Barker, Paul S2024-10-062024-10-061984-07https://hdl.handle.net/10182/17701A report to the Liquid Fuels Trust Board and the Town and Country Planning Division (Ministry of Works and Development)Much of New Zealand's major energy development in recent years has occurred in rural areas. These developments, by virtue of their size, have had significant social, economic and environmental implications. The scale of social change, for instance, is often larger than the host community can adjust to without significant social dislocation. Although there is no clear consensus in the literature as to what actually constitutes the field of social impact assessment (see Krawetz 1983 and Taylor & Sharp 1983), ideally any study that addresses a resource development proposal should undertake to describe and assess the host community in the pre-impact phase. This type of study may then be used for subsequent planning, assessment of alternatives, mitigation strategies, monitoring and management. This report provides an initial analysis of the Chatham Islands with regard to peat mining proposals. It contains an integrative review of the literature and provides a community analysis which was the result of fieldwork on the Chatham Islands. The emphasis of the report is the identification of the main types of issues that could arise from a major resource development such as peat mining for the production of synthetic fuels. This study can therefore be viewed as providing the initial research for an on-going social impact assessment process. Further research using an issues oriented approach for investigations into a Chatham Island synthetic crude industry could be integrated into an anticipatory planning framework. This type of approach would be responsive to changing circumstances as investigations proceed. The work being undertaken by the author is in partial fulfilment of the degree of Masters of Science in Resource Management. The Liquid Fuels Trust Board and the Town and Country Planning Directorate of the Ministry of Works and Development have jointly provided financial assistance for the project. Their support and enthusiasm is gratefully acknowledged. Similarly, the staff of the Centre for Resource Management and the people of the Chatham Islands are acknowledged for their generous assistance to this work.v, 68 pages© The Authorsynthetic fuelsChatham Islandspeat miningReportANZSRC::480204 Mining, energy and natural resources lawANZSRC::410402 Environmental assessment and monitoring