Suzie Greenhalgh

Mainstreaming ecosystem services into policy and decision-making: lessons from New Zealand’s journey

Since 2012 there has been an upsurge in New Zealand’s interest in how ecosystem service (ES) concepts can be used to assist decision-making. This paper outlines the progress New Zealand has made in integrating the ES concept into decision-making at government and business levels and provides insights into the challenges encountered. The observations and insights outlined in this paper are based on the interaction of the authors with the various actors in these dialogues and from their involvement in initiatives being undertaken by government and business. The key challenges discussed cover knowledge, indicators, indigenous cultural values, language and communication and decision-making. The paper also provides evidence to support or counter some of the ES critiques. While challenges exist with integrating ESs into decision-making, evidence to date suggests the approach is compelling and provides a structured, transparent and neutral mechanism to manage natural resources.

A Regional Ecological Risk Assessment of the Kaipara Harbour, New Zealand, Using a Relative Risk Model

ABSTRACT A regional ecological risk assessment was conducted for the Kaipara Harbour catchment in New Zealand. The Relative Risk Model was used to prioritize management of the sources of stress and habitats of concern in the basin. Semi-structured interviews with 25 representative stakeholders were conducted to obtain the resource-users’ perspectives and to identify the regional stressor sources and receptor habitat data for the model. For this risk analysis we divided the catchment into nine ecological districts. Mixed-methodological approaches including content analysis, geospatial analysis, and source documentation were used to categorize source and habitat rankings, based on the relative abundance of each in the nine ecological districts. Risk characterization revealed that fishing pressure and tidal energy pose the largest sources of perceived risk to the catchment; shellfish and Maui dolphin habitats are the receptors estimated to be at greatest risk; and the Kaipara and Rodney ecological districts are the sub-regions estimated with the greatest combined risk. A Monte Carlo analysis confirmed the source inputs and revealed greater uncertainty than the estimated habitat input results. The results of this assessment can be used by policy-makers, conservation groups, and municipalities to inform the future management efforts in the harbor and catchment.

A Response to Doole and Marsh ([Doole, G., 2013]) Article: Methodological Limitations in the Evaluation of Policies to Reduce Nitrate Leaching from New Zealand Agriculture

A recent paper by Doole and Marsh (2013), questioned the validity of using the New Zealand Forest and Agriculture Regional Model (NZFARM) for New Zealand agri‐environmental policy analysis. We respond to their critique by clearly describing the model structure, explaining the NZFARM parameterisation, calibration, and validation procedure, and presenting estimates from a series of nutrient reduction policy scenarios to highlight the utility of the model. In doing so, we demonstrate that NZFARM generates logical and intuitive results that can be used for robust agri‐environmental policy decision‐making.

Valuing the soil natural capital: a New Zealand case study

Inherent characteristics of soil and land valuation data are used to examine the relationship between soil characteristics and rural farmland values to value soil natural capital in the 6000 km2 Manawatu catchment in New Zealand. The study applies a widely used economic valuation method to determine whether the value of inherent characteristics of soils is reflected in land values. We find empirical evidence that the characteristics used to describe soil natural capital stock, e.g. gravel class, drainage class, potential rooting depth, and profile available water, are reflected in rural land values. Moreover, we find that these characteristics of soil stocks do not behave simply as independent variables but that there are complex relationships between them influencing their value.

Non-Market Values in a Cost-Benefit World: Evidence from a Choice Experiment

In support of natural resource and ecosystem service policy, monetary value estimates are often presented to decision makers along with other types of information. There is some evidence that, presented with such ‘mixed’ information, people prioritise monetary over non-monetary information. We conduct a discrete choice experiment among New Zealand decision makers in which we manipulate the information presented to participants. We find that providing explicit monetary information strengthens the pursuit of economic benefits as well as the avoidance of environmental damage. Cultural impacts, of which we provided only qualitative descriptions, did not affect respondents’ choices. Our study provides further evidence that concerns regarding the use of monetary information in decisions with complex, multi-value impacts are valid. Further research is needed to validate our results and find ways to reduce any bias in monetary and non-market information.

An Institutional Analysis of the Kaipara Harbour Governance Network in New Zealand

ABSTRACT Common pool resources are increasingly examined through social–ecological systems (SES) lenses to understand multifaceted natural resource issues through interdisciplinary approaches. Using frameworks grounded in environmental governance and SES, we examine the multijurisdictional institutional network of Kaipara Harbour in New Zealand. We find that while the conventional form of regulatory management has persisted until recently, the network has been modified to a more collaborative and cooperative configuration. We argue that although the decision-making capacities of the Kaipara Harbour network are unchanged, the emergence of informal and self-organized subsystems is vital to the successful management of the harbour. This case illustrates the value of combining the governance network framework, allowing us to view the material relationships between actors, and the SES framework, pressing us to isolate those action arenas with the most power, the most legitimacy, and perhaps the more effective role to play in stewarding the region’s natural resources.