A new approach to decision making will be taking place in our region throughout November.

Supported by Gisborne District Council, Te Weu Charitable Trust is working with Koi Tu: The Centre for Informed Futures at the University of Auckland, to convene a Citizens’ Assembly where a group of everyday people will take part in discussions to address the question “What is a fair way to manage the proposed land use changes in Tairāwhiti?”

The Tairāwhiti Citizen Assembly project is focused on responding to the impacts of climate change in Tairāwhiti. Invitations have been sent out this week to a randomly selected group of more than 2,500 residents to take part in the assembly process.

The project began in 2022 prior to Cyclone Gabrielle with a focus on supporting the region to adapt to the impacts of climate change and had to pivot in the wake of the extreme weather events that impacted on community capacity to engage with the issues.

Te Weu project lead Harley Dibble says in many ways it was ironic and serendipitous that Gisborne District Council saw the need for an initiative like this before the events of early 2023.

“While citizens assemblies are growing in popularity around the world as a way to deal with the biggest challenges faced by a community, region or country, the focus of this citizens assembly was determined with input from local research in 2023 and from catchment leads in Tairāwhiti.”

“We all know that sustainable management of forestry and farming activities is a critical issue for our region, with too much sediment and woody debris ending up in our waterways and damaging infrastructure. Climate change has the potential to make this issue worse.”

“With two land use plan change processes underway to address this issue – the Citizen Assembly participants will explore the costs and benefits of the land use transition needed in region and make recommendations on the fairest approach to managing those changes. The citizen assembly process sits outside the formal plan change processes, but Council has committed to recognising and making provision for the recommendations that the Citizens Assembly arrives at.”

A diverse and representative group of 35-40 Tairāwhiti residents will be selected by civic lottery to take part in three, day-long sessions and two online sessions in November, delving into the major land use challenges and opportunities that the region is facing.

“No prior knowledge is needed to join the assembly. Participants will have the chance to ask questions and receive answers from experts, iwi, council and stakeholders (such as industry) to help make informed judgements collectively with their fellow assembly members,” says Mr Dibble.

“Participants will be compensated for what is a significant time commitment, engaging on a topic critical to our region’s future.”

Dr Anne Bardsley is Deputy Director at Koi Tu and says their experience facilitating these types of deliberative forums has demonstrated the public’s ability to engage in problem solving on complex issues and be open-minded when considering trade-offs and what is best for the wider community.

“The participants put a lot of time and effort into learning about the issues and making thoughtful recommendations, and it is important to recognise this. Compensating participants for their time is accepted practice in deliberative democracy.”

“Koi Tū is a research centre within the University of Auckland with strong links to both academic and policy communities, enabling us to draw on a wide range of expertise to support the process, as well as voices of local stakeholders and affected groups.”

The project is funded through “Better Off Funding” Council received from central government in 2022, that was made available to accelerate or enhance projects that supported communities to transition to a sustainable and low emissions economy, including building resilience to climate change and natural hazards.

Council’s Director for Sustainable Futures, Joanna Noble says given the importance of climate change and the impacts it would have to our region, the considerations of our community are paramount to understanding how we approach solutions.

“Citizen’s Assemblies provide an alternative method of community engagement in Council decision-making for responding to these impacts, that we can also feed into understanding our resilience and in delivering our 2024-2027 Three Year recovery Plan programme of work.”

Residents who don’t receive an email or hardcopy invitation can still register their interest in taking part by emailing ccl-study@auckland.ac.nz or calling 027 271 9907

Notes:

Te Weu Tairāwhiti is a collective of local researchers and actionists focused on the future risks and opportunities for Tairāwhiti.

Koi Tū is a non-partisan think tank and research centre at the University of Auckland.

More information about Koi Tū's work can be found here: https://www.complexconversations.nz/

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