Executive Summary

As part of a wider focus on improving the effectiveness of Māori participation in the management and use of natural resources, this report outlines the findings of a review of IMPs. The review investigated whether IMPs are meeting the expectations of both the iwi who have developed them and the relevant local authorities.

The effectiveness of IMPs was evaluated in two parts:

1. KCSM Consultancy Solutions (KCSM) from the perspective of iwi
2. Environmental Service Ltd from the perspective of councils and resource consent applicants.

This report presents the KCSM findings as to the effectiveness of IMPs from the perspective of iwi who have developed a plan, including:

1. the value in managing the group’s participation in resource management

2. the usefulness for clarifying and prioritising environmental issues

3. the value of developing an IMP for building the capacity of the group

4. the improvement in environmental outcomes

5. the ongoing relevance to achieving environmental aspirations and engaging in resource management

6. alternatives to IMPs

7. the likelihood the group would repeat the experience of developing an IMP.

The review answered these questions through three tasks:

• a stocktake to determine the number of IMPs in existence

• a review of a sample of 10 IMPs

• interviews with the 10 iwi who produced the sample IMPs.

The findings from these three tasks have been brought together in this report.

For the purposes of this study, an IMP has been defined as any document predominantly focused on environmental and resource management issues that has been developed or produced by an organisation that represents an iwi, a cluster of iwi, a hapū, a cluster of hapū, or some other grouping of whānau, hapū, marae and iwi.

Findings

Stocktake

A total of 77 organisations were checked in this investigation. These were either iwi organisations (including organisations representing more than one iwi) or non-iwi organisations (mostly hapū or sub-tribe type organisations).

Councils provided a list of 38 IMPs they had recorded.

Some iwi organisations who were listed as having an IMP were not aware that they had one, as the IMP had not been used for some time.

Many iwi who do not yet have an IMP are keen to develop one but stated they faced a number of barriers to produce one.

Plan content purpose

KCSM considered a number of the IMPs reviewed to be of a very high quality. However, none of the IMPs reviewed contained all of these elements KCSM identified as important to be in an IMP.

For example, KCSM was surprised to find that a proportion of the IMPs reviewed lacked one or more of:

1. a basic description of the particular hapū or iwi
2. a description of the rohe covered by the plan (either in text or by map)
3. practical guidance for external agencies on how to consult the particular hapū or iwi.

Other omissions from a majority of the IMPs reviewed were clear statements on who was responsible for administering the IMP, and when and how the IMP was to be reviewed. Only one IMP listed evaluation criteria for reviewing its implementation.

The 10 IMPs reviewed varied widely in style, content, format and presentation, and ranged from five pages to over 200 pages. Most of the IMPs reviewed were written to assist external agencies to understand the resource management issues of the iwi or hapū and to facilitate better working relationships with those agencies.

Effectiveness of Iwi Management Plans

The majority of the 10 iwi organisations interviewed thought an IMP was a useful tool in environmental and resource management.

In particular, the IMP was considered useful in providing key information to councils, consent applicants and consultants to enhance their understanding before they engaged with iwi and hapū.

Nevertheless, only half of the iwi organisations interviewed were confident there was sufficient awareness of the IMP in their community, and most respondents felt that IMPs were still not being utilised as they should be by councils and consultants.

Iwi organisations generally saw their IMP as a very useful tool within the organisation to clarify and prioritise their environmental issues. However, most respondents had not been able to build iwi capacity as part of the development of the IMP, because just one or two people had developed the document, or because the IMP had been produced by a consultant or other organisation.

In terms of addressing environmental concerns, iwi respondents said their IMP had raised awareness and provided a lead-in to the iwi’s involvement with councils in environmental management.

The establishment of effective relationships, processes and protocols with councils were the most significant outcomes that the iwi were seeking from their IMP. That is, iwi only expected to have an impact on environmental outcomes if they have an effective working relationship with their councils. Overall, the respondents considered their relationships with councils were still poor.

Even in situations where there was high recognition of the IMP in council plans, and high awareness of the IMP amongst resource consent applicants, iwi respondents stated that it was still too easy for councils and applicants to ignore the views of iwi.

The 10 iwi respondents considered that the IMP had ongoing relevance to iwi aspirations. Nevertheless, respondents remained concerned about the lack of progress for iwi to have a significant role in environmental management.

Most respondents were focused on the need to develop effective relationships with councils in order to effectively participate in environmental management. However, respondents said effective relationships were hampered in most instances by limited capability in their organisation, and by lack of commitment from councils including insufficient resources to fund participation.

Two iwi respondents said they were developing a community resource centre to support the participation of their hapū in environmental management.

Most respondents said they would be reviewing their IMP in the near future or would develop an IMP again if they had the opportunity.