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Category Archives: Land Use
Two strategic directions for Land Use in New Zealand: Where do we stand?
I wrote this what seems light years ago. I think it was 2007 or 2008. This is very rough, a mind dump. It was done quickly, and is more to do with me getting thoughts out of my mind and … Continue reading
We do not need a Resource Development Act
New Zealand has a comprehensive piece of legislation (Resource Management Act 1991) by which the use and development of ‘resources’ is managed. The current government is attempting to reform this legislation to make it more amenable for development interests. Corporate lobby … Continue reading
Posted in Building Regional Economies, Land Use, Thought Pieces
Tagged Local Development, RMA
3 Comments
Rural Decline and the Ruataniwha Dam Revisited
I wrote this article below in response to a promotional meeting for the Ruataniwha Dam held in Waipukurau in 2014. I’ve edited it slightly. In early March 2016, another meeting was held, and the same justifications were made – jobs, … Continue reading
Posted in Land Use, Thought Pieces
7 Comments
The Future of Belonging in This Place
It took 27 years for me to come home. For years I felt the lone voice screaming “Come on the Bay” amongst the red and black rugby faithful during Canterbury’s 1980s Ranfurly Shield era. In later years I facetiously referred … Continue reading
What is Development? Hawke’s Bay’s future
Whatever happens after the election, Hawke’s Bay needs a combined vision and strategy. Most protagonists agree. The real issue will be what type of strategy we get. If any strategy is based on the ideas of the past 30 years, … Continue reading
Posted in Building Regional Economies, Land Use, Thought Pieces
1 Comment
HBRC Election 2013 – Land and Water Concerns of Federated Farmers and Irrigation NZ
The following was in response to questions asked of Hawke’s Bay Regional Councillor candidates in the 2013 Local Body Elections. Federated Farmers and Irrigation New Zealand Questions Chris Perley Ngaruroro Ward, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Federated Farmers and Irrigation NZ … Continue reading
Alternatives to the Agricultural Industrial Model
The Central Hawke’s Bay area of New Zealand is a warm to hot summer dry environment with strong hot equinox winds. An in-stream dam (Ruataniwha Dam) is being promoted for irrigation of 25,000 hectares of flat land. The intensification of agriculture … Continue reading
Posted in Land Use, Thought Pieces
2 Comments
Edible Landscapes – Away from the Factory Model
There is many an idea presented as new that has its roots in days long past. We too often forget that the way things are done now was not always so. We too often presume that the ways of today … Continue reading
Posted in Land Use, Socio-ecological Systems, Thought Pieces
4 Comments
Ruataniwha Dam: The Winners and the Losers
The following is an Op-ed published in Hawkes Bay Today, Wednesday 9th April 2014, in response to a column by Federated Farmers Spokesperson Will Foley promoting the dam Federated Farmer’s Will Foley highlights three conflicting issues in his defense of … Continue reading
The Renaissance of an Ethos of Care
It is now more and more a forgotten fact that much of the effort by the New Zealand state in planting trees in the landscape had as its primary goal the ‘protection’ of some social and environmental value. These values … Continue reading
Thinking about Tree Crops – where to from here?
Akaroa by Maureen McCann When looking to the future, the poorest point of reference is often the present. We may not know where we will end up, but one thing is almost certain – it will be different than today. … Continue reading
Posted in Land Use, Thought Pieces
2 Comments
Does Farming need to Compromise the Environment? Compromise? Hell!
My apologies to Jane Austen, but some have been claiming recently that it is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a farm must compromise the environment. One newspaper commentator stated it thus: “..where our (New Zealand) reputation … Continue reading
Posted in Land Use, Resilience Thinking, Thought Pieces
9 Comments
NZ Primary Sector Strategy: an Alternative to the Race to the Bottom
Irrigation NZ CEO Andrew Curtis (NZ Farmer’s Weekly 25th Nov p 3) highlights one of the big problems with the New Zealand primary sector; our continued focus on producing large volumes of cheap commodities for international markets. We’re not to … Continue reading
Instead of Dam Thinking from the 50s, Look to the Landscape
In the lowlands of the Otago Peninsula, within the hill streams that flow into the harbour, there are water wheels. They stand as monuments to what once was, to what ‘functions’ there once were within our society, and – vitally … Continue reading
Posted in Land Use, Thought Pieces, Water retention
Tagged irrigation, land use history, landscape water, water management, water pattern
7 Comments
Land and Water Concerns of Federated Farmers and Irrigation NZ
Federated Farmers and Irrigation New Zealand Questions Chris Perley Ngaruroro Ward, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Federated Farmers and Irrigation NZ provided the following questions (italicised within text). Here is my response. Introduction I am passionate about the potential of our … Continue reading
Realising the Potential of Hawke’s Bay (and NZ Primary Sector)
Posted in agricultural strategy, Alternative Vision, Commodity trap, Community resilience, Environmental value, False clichés, Fruitbowl or Dustbowl, High value, Industrial Mindset, Land Use, Land use strategy, Landscape function, Local governance, Market position, Mordor vs the Shire, Primary Sector Strategy, Quality vs Commodity, Transfer, Water retention
4 Comments
A Forest Flows
I am a forester; in the old sense of the word. I want to reclaim the name, to give it again the sense of guardianship of a people and a place which is spatial, structural, dynamic, and timeless; a guardianship … Continue reading
Posted in Land Use, Linkages, Thought Pieces
24 Comments
Adapting to Climate Change – What Change? What Levels of Response?
Initial notes as the basis for a presentation to the Hawke’s Bay Royal Forest & Bird Society, February 2013 What adaptations do we make for climate change? The question of adapting to a future that is inherently uncertain – as … Continue reading
A ‘Sense of Place’ is not a Utility: Moving beyond Utilitarian Ethics in Natural Systems
There were two moments in the past when I realised that some people saw the world through distorted lens. The first was at a conference where a money man discussed forestry finance with me. He thought all rational decisions relating … Continue reading
Posted in Land Use, Thought Pieces
2 Comments
Discovering Great Land Minds
My first blog post! All happened serendipitously. You start with this nagging thought that goes on for months and months. You love writing but love procrastination more. People prod you to produce prose. You are a mild technophobe, wonder about … Continue reading
