Wai bother? Factors encouraging and sustaining public involvement in the Christchurch West Melton and Waimakariri Zone Committees. : A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Masters at Lincoln University

Abstract

This research dissertation aims to investigate and identify what factors have an influence on the incentives of individuals to seek membership on the Christchurch West Melton Zone Committee and the Waimakariri Zone Committee in Canterbury. Since the implementation of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) in 2009, there has been an integrated and collaborative approach used towards land and freshwater management. The CWMS involved the creation of ten water management Zone Committees comprising of a range of government and non-government appointees and representatives. Committee members are tasked with working together to consult with their communities and deliberate amongst each other to decide how to implement the CWMS and the aspirations of their communities through their Zone Implementation Programmes. This collaborative form of governance is expected to contribute to a higher level of legitimacy in decision-making and lower barriers towards policy and plan implementation, monitoring and enforcement. This is achieved through providing a space for community actors to deliberate amongst each other to make trade-offs and compromises contributing to more rational and legitimate decision-making. However, the potential for participatory planning to yield these outcomes in practise has been subject to significant critique due to a lack of available evidence on under what circumstances participatory planning arrangements are likely to be effective. This includes what motivates people to become involved and remain involved in participatory processes or arrangements. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to attempt to develop a greater understanding as to why people of all backgrounds become involved and remain involved in Christchurch West Melton and Waimakariri Zone Committees. To do this, the impact of contextual variables in the water zones, attributes of the institutional design of the Zone Committees and their tangible and intangible outputs to date were examined. All these variables can have an influence on whether participants feel their time in a participatory process is worthwhile according to academic theory on participatory planning. Findings suggested that the incentives to participate vary between different community stakeholders depending on their respective circumstances and aspirations. The need to influence decision-making to prevent adverse outcomes and impacts on their interest is a key imperative for the farming community and Rūnanga to remain involved. Furthermore, the availability of alternative avenues to secure stakeholder interests and concerns that participants cannot contribute to better outcomes for their community and the natural environment, represent a challenge towards incentivising individuals motivated by environmental and community concerns to participate. Overall, it is important that members of the public view that the benefits of becoming involved and remaining involved in the Zone Committees outweigh the cons.