Measuring Full Impacts of Land-Use Change

How can the research be used? Ka pēhea e whai take ai te rangahau?

• This working group will develop and test with key potential users the architecture of an integrated impact assessment (IIA) framework. It will show the integrated impact across social, economic, cultural, and environmental domains for common land-use changes and indicators. This will allow decision-makers to investigate whether land-uses provide economic returns while also improving outcomes for te Taiao.
• The aim is to develop a framework that is valued by its users – financial institutions, farmers, sector groups, Māori land stewards, regional councils, and central government – to support their decision processes. The framework might help them organise information, provide transparency, establish priorities, or otherwise improve their decision processes.
• The IIA framework will give policymakers in regional and central government a consistent way to evaluate scenarios about future development. It will also be freely accessible for land stewards and communities to use.
• Uncertainty around the impact of changes to land-use systems can be very high. There is tension between complexity and simplicity when considering aspects such as behaviour, community, society, ecosystem services, and cumulative effects. Creating a consistent repository of information with documented processes for integration can reduce this uncertainty.
• People can often feel disempowered while commissioners or lawyers are making decisions. The IIA framework developed by this working group will incorporate farmer and community knowledge, and provide transparency about decision-making.
• Research collaborators from Treasury, Greater Wellington Regional Council, Otago Regional Council and Waikato Regional Council are co-designing the IIA framework, and will it in their roles and organisations to facilitate making more consistent, informed decisions.