Sustainable Development - The Human Dimension
The Human Dimension Programme has been designed to do two things: better understand drivers of, and barriers to participative processes, as well as trial participative methods or mechanisms that could potentially improve community and tangata whenua participation in decision-making.
The programme has two interrelated objectives:
1. To understand and improve the institutional infrastructure allowing dialogue across sectors. The focus will be on evaluating existing and new modes of dialogue for decision-making between land users, policy makers, scientists, communities and tangata whenua (collectively referred to as ‘decision makers’).
2. To evaluate a variety of methods and tools for participative and systemic decision-making by Territorial Local Authorities (TLAs) and other agencies concerned with water allocation, water quality and the beneficial use of biosolids.
These objectives will be achieved through three action research case studies; placing these case studies in a wider context through a comparative pair framework as well as a review of relevant national and international literature:
Water Allocation in Tasman
Water Quality/Allocation in Canterbury
Biosolids Use
For more information, please click here, or contact Ann Winstanley
Water Allocation and Decision-making
Water allocation and decision-making processes in New Zealand were the foci of capability-funded projects from 2006–2010. We
- Examined equity issues associated with developing water transfer/trading and storage options, and investigated the range of water-related values held by communities, key stakeholders and water managers.
- Experimented with different modelling options and tools to convey the relationships between equity issues and values and the contexts in which these emerge.
Findings
Key issues around water uses and values were:
- The significance of historical connections to regional waterways and how these link to present day activities,
- The importance of rivers and waterways for recreation and for spiritual and cultural reasons,
- Concerns about water quality and ways to allocate water in a fair and sustainable way,
- The contexts within which these issues sit can be very different around the country. Any research or decision-making processes must account for these differences.
Our research has shown that a better understanding of the significance of fairness issues is needed. This can be achieved through:
- Better articulation and understanding of the values of water and how they connect to what is perceived as fair or unfair,
- Further research into the implications of fair or unfair resource management decisions,
- The development of effective tools that can link this knowledge to policy.
Case Studies
Different methods were used in our case studies:
General Publications and Outputs:
Winstanley, A., Wood, D. and Lange, M. (2006) ‘Analysis and implications (for community consultation) of a sample of submissions on Environment Canterbury’s draft Natural Regional Resource Plan (NRRP)'. A Capability Fund Report internal to ESR. (pdf document opens in a new window)
Lange M., Winstanley A., Wood D., (2008), Drivers and barriers to water transfer in a New Zealand irrigation scheme, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, vol 51, no 3, pp 381-397.
Lange, M. (2008), ‘Equity and Fairness in Water Resource Allocation and Management’. Water and Health 35, ESR: Christchurch. (pdf document opens in a new window)
Winstanley, A., and Lange, M. (2008), Water matters in New Zealand: Exploring and articulating social values, Paper presented at the International Water Resources Association World Water Congress, 1-4 September, 2008, Montpellier, France. (pdf document opens in a new window)
For more information, please contact Ann Winstanley, David Wood or Miria Lange
Assessing Human Drivers within Organisations
(Part of the Ecological Footprint Plus FRST funded programme lead by AgResearch)
Reducing the ecological footprint of primary industries is critically dependent on understanding drivers and barriers for sustainability and how they influence the uptake of sustainable production practices. Working closely with the meat and wool sectors, "assessing human drivers within organisations" is a joint ESR/WEB Research project that aims to generate innovative solutions grounded in knowledge and experiences of process workers, plant managers, environmental staff and technical consultants.
The project uses a novel approach to organisational learning and innovation called developmental work research methodology. The method is based on a theory of how adults learn and change their practices at work. It enables those who work in meat and wool processing to turn barriers to the sustainability of their industries into opportunities to redesign work practices and management systems to achieve better economic and environmental outcomes.
For more information please contact Jeff Foote
Modelling Microbes – Sustainable Farming Fund
ESR has been involved with a SFF project to model options to manage microbial contamination of surface waters from pastoral farming. We are using a number of modelling approaches. NIWA is supporting the project by providing catchment scale modelling and ESR is undertaking modelling at the farm scale using the “system dynamics” approach, which enables us to integrate various forms of information.
Initial finding highlight some of the differences in the behaviour of microbes, primarily due to die off rates, and what they mean for various management options.
Outputs:
Savill M, Midgley G, Ball A, Foote J, Gregory W, Pulford D, Scholes P, Taranzos G, Armon R, Sobsey M. 2005. Modelling zoonotic factors: a means to manage microbial contamination from farming, 13th International Symposium on Health-related Water Microbiology: 26-27: University of Swansea, UK.
Wood D, Ball A, Gilpin B, Gregory W, Foote J, Savill M. 2006. Modelling microbes: simulating farm management options, 41st Annual Conference of the Operational Research Society of New Zealand: 3-5: University of Canterbury, NZ.
For more information, please contact David Wood