Preface
The social, economic and environmental consequences of landuse change present significant challenges to rural populations in many parts of New Zealand. In December 1993, the then Ministries of Agriculture and Fisheries, and of Forestry jointly held a symposium to discuss the findings of a number of research projects on this topic (some of these were published as MAF Policy Technical Paper 94/8). It was hoped that strategies might be developed for identifying the most effective approaches for managing landuse change. Representatives of local government; farming, environmental, and women’s organisations; universities and Crown Research Institutes; and of Government agencies (including TPK, Parliamentary Commission for the Environment), attended. Key issues identified were also discussed at other conferences and meetings.
It was recognised that landuse change impacted in very different ways on different communities, but that there are some common principles for effectively managing change. These are that processes for managing change should be inclusive (all interested parties may participate as they wish), comprehensive (reflect social, economic and environmental matters), aim for sustainable outcomes (be long term), and most important be owned and driven by the community. In 1995 MAF sponsored an operational research project to test the effectiveness of this approach. Landcare Research was the successful tenderer (involving Dr Graham Daborn, Carole Donaldson, and John Kape).
Discussions had continued with representatives of various groups from the Gisborne District following the original 1993 symposium, and there was considerable enthusiasm for the project to be carried out in the East Coast. In the event, a project to document the feasibility of using a multi-stakeholder approach to help a rural community adjust to the effects of rapid landuse change was begun in the Waipaoa catchment. This area was selected as it involved several land types (hill country and flats) and the community was experiencing difficulty in coming to terms with a change from pastoral farming to forestry. A long-term objective was to find appropriate land use practices that are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable in the district. To this end, the Department of Geography at Auckland University (under Dr Willie Smith) became involved in the project, with several Masterate theses undertaken in parallel with the main research project.
While the terms of the operational research project have been met by Landcare Research, the time frame has been too short to assess whether the project has been successful in enabling the community to develop tools to effectively manage landuse change.
Dr Ann Pomeroy
Manager Rural Policy
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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