PROCESO DE CULTIVO DE PALMITO

The Motueka Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) programme was based around the Motueka river catchment, which is located at the very top of New Zealand’s South Island. The programme operated for a 10-year period and involved research organisations, government departments, interest groups, local iwi and community groups. The Motueka ICM programme has been described by Bowden, Fenemor and Deans (2004), who were closely involved with the development and implementation of the programme, as ‘experimental catchment research’.

The objectives of this research were:

to improve the understanding of – and social learning about – land, freshwater and near coastal environments in catchments with multiple interacting and potentially conflicting land uses (Bowden et al., 2004, p. 311).

Figure 3.5.0 Map of Motueka catchment (Landcare, 2010a)

3.5.1 Background

The Motueka catchment was chosen for the ICM study by Landcare Research (a crown research institute) due to its diverse land and water use (forestry, farming and fisheries), broad range of environmental issues and the wide-ranging catchment characteristics that are available to study (e.g. rainfall, geology, land cover) (Phillips et al., 2010). This catchment also has a history of contentious catchment-based issues which provided a good context for the study. For example, in 1989 Fish and Game applied for a Water Conservation Order as a

resulted in intensive debate within the community as to how to weigh up the costs of economic development against the associated environmental impacts. Although the Water Conservation Order has since been replaced by a negotiated settlement, the community and stakeholders within the catchment have acknowledged the need for better catchment management strategies (Bowden et al., 2004).

The Motueka ICM programme officially began in July 2000, but its original conception can be traced back to workshops held between Landcare Research (Landcare) and local

stakeholders in 1998 (Phillips et al., 2010). These workshops identified the need to manage the land, river and coastal environments of the Motueka area in a sustainable and holistic manner. Another major output of these workshops was the concept of a catchment-scale approach to water, land and coastal issues. This concept resulted in the creation of the ‘ridge tops to the sea’ perspective, which would go on to be the motto of the programme (Phillips et al., 2010).

An interregional part of the ICM programme was its focus on redefining the science-policy relationship through using new strategies which aimed to encourage collaboration and communication between researchers, policymakers and members of the public, iwi and stakeholders within the catchment. It is this aspect of the ICM programme this study is seeking to explore and analyse through the lens of boundary organisations.

3.5.2 Strategy

The research component of the ICM programme was organised into four science themes, land use, freshwater, coastal marine and human dimensions (Fenemor & Bowden, 2001). A major aspect of the programme was to integrate these different science themes within the Tasman District Council, local community and stakeholders, in order to build a truly

interdisciplinary and holistic team. This kind of community, scientific and policy integration was to be achieved through processes and tools such as shared learning, adaptive

management, workshops and modelling (Bowden et al., 2004). The programme leaders operated on the premise that if they could improve the community’s ability to address environmental issues through these processes, they would also be improving the resilience of the ecosystem as well (Fenemor, Phillips, et al., 2011).

In order to build an interdisciplinary team, ICM programme partners Landcare and the Cawthron Institute (an independent research institute) worked with a wide range of agencies and government departments including: the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS), former Forest Research Institute (SCION),Tasman District Council (TDC), local iwi, Fish and Game and the Community Reference Group (CRG) (Phillips et al., 2010). The Motueka ICM programme operated from 2000-2010 at a cost of $18.5 million. This funding was managed by Landcare and supplied by the New Zealand Government (Smith et al., 2010).

3.5.3 Programme outputs

Over the 10-year period of the study, the Motueka ICM programme undertook in-depth research projects for all of the four science themes throughout the catchment. These research projects provided new insights into a wide range of scientific topics ranging from groundwater modelling to collaboration building. Evidence of this research can be seen in the many peer-reviewed published articles by members of the ICM programme and the interest the programme received from a wide range of government, research and non- governmental bodies both within New Zealand and overseas.

Productive outputs from the ICM programme have not only been limited to published scientific papers and conferences. Smith et al. (2010) claims that the ICM programme improved social networks within the local community which helped to establish a shared understanding of environmental issues within the catchment. This view is also shared by authors such Allen et al. (2011) who claimed that the collaborative nature of the ICM programme helped to instil trust and friendships both within the research teams and also with the local communities and stakeholders. These new relationships were then used to help key stakeholders improve their capacity for addressing environmental issues so they could take a more active role in managing the catchment (Allen et al., 2011).

Smith et al. (2010) claim that the ICM programme also played an active role in bridging the divide between scientists and policymakers. They claim that evidence of this relationship can

be seen through the number of management and policy changes that occurred at the regional Tasman District Council as a result of ICM programme.