FRST report 2000-2001
The programme of which the Motueka ICM project is a part has to report progress annually to the FRST.
The whole progress report (C09X0014_Catch.doc 
64kb)
may be downloaded.
A summary of the Parliamentary Section is below.
PGS&T CONTRACT REPORT (2000/01)
Contract number: C09X0014
Section 1 — Parliamentary Section
This programme will improve the knowledge base and the tools available to resource managers and community members who must anticipate and deal with the cumulative impacts of a complex assortment of individual land uses on water quality and quantity in soil, groundwater, freshwater, and coastal environments. The programme has two strategic foci. The first is to improve knowledge about biophysical processes that affect water quantity (and eventually water quality) in regional catchments, where there are multiple and potentially conflicting water uses. The second is to improve the use of science knowledge by managers and the public, when making important decisions about water resource management. To achieve these outcomes, we have assembled a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional team.
In the first year of this six-year programme we have established a firm foundation and made good progress toward achievement of all objectives. Specifically, we have developed an extensive knowledge base on water resource management for one of our two key study areas (the Motueka River catchment) and have established a web page that allows easy public access to this information (https://icm.landcareresearch.co.nz). We have also begun field work and associated computer modelling efforts on all three main biophysical research themes: land-water interactions, freshwater dynamics, and coastal sea productivity. We have established a Community Reference Group to promote better communication between researchers and community members, including iwi. We have formed a Co-operative Research Group of Integrated Catchment Management, to co-ordinate related research activities among council, CRI and university researchers.
The programme has already drawn international attention, from Japanese researchers interested in establishing a similar programme, and from a new global initiative from UNESCO, called HELP (Hydrology for Environment, Life, and Policy), which is focussed on better integration of science knowledge in decisions about how to manage water resources.