National Outcome 4: Greening New Zealand’s Growth
Increase the ability of New Zealand industries and organisations to develop within environmental limits and meet market and community requirements.
Relevant national goals:
- The quality of our natural resource base improves over time, while sustaining the growth needed from key sectors to meet our 40% exports to GDP target (Business Growth Agenda).
- People are enabled to make and implement decisions that benefit society and the environment, enabling a prosperous New Zealand (MfE).
- Transforming the primary sector to realise the opportunity for Aotearoa, New Zealand to be recognised for our natural environment and products (Te Hono Movement).
Background
New Zealand’s prosperity is heavily dependent on our environment. The prominence in our economy of primary sector production, tourism and niche (e.g. film) sectors reliant on our landscapes highlight that, in the long term, New Zealand’s economic development can only be sustained by industries and businesses operating within complex environmental limits. This often entails balancing the diverse needs of multiple stakeholders, including government and local government, the private sector, Māori and the community. Increasingly, our work under this outcome supports Māori, business and community groups to engage in local decision-making on the future uses of, and values relating to, natural resources of importance to them.
Our research supports natural resources agencies tasked with developing and implementing effective environmental policy, regulation, and land management practices for the sustainable management of land, water and ecosystem services. This includes supporting MPI and the operational agencies tasked with managing New Zealand’s biosecurity, and DOC, regional councils and land managers responsible for weed and pest management, as well as primary sector and Māori stakeholders whose livelihood and well-being depends on the sustainable management of natural resources into the future.
Outcome 4 MBIE Strategic Funding
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Non-MBIE Strategic Funding excludes BioHeritage Challenge funds dispersed to other organisations.
The significant increase in MBIE Strategic Funding in Impact 4.2 in 2013/14 reflects a decision to redirect a portion of funding for our biological Collections and Databases from Outcome 1 to better support market access goals and primary sector biosecurity objectives. We also increased funding to this Outcome in 2015/16 to support the application of our core biodiversity, land and water research to meet the needs of the private sector and primary produce exporters. As an example, there is increasing interest by the private sector in valuing natural capital and ecosystem services, and having access to information and tools to facilitate on-farm land-use decisions that take into account the impacts on ecosystem functions.
In 2016/17, we are reinforcing these earlier shifts in focus by investing more in research to support the sustainable development of the native honey industry; improve resilience in the primary sector; improve tools to optimise land use through more informed trade-off choices and better knowledge of how – and where – to maximise economic returns while minimising environmental effects; and build greater social ‘licence to operate’ for natural resource management activities (including pest control) where different perspectives can lead to conflict. All of this research integrates consideration of economic, environmental, cultural and societal drivers, values and needs.
The focus in 2016/17 is well aligned with the National Statement of Science Investment directions which recognise that: “Primary industries are a significant user of natural resources, resulting in competition and conflict over issues such as freshwater, mineral extraction, biodiversity and climate change.”
MBIE Strategic Funding of Collections and associated information systems supporting this work:
The following Collections and information systems underpin Outcome 4 activity in supporting national biosecurity goals and informing more sustainable land and soils management by primary sector organisations.
- New Zealand Arthropod Collection
- New Zealand Fungal and Plant Disease Collection
- International Collection of Micro-Organisms from Plants
- Allan Herbarium
- Land Resource Information System (LRIS), which comprises the New Zealand Land Resource Inventory (NZLRI) and the National Soils Database (NSD)
Impact 4.1
Economic, social, cultural factors required to resolve complex environmental issues are understood and used by industries and organisations to adapt and grow within environmental limits.
16/17 Research Focus Areas
- Improve iwi, community and private sector engagement in complex environmental decisions by
- developing appropriate tools to support iwi decision-making on natural resources
- enhancing participatory processes to support policies, regulation and practice
- increasing capacity to undertake cost/benefit analyses
- better integrating the value of ecosystem services in policy, regulation and practice.
- Improve New Zealanders’ ability to adapt to and become more resilient to environmental change by
- refining economic and economic assessment models to develop climate change policy and practice
- improving decision-support tools to better show the impacts of resource management choices.
Impact Key Performance Indicators:
- 70–80% MBIE Strategic Funding of research outputs are on-track or completed.
- 80–90% of Research Focus Area key research initiatives success measures achieved (3-year rolling average, noting that, as a new measure, it will be only partially reported in the first two years).
Impact 4.2
New and improved tools integrate economic, social, cultural and environmental values, and enhance competitiveness, market access and social license to operate.
16/17 Research Focus Areas
- Increase delivery of integrated tools and approaches to support government, business and industry by
- enhancing our economic modelling to support more informed land management decisions
- developing culturally appropriate tools to support iwi decision-making relating to natural resources
- continuing to develop surveys to provide insight on primary sector decision-making drivers.
- Maintain and enhance social licence for business and industry to operate by
- developing weed biocontrol agents to reduce cost and pesticide use by landowners and industry
- developing new tools to reduce costs and increase acceptability and effectiveness of possum and rabbit control
- developing new, more effective approaches to multi-species predator control.
- Maintain and enhance market access for New Zealand business through
- new high-tech tools to reduce the number and extent of invasive mammals
- more effective ways of demonstrating TB freedom in support of agricultural market access
- improved surveillance, detection and control technologies and strategies for pest species
- new DNA diagnostic tools for rapid identification of high-priority species of biosecurity concern.
Impact Key Performance Indicators:
- 70–80% MBIE Strategic Funding of research outputs are on-track or completed.
- 80–90% of Research Focus Area key research initiatives success measures achieved (3-year rolling average, noting that, as a new measure, it will be only partially reported in the first two years).
Outcome Key Performance Indicators
Measurement of progress towards Outcome 4 is informed by a suite of agency KPIs to which Landcare Research Impacts contribute:
- Improvement in the quality of analysis and community involvement in plan-making, including Māori engagement (MfE)
- By 2026, verified eradication of TB from wildlife from at least 2.5 million hectares (OSPRI)
- Positive trends in the Te Hono Ake Ake Dashboard (Te Hono Movement)
- Market access is maintained and opportunities enhanced, with trading partners having confidence in New Zealand’s biosecurity system (MPI)
- Increasing GDP from land-based primary production (Statistics NZ data)