Impact 4.1
Auckland Harbour (Pike Brown).
Factors (including the form of institutions) required to resolve complex environmental issues are understood, and opportunities recognised for adapting to global change and reducing vulnerability to resource scarcity.
Sustainable development is a complex issue with no one ‘right answer’ for resolving multiple viewpoints relating to the management of New Zealand’s natural resources. Communities can have polarised views on what constitutes acceptable development (e.g. in relation to land use intensification or mining) and on the associated impacts on natural resources (e.g. water quality and availability, biodiversity, cultural values). Our work has helped develop new ways to reach consensus on natural resource management and to understand the potential implications of decisions and regulations.
Society expects that weeds, pests and pathogens should be managed in ways that are cost-effective, humane and environmentally sensitive, and beneficial to primary production and biodiversity. In addition to developing the strategies and technologies to achieve this, we focused considerable effort on transferring these to stakeholders and end users, e.g. through the annual Biosecurity Bonanza workshop.
Key performance indicator 4.1: Industry sectors, central and local government are making strategic use of research findings, associated indicators of performance, and new economic instruments to respond to complex environmental issues, global change processes and resource scarcity.
Core-funded progress for 2014/15 is reported in the achievements table, particularly under: