Margaret Kilvington

Integrated catchment management—interweaving social process and science knowledge

This paper provides an overview of the Motueka integrated catchment management (ICM) research programme. This research was based on the thesis that achieving ecosystem resilience at a catchment scale requires active measures to develop community resilience. We define a generic adaptive planning and action process, with associated knowledge management and stakeholder involvement processes, and illustrate those processes with observations from five research themes: (1) water allocation; (2) land use effects on water; (3) land and freshwater impacts on the coast; (4) integrative tools and processes for managing cumulative effects; and (5) building human capital and facilitating community action. Our research clearly illustrates the benefits for effective decision-making of carrying out catchment scale science and management within collaborative processes which patiently develop trusting relationships. We conclude that coastal catchments should be managed as a holistic continuum from ridge tops to the sea and that some processes like floods or loss of community resilience have decadal consequences, which support the need for long-term monitoring and investment.

Building collaboration and learning in integrated catchment management: the importance of social process and multiple engagement approaches

Success at integrated catchment management (ICM) requires the ongoing participation of different stakeholders in an adaptive and learning-based management process. However, this can be difficult to achieve in practice because many initiatives fail to address the underlying social process aspects required. We review emerging lessons around how to engage stakeholders in ways that support social learning. We focus on the experience of an ICM research programme based in the Motueka catchment in New Zealand and provide a simple framework for distinguishing a range of conversations across different communities of practice. We highlight the need to use multiple engagement approaches to address different constituent needs and opportunities, and to encourage the informal conversations that spring up around these. We then illustrate the range of platforms for dialogue and learning that were used in the programme during 10 years of ICM research. Finally, a number of lessons are described from across the programme to guide research leaders and managers seeking to improve collaboration in other integrated science, management and policy initiatives.

Participatory modelling with an influence matrix and the calculation of whole-of-system sustainability values

This paper documents the results of a participatory modelling trial involving an influence matrix with a group of researchers and community members in the Motueka Catchment of New Zealand. In this trail, the influence matrix was used to calculate whole-of-system sustainability-values used to: (i) guide system dynamic model development, (ii) build understanding about the functional role of system factors, and (iii) contribute to method and theory development in a sustainability research context. This paper provides: (i) an historical account of the theoretical development of the influence matrix, (ii) theoretical justification for the use of this tool in the estimation of whole-of-system sustainability values, and (iii) a stepwise account of how the method has been trialled in a New Zealand case study, including an evaluation of its limitations and areas where future research is needed.

Creative platforms for social learning in ICM: the Watershed Talk project

Watershed Talk was an action research project within the Motueka-based integrated catchment management research programme. It explored processes of dialogue between catchment residents, scientists and resource managers, and examined how design of creative processes can shift peoples understanding and develop their capacity to address the complex environmental issues that they face. The project was highly reflective, and examined the potential transformative power of constructive conversation and the means by which social learning platforms can affect the legacy of skills, knowledge and enthusiasm for action amongst participants. Three important elements for the design of platforms for social learning were identified: (1) the value of using principles to guide process design; (2) the potential outcomes from using creative approaches to generate dialogue; and (3) the importance of integrating evaluation and reflection into platform design to both manage the platform and to help cement new learning amongst participants. This paper outlines the fundamental aspects of the Watershed Talk platform design, its implementation, and conclusions drawn from evaluation of the experience.

Three frameworks to understand and manage social processes for integrated catchment management

Integrated catchment management (ICM) initiatives involve many complex social interactions. Project leaders and participants face challenges in managing multiple demands for engagement, communication and integration of different knowledge across agencies, sectors, research disciplines and communities. Social frameworks can be practical management tools that help project leaders and participants: (1) make sense of the social and management context of a project; (2) design strategies to meet social process needs such as communication and engagement; and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of the project with a view to improving it. This paper examines the role of social frameworks in supporting ICM research in the Motueka catchment over 10 years. It reviews use of the ISKM (Integrated Systems for Knowledge Management) framework for sharing information between different stakeholder groups and the Orders of Outcomes framework for evaluating outcomes over long periods. In particular, it introduces the Social Spaces framework as a new tool for visualising diverse communication and collaboration needs across a project. We conclude with suggestions on using frameworks in conjunction with participatory evaluation to build capacity and strengthen relationships among project participants.

Renovating dependency and self-reliance for participatory sustainable development

Dependency stands for manygrievances and is generally considered asymptom of oppression. An opposing concept,offered as the preferred state, isself-reliance. Dependency and self-reliance arekey concepts in sustainable developmentprograms that feature participatory approaches.Some of the ways in which development projectsemploy the concepts of dependency andself-reliance, however, are troubling.Dependency and self-reliance in two programsfor participatory sustainable development areexamined, one in Canada and the other in NewZealand. Frameworks for dependency and self-reliance aredrawn from social psychology and philosophy toexamine problematic aspects associated with theconcepts. Analysis produced a proposal foruse of the term situatedinterdependence as a way to cast the outcomesof participatory sustainable development moreprecisely. The location of the cases (Canadaand New Zealand) centers the discussion withina context of industrialized agriculture, butalso points to issues pertinent to developingcountries.