Tairāwhiti Citizens’ Assembly on Land Use Transition
This project worked with the Tairāwhiti community to discuss what a transition to fair land use in the Tairāwhiti region could look like
What was the project about?
The Tairāwhiti region has been hard hit by repeated extreme weather events in recent years, not least Cyclone Gabrielle, which had a devastating impact. Extreme rainfall mobilised woody debris (slash) left on the highly erodible landscape by commercial forestry. This led to destructive flooding that caused roads and bridges to collapse and had traumatic impacts on lives and livelihoods.
The combined effects of historical government incentives for inappropriate land uses, poor regulatory oversight of forestry practices in the context of climate change and more extreme weather conditions prompted the Gisborne District Council and local research organisation Te Weu Tairāwhiti to ask not just what a fair land use transition could look like, but also whether a deliberative democratic process could help them find the answer.
We worked with Te Weu to co-design a process that was appropriate to this culturally, economically, geographically and historically distinctive region, and that centred Te Tiriti in its governance and implementation.
What was discussed?
Gisborne District Council wanted to get ahead of climate change’s divisive societal impacts by trying new ways to make decisions about the complex problems it creates. They partnered with Te Weu, who engaged us to help them explore deliberative processes.
In contrast to other processes, there was not a specific remit or policy issue at the outset. Instead, the project started with a co-design workshop with relevant stakeholders to help narrow down a suitable remit to put to the people of Tairāwhiti. This initial phase culminated in devising a remit on land use transitions, which is one of the most significant and overarching socio-economic and environmental issues for the region currently. It asked: What is a fair way to manage land use change in Tairāwhiti?
The co-designed deliberative process aimed to address regional land use concerns in a fair and democratic way
How did it work?
Once the remit was agreed by the process commissioners and stakeholders, we worked with Te Weu to plan the recruitment, learning and deliberation phases. For this Assembly, retention of young people posed a particular challenge, which proved to be an important learning point in the design as adjustments were made.
For the learning phase, Te Weu introduced Kaupapa-led practices of small group discussions with experts and stakeholders, and we included an experiential learning opportunity through a field-trip. Assembly members could expand their learning with bespoke written materials and videos accessible to them in a dedicated online repository.
The full Assembly process spanned approximately 3 months with 3 in-person sessions, 4 online sessions with experts and stakeholders, and an asynchronous online discussion using the Consider.it deliberation tool.
The process culminated with the Assembly drafting Citizens’ Calls to Action and delivering these to the Mayor and Chief Executive in a moving ceremony. These calls to action will now serve as an important reference document to guide Council’s decision-making on land use regulation and planning.
Find out more
In the news
- May 2025 Tairāwhiti Citizens’ Assembly release ‘Calls to Action’ around land use transition | NZ Herald
- September 2024 Citizens to help make decisions on land use | Gisborne District Council
