rural change in some depth. These papers cover different aspects of rural change including agents of change driving environmental management by farmers, the characteristics of inhabited islands and remote communities that host projects such as predator eradications, rural housing deprivation, and the factors that drive success in rural regeneration projects. The papers include insights from social theory, SIA research and practical applications of SIA.
Why a rural focus? Driving the early development of SIA - in Aotearoa and internationally - was a focus on rural areas, where projects utilising natural resources also impacted rural people and communities. In these early days, there were two threads to the development of SIA in Aotearoa. First, there was a round of “think big” energy projects in places such as Huntly (coal-fired power station), Whangārei (oil and gas) and Taranaki (oil and gas). There were also places experiencing social impacts as projects wound down from construction started in the late 1960s and early 1970s: from the Waitaki and Clutha River/Mata-Au hydro projects, to Turangi in the north (Taylor and Mackay, 2016). Through these two threads, SIA cut its teeth and the NZSIA Working Group began – eventually to become NZAIA – with a broad focus on assessing the impacts of proposed projects, from initial project development phases, through to managing the impacts of construction and workforce winddowns (see the paper by Charles Crothers in Impact Connector # 14).
SIA practice has since expanded to consider a much broader range of issues as represented in the four papers in this issue. Current practice is commonly seen throughout the project cycle (Taylor and Mackay, 2024) and applied to policies, plans, and projects. Community-based approaches to SIA are evident, with greater focus on social development and wellbeing outcomes for people and communities. Furthermore, SIA research more commonly supports current practice, providing a stronger theoretical and empirical basis to assessments for particular cases.
In the first paper in this issue, Nick Kirk examines the process of change amongst farmers as they look to address environmental concerns arising from intensive agriculture. He identifies the importance of understanding different drivers of change by farmers as they seek to adopt more sustainable land uses and farming technologies. The typical drivers of on-farm change are agricultural advisors, extension agents and financial advisors, often working in a top-down mode. His paper suggests that the agents of change mediating responses by farmers are usually complex and interrelated. An understanding of these drivers is necessary to better assess the impacts of regulatory changes and realise the intended environmental outcomes of those regulations for farming, rural land uses, and water management.
Next, Katherine Russell and colleagues discuss strategic social-ecological assessment for planning projects and programmes located in inhabited islands, and in rural and remote areas of Aotearoa. These places host complex changes that have social-ecological impacts, requiring community participation in design and implementation of programmes such as predator eradications. Assessment teams usefully incorporate local knowledge and mātauranga with commitment to the co-production of knowledge. The paper provides a social-ecological framework to guide necessary assessments and support a community-based approach to SIA. The third paper considers how the resilience and wellbeing of rural families and communities depends on adequate houses to provide a secure home with warmth, comfort, safety and protection from natural events. Gillian Stewart investigates the quality of housing in the Northland Region. She identifies that Northland has a high rate of people experiencing severe housing deprivation. In response, programmes such as those of the Māori Housing Network and Habitat for Humanity are identifying and documenting housing issues and developing options around community partnerships. The aim of such programmes is to increase wellbeing and resilience to future and intergenerational impacts, including climate events.
In the final paper, Nick Taylor and Mike Mackay summarise results from their SIA research on rural regeneration in the Waitaki area. SIA research is retrospective and informs SIAs applied to planning new initiatives. This research utilised qualitative data and action research to evaluate regeneration efforts that included heritage areas, a cycle trail, irrigated land uses, integration of migrant workers, and a housing strategy. The authors identify criteria for success in community-based regeneration, with application to project development, implementation, and evaluation. The research led to guidelines to support community-based SIA (see Impact Connector # 14).
Several themes emerge for IA practice across these papers. SIA plays an important part in helping to build the sustainability and wellbeing of rural areas. There is an underutilised place for SIA research to inform IA practice when it is applied to projects, plans and policies by providing data on key issues, and to develop frameworks and assessment criteria, including integration of social and ecological concepts. There is increasing expectation that when SIA is applied in rural Aotearoa there will be an emphasis on community-based approaches and planning partnerships, with co-production of knowledge.
Mike Mackay helped to develop this topic. We thank him and the authors for their contributions, Richard Morgan for his help editing these papers and his work producing the issue. We also thank Larrisa Hinds for her help with copy editing and welcome her as a co-editor of Impact Connector. We are always interested if anyone wants to propose a topic or help to coordinate and edit an issue of Impact Connector. We also encourage contributions on a current topic. Please contact [email protected] if you want to propose a topic, have any questions or want to assist in any way - see current and proposed topics on the main Impact Connector web page.
References
Taylor, C. N. and Mackay, M. (2016). Social Impact Assessment (SIA) in New Zealand: Legacy and Change. New Zealand Sociology, 31(3): 230-246.
Taylor, C. N. and Mackay M. (2024). Application of Social Impact Assessment in planning a project: from concept to approvals. Chapter 12 in F. Vanclay and A. Esteves (Eds.) Handbook on Social Impact Assessment and Management. Edward Elgar.