Integrated Catchment Management

Human dimensions

School children from Ngatimoti School

School children from Ngatimoti School

Introduction

The focus of this work is to develop an understanding of how to create a favourable social environment - at district and regional levels - in which science can best be used to make decisions about resource management. There are three main aspects of our work:

Improving interactions between science objectives and end-user needs:

The focus of this effort is to develop a shared understanding among researchers, stakeholders, and tangata whenua to ensure that science knowledge and outputs (e.g., DSS, technology, etc) are relevant and responsive to end-user needs.

Improving information flows:

Because science represents only a portion of the information required for on-the-ground management, there is a need to look more closely at the whole information system that supports decision making.

Effective information systems must go beyond traditional outreach mechanisms (e.g. a paper or a computer model). Instead, they must be viewed as a social system within which people interact to create new knowledge and broaden their perspectives of the world - a process called social learning.

The focus of this effort is to identify processes that improve information flows (e.g. ISKM) and to develop mechanisms to implement these processes in practice. These processes and mechanism include, for example, use of the Internet, community participatory process, and stakeholder analyses.

Improving the social environment for uptake of science information:

Even when science outputs have been developed with a high degree of awareness of stakeholder needs, ensuring that these outputs are used to support management decision-making may still be a problem.

This is often the case in catchment management issues where there are many stakeholders, many perspectives, and many - often conflicting - interpretations of what appears to be the same information.

Resolution of these issues requires development of a high degree of social capital - where the different groups involved are open to different viewpoints, there is trust between the different players, and there are well-developed communication networks.

Researchable Issues

Research Areas

Iwi environmental monitoring field trip Sediment learning group field trip

Iwi environmental monitoring field trip

Sediment learning group field trip


Publications (Selection)

Year Title File Size
2005 Conversations about a River.  
2009 Integrated catchment management policy–making in New Zealand pdf       43KB
2006 Understanding Whole–of–System Sustainability in the Motueka Catchment: Participatory Modelling with an Influence Matrix pdf       1.12MB
2007 Maori Environmental Monitoring in New Zealand: Progress, concepts, and future direction. pdf       234KB
2004 Supporting sustainable development in natural resource management through the use of dialogue-based engagement.  
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Presentations (Selection)

Year Title File Size
2005 Iwi perspective on ICM from the Motueka HELP Basin. pdf       3.12MB
2007 Sustainable behaviour modelling pdf       302KB
2006 At least 3 meetings of Community Reference Group or similar stakeholder group held, with responses reported on ICM website.  
2008 ICM meets landscape ecology. Where do the people fit? pdf       3.08MB
2002 Ecosystems services. Who is doing what to whom? Using influences to understand consequences in a complex environment.  
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Primary Contacts:


Image - Will Allen Will Allen  EmailSend email to AllenW
Phone: 03 321 9600
More details»
Institute
Landcare Research
Expertise
participation, multi–stakeholder processes, participatory evaluation, networking
Image - Garth Harmsworth Garth Harmsworth  EmailSend email to harmsworthg
More details»
Institute
Landcare Research
Expertise
environmental planning, Maori research, Maori issues, land resource assessment, GIS applications.
Image - Margaret Kilvington Margaret Kilvington  EmailSend email to kilvingtonm
Phone: 03 3256700
Fax: 03 3252418
More details»
Institute
Landcare Research
Expertise
collaborative learning, facilitation, evaluation
Image - Glen Lauder Glen Lauder  EmailSend email to glen.lauder
Phone: +64 21 513161
Institute
CommonGround
Expertise
Organisational processes and learning, multi-stakeholder facilitation, science uptake
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Page last updated Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Research areas

Annual General Meetings Arts & science collaboration Capacity building Community reference group Community Resilience – Watershed Talk Farm environmental planning Fine sediment: bringing the geomorphology and biology together Futures modelling Historical development Identifying Maori needs Institutional Learning – Research and Practice Knowledge interactions Links between scientific and cultural indicators of river health Maori and ICM Science uptake by councils Sediment learning group Sherry River Community Social learning Stakeholder issues Sustaining ecosystem services Tangata Whenua UNESCO HELP Catchment & International links Valuing water

Research Highlight

FRST research reviews School children go fishing Sherry River water quality improvement