Executive summary

The purpose of this report is to draw out key lessons on how science and environmental knowledge have been used in the past to achieve desired environmental outcomes. The role that policy and technology transfer play in this dynamic is central to this objective.

As background to this analysis the report looks at a range of theories and models of behaviour change to identify key factors contributing to the gap between scientific knowledge and the translation of that knowledge into more environmentally sustainable land management practices.

The analysis undertaken in this report is the first stage of a larger project. The findings will be used to analyse a series of New Zealand case studies to identify successful and enduring approaches to bridging the gap between environmental knowledge and desired environmental outcomes. This analysis will be important for developing environmental policy.

There are other important environmental issues that are beyond the scope of this report and perhaps the most notable of these is the potential challenges imposed by climate change for land managers in mitigation and adoption.

The report is broken into three parts:

  • a summary of the theories and models relating to behaviour change
  • a review of overseas approaches to integrating science in environmental policy making
  • an historical analysis of New Zealand’s experience in managing three current environmental issues – soil erosion, possum control and nitrogen management.

Part One: Theories and models of behaviour change

The analysis of the theory of behaviour change has drawn out the following key points.

  • Any sustainable solution to environmental problems needs to be based on a recognition that most environmental problems are caused by human behaviour. To address and create long-term solutions to these problems, human behaviour needs to change.
  • There are many theories and much research on what drives and sustains behaviour change. The theories, models and research reviewed in this report indicate that change is not a one off event but rather, an iterative process involving a series of steps which a land manager can reverse if the new approach is found not to satisfy his or her needs, values and expectations.
  • Economic rewards for compliance or punishments for non-compliance can be effective in bringing about changes in behaviour and there are a variety of such mechanisms used in New Zealand. Research indicates that the level of success depends on regular monitoring of compliance and enforcement.
  • The success of non-regulatory or voluntary adoption measures is influenced by a variety of social, psychological and economic factors. These include:
    • The strength of networks between farmers which can be used to facilitate knowledge and awareness and provide mutual support and encouragement
    • The visibility of the environmental damage
    • The complexity of the proposed innovation since complexity can increase costs and risk
    • The extent to which farmers are involved in defining problems, identifying solutions and in monitoring progress – successful processes adopt a learner-centred approach and foster interactivity between scientists, technical advisors and land managers
    • The quality of the information provided to farmers – it should be targeted to needs and written in non-scientific language
    • The extent to which the innovation provides opportunities to trial the new innovation and practice new skills before implementation
    • The ability to demonstrate results, the ease with which success can be measured
    • The extent and quality of on-going support to reinforce the decision to change, and build confidence and capacity
    • The personal attitudes of the land manager – those that have a sense of community responsibility and environmental stewardship are more open to adopting environmentally sustainable practices which may involve more time and risk
    • The financial security and level of risk-adversity of the land manager
    • The time pressures on the land manager
    • The level of support among the farmer’s social and professional networks for behaviour that cares for the environment
    • The extent to which central government and local authorities lead by example.
  • The extent to which these factors are addressed in the design of an initiative requiring farmers to adopt more environmentally sustainable practices will determine whether these factors act as facilitators of change or barriers.
  • Research on behaviour change undertaken in New Zealand and Australia identifies several other potential barriers. These include inconsistent economic incentives, financial barriers, the quality of farming leadership, the decline in intergenerational transfer and increased land corporatisation which reduces the influence of social and peer networks. To be successful, policies and programmes aimed at fostering environmentally sustainable land management practices must find ways to overcome or minimise these barriers.

 

Part Two: Review of overseas experience on the role of science in environmental policy making, policy approaches and successes and failures

Part Two draws on overseas examples to document and analyse how policy-makers have formulated policies, factors contributing to the successes and failures of those policies and the role science has played in this, and also in terms of education and information provision. The key points to come out of this analysis are below.

  • There have been gaps between science and policy making due to issues of communication and/or translation.
  • Science has at times failed to communicate clearly issues of concern while at other times political institutions have been unable to listen and act on what science has told them.
  • Once environmental issues have been identified and brought into the policy making arena, science starts to play a crucial role in helping to design and underpin policies and contribute to monitoring and assessment. The fact that science has not always been able to play this role lies in the different characteristics of the information provided by science and the type of information needed by policy-makers.
  • Over time we have seen develop a much greater level of interaction between scientists and policy-makers in terms of setting the research agendas as well as in policy design and implementation. This interaction has led to a greater integration of the different sciences needed for successful policy development and implementation.
  • While participation / partnership models can provide a means to overcome the communication / translation gap that sometimes exists between science and policy making, other organisational structures exercising the role of ‘boundary management’ can also contribute to an enhanced flow of scientific information backward to stakeholders and forward to policy-makers.
  • In terms of policy successes, it is clear that policies dealing with non-point source pollution (erosion and nutrient management) have struggled to achieve a high level of success. However, it needs to be noted that success in these areas is not always easy to measure.
  • Mandatory and regulatory policies are the dominant tools in the EU, accompanied often by payments, while in North America and Australia voluntary approaches with cost-sharing have been more popular.
  • Voluntary approaches have not been very successful, even with cost-sharing. Many of the reasons for this can be found in the theory of behaviour change and adoption of new practices noted in Part One. Factors such as information, complexity, costs (financial and time), difficulty in demonstrating success to achieve goals, risk factors, etc. have all been identified as reasons.
  • In both the US and the EU, there is great concern to improve water quality and erosion control management. In the US a move to more mandatory measures, with greater enforcement has been one way to proceed (in the nutrient management area) while in Europe mandatory rules will continue (with some economic instruments) together with a greater emphasis on cross-compliance.
  • In both areas of environmental concern (water quality and erosion), farm plans for nutrient management and erosion control, are seen as good tools to deal with the issues at the farm level. This approach is being taken in many countries including Australia and New Zealand.
  • Environmental, economic and social circumstances vary widely throughout countries. The chance of successfully being able to design environmental policy programmes around one particular tool or approach is very low.
  • There is now more emphasis on planning at the catchment rather than individual farm level. Greater involvement by all parties can enhance adoption of new practices but also allows better targeting.
  • At the catchment level it is important to get involvement and buy-in from the wider community. In the pest control area, when solutions from science are not forthcoming, community involvement is crucial to effectively address the environmental issue.
  • Community involvement through local or network groups (such as Landcare) can facilitate the effective dissemination of information, learning and support for change.
  • There is no one set of policy approaches that can help overcome the environmental issues discussed. Often the best approach is to use a mix of policy instruments that best fit the context including overall agricultural policy framework and property rights. The case studies show that success can be achieved with quite different policy approaches.
  • Although there has been increased interest in the use of tradable permits in water quality management, the experiences of the few places where this policy tool is used are not encouraging. Also they are not completely relevant to NZ in that they involve mainly trades between point-source and non-point source polluters.
  • Even when performance based policy approaches and economic instruments are being considered, the scientific information to implement such approaches is not always there.
  • There is no doubt however, that financial incentives and considerations in the broader sense are very important in the adoption of new practices.
  • Perusal of successes and failures of policy approaches shows that in nearly all cases, the palatability of economic instruments was improved by compensating polluters in some way for the imposition of ‘polluter pay’.

 

Part Three: The historical context in New Zealand

Part Three examines the nature and extent of the three environmental issues.

Soil erosion

  • The nature of New Zealand soils makes them prone to erosion and can be exacerbated by unsustainable land management practices, particularly the removal of woody vegetation and over grazing. After a period of government withdrawal from responsibility for erosion control and research, recent initiatives are re-engaging government in addressing the problem (e.g., SLURI initiative).

Possum control

  • Possum populations have reached plague proportions in New Zealand. It is now the country’s number one pest. The Animal Health Board is the leading organisation in the effort to control possums, with an objective of reducing the incidence of Tb. The AHB leverages off scientific knowledge generated by DoC’s in-house research capability and the Regional Councils’ work with landowners. Constrained by a lack of resources DoC’s possum control activities are limited to Key Natural Areas, leveraging off work undertaken by Regional Councils to address the problem on a countrywide basis.

Nitrogen management

  • Nitrogen fertiliser has been an important technology in the recent productivity gains made in New Zealand farming. It has also provided farmers with improved risk management (for feed planning) and flexibility. The increase in the amount of nitrogen escaping from pastoral systems has raised concern from industry stakeholders and the public. Nitrate leaching from point and non-point sources into waterways causes serious visual pollution and can have harmful public health effects. Scientific researchers and environmental regulators are now focused on reducing the amount of nitrogen entering soil and waterways.
  • The social and economic drivers influencing landuse and environmental policy, and the level of scientific knowledge at key points during New Zealand’s history are identified. The following main points were drawn out of the analysis:
  • Early European settlers valued the environment for the income it could provide and looked favourably on those who forged a living by developing forest ‘wasteland’ into productive farm land, the breeding of possums and rabbits was seen as conducive to the development of a fur industry.
  • The emergence of dairy and sheepmeat export industries facilitated the breaking up of large estates into smaller farms.
  • Rapid advances in agricultural science and post war social forces drove policies to expand agriculture during the period of the ‘Grasslands Revolution’ (1920s – 1960s). Secure export markets and the emergence of ‘ruralism’ meant that farming had an important role to play in the growing economy and in society’s values.
  • From the 1960s poor economic growth and a balance of payments deficit prompted the government to develop policies and economic incentives to expand agricultural production to boost exports. A lack of scientific information limited awareness of the factors contributing to erosion, the effect of fertilizers on waterways and the damage being done by possums from the 1960s. Policies included a range of subsidies and economic incentives to develop land and increase stock numbers including marginal hill country. A lack of scientific knowledge, or at least poor communication of scientific knowledge, prevented widespread awareness of increasing problems of erosion and spreading possums. The government became involved in programmes to address soil erosion although schemes were largely utilitarian in nature and promoted to landusers as a means of maintaining production.
  • An increase in scientific knowledge (from the 1970s) on the impact of landuse practices on the environment took discussion outside the forum of the ‘technical experts’ to the New Zealand public. The emergence of mainstream environmentalism led to central government taking a more proactive stance in addressing the issues.
  • In 1984 the government implemented a programme of economic reforms that removed all subsidies and price supports from agriculture. Removal of policy incentives to increase production on hill country eased the damage caused by overgrazing and led to an increase of forestry on hill country with subsequent environmental benefits.
  • During the 1990s improving commodity prices and advances in technology created strong economic incentives to intensify production, especially on dairy farms.

The analysis of the historical context identifies linkages between the main social and economic drivers and knowledge, but also applies the lessons learnt to the current context.

  • Over the course of New Zealand’s agricultural development, economic drivers have been the most influential on landuse. Scientific research has also supported the profitable use of natural resources. The economic drivers have been supported by an underlying social context that has looked favourably upon the battle to ‘subdue and replenish’ nature and government policies that encouraged land development. Beneath this, a genuine concern for the environment emerged from a growing minority.
  • Farmers now operate in the context of commodity markets rather than environments. The pressure is for productivity increases regardless of commodity prices as the only way to stay economically viable, and the incentives are all to externalise environmental costs. This productivity drive puts stress, and costs, on the environment, inspite of the RMA.
  • As rural communities become more focused on global market forces, local issues take lesser importance. For example when the context of forestry is taken out of local community supply and employment and shifted into exporting and ‘national good’ the environmental objectives become less important. Commodisation reduces the sense of responsibility to the local good and creates a greater responsibility to the national good. Responsibility to the environment is mediated through the RMA which tends to be technical rather than social. The landowner then focuses on the requirements of council bureaucrats rather than neighbours.
  • Analysis of the historical trends in land management practices since European settlement tend to support the theories of adoption and behaviour change summarised in Part One.
  • Policy incentives for erosion control can be over-ridden by conflicting economic drivers. Regulation is needed to underpin a voluntary approach to achieving sustainable land management.
  • Experience with pest management shows that engaging communities is essential for raising awareness and generating community acceptance of possum control methods.
  • Ensuring coordination across agencies is also important for the delivery of well integrated services and messages. Earlier Forest Service (1960s and 1970s) efforts to control possums either through targeted campaigns using 1080 met with public agitation and the bounty was abolished in 1961 after it was judged ineffective. Improved scientific understanding of possum control, economic drivers and improved consultation with the public has been important for DoC. DoC pest control operations are now well served by research. Prior to the 1980’s the importance of possums as a pest, was not widely recognized. This change came about when research found that possums posed a serious economic threat and the public began to understand the damage that possums caused to indigenous forests. A rising environmental awareness also played a part here.
  • In developing mitigating options for reducing nitrogen losses, researchers need to consider the impact on the whole farm system recognising that the adoption of new environmental best practice involves risk and uncertainty and potential production losses.
  • The most significant barriers to the adoption of environmental best practice have been identified as:
    • The labour constraints that make landusers unwilling to make changes to the day-to-day running of their farms.
    • The financial costs and uncertainty associated with adopting technology that is not supported by conclusive evidence.
    • Economic incentives that encourage existing practices and land markets that do not reflect the costs of repairing off-site environmental damage.
    • Farmers scepticism of scientists and scientific information.
    • The lack of quantified and measurable environmental targets for land managers to work towards.
    • A limited range of options for land managers to trial and adapt to their own properties and farm systems.
    • Land manager and public resistance to possum control methods.
  • The behaviour change models covered here tend to focus on behaviour change with landusers only. This report has shown that landusers manage their land within a very broad context of influences and generally act rationally according to their perceptions and values and on the basis of the signals they receive. For sustained behaviour change to be achieved, policies and information exchange processes need to be designed to accommodate the broad social and economic context within which farmers operate and recognise that farmers are individuals that do not necessarily hold the same values and belief systems. From our review of the literature it becomes clear that the need for behaviour change extends well beyond the farm gate.
  • Events suggest that a multi-faceted approach to change is required and that the following conditions are influential in encouraging farmers to adopt environmental best practice:
    • Sound practical scientific knowledge of the issues and the effects of farm practices;
    • practical local knowledge and experience;
    • landuser awareness of the environmental issues around farm practices;
    • community recognition of the issues and remedies;
    • effective legislation and the technology, infrastructure and institutional capacity to implement it;
    • willingness of land managers to comply with regulations;
    • practical and economically-viable alternative landuse options where existing landuse causes degradation. Viability requires access to technology, markets and capital;
    • ability to monitor and measure the environmental impacts of changing farming systems; and
    • a shared vision of the future for the environment at the catchment level among land managers, researches, the wider community, policy-makers and regulators.

This report has drawn out a number of key lessons for understanding how science and environmental knowledge have been used to achieve desired environmental outcomes. This understanding will be important for developing sound policy and undertaking the next phase of work.

The next phase of work will involve testing and evaluating the lessons identified here in real life situations. Analysis of a series of New Zealand case studies will clarify the role that policy and knowledge transfer can play in achieving more sustainable landuse. This understanding will move us closer to finding successful and enduring approaches to bridging the gap between environmental knowledge and desired environmental outcomes.

 

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