Values and objectives

The Values and Objective workstream is a two-year programme by Environment Southland and Te Ao Marama Inc, the environmental arm of Ngai Tahu ki Murihiku, to determine Southlanders values and aspirations for freshwater and estuaries.

Te Ao Marama and Environment Southland worked together to identify the things that are important to people about water in Southland Murihiku. Environment Southland led the conversation about community values for freshwater earlier in 2019, and then developed draft environmental outcomes (objectives) for different water body classes (rivers, lakes, estuaries, groundwater, wetlands, and open coast). Te Ao Marama led a workstream that followed a similar process to establish values and outcomes (objectives) at a catchment level.

A complex task was then undertaken by Environment Southland and Te Ao Marama staff to weave together the findings into one set of draft environmental outcomes for the whole region.

This set of draft environmental outcomes also includes collective measurable attributes (water quality and physical habitat; aquatic life and ecosystem habitat; human health) for the different water body classes (rivers, lakes, estuaries, groundwater, wetlands, and open coast). These are contained in the report entitled Draft Murihiku Southland Freshwater Objectives.

Understanding the communities’ values for water and developing environmental outcomes (objectives) to protect these values are the first steps in a process called the “National Objectives Framework”. This process is laid out by the Government and is designed to help achieve improvements to freshwater, and Te Mana o te Wai (the integrated and holistic well-being of the water). These elements are part of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.

Environment Southland has completed an assessment of the current state of many of our waterways compared with the draft environmental outcomes. Find out more about that here.

You can delve into different sites and measurements, and understand the current state and our environmental outcomes in this map.

Reports available

Regional planning context for identifying values and developing draft freshwater objectives for Southland

This report provides the regional planning context and history to the package of values and draft attributes and freshwater objectives contained in subsequent reports.

Purpose:

To summarise the outputs of discussions about community values and aspirations for freshwater and coastal waters over the last 20 years, as contained in the relevant regional plans and other statutory planning instruments.

Summary and findings:

While regional plans and other statutory planning instruments have documented community values and aspirations for freshwater and coastal waters over the last 20 years, these aspirations have yet to be realised.

Read the report - Regional planning context for identifying values and developing draft freshwater objectives for Southland

Collecting and confirming community values through engagement

Environment Southland sought to obtain current information from Southland communities about their values through the ‘Share your Wai’ community engagement campaign.

Purpose:

The engagement campaign had three key purposes:

To obtain current information from Southland communities about their values and aspirations for freshwater and estuaries
to connect with a diverse range of audiences including those who typically do not engage with Environment Southland’s processes; and,
to raise awareness of freshwater and the challenges in this space, as well as the upcoming process by the Regional Forum on methods and limits.

It should be noted that this community engagement campaign did not specifically focus on gathering information about the values of tangata whenua. This was done in a parallel project, developed and implemented by Te Ao Marama.

Summary:

This report provides detail about the methodology used to obtain community values relating to water. Engagement tools included a regional survey and subsequent place-based focus groups.

Over the period from December 2018 to the end of March 2019, Environment Southland staff and Councillors attended around 40 community events to engage Southlanders in a conversation about what they wanted for our waterbodies, now and in the future.

Postcards about the survey were sent out to all 42,000 households in the region. A total of 1,026 people completed the survey, with staff estimating that at least another one to two people took part in the interactive map table exercise for every survey completed. In addition, there were around 100 entries in an art/photo competition.

Focus group sessions were held during April and May 2019 in seven different geographical areas of the region (based on FMUs). These explored similarities and differences between the survey responses for the region and the various FMUs, and were intended to generate additional data that could be used to sense check the package of values and draft freshwater objectives being developed.

Other key outcomes of the ‘Share your wai’ project included increased engagement and connection with the Southland community, and increased community awareness of water issues and challenges.

Read the report - Collecting and confirming community values through engagement

Community values for Southland’s Freshwater Management Units

This report used the ‘Share your Wai’ community engagement campaign data to confirm community values for Southland’s freshwater management units. Read more about gathering the values and what they are here.

Purpose:

To assess whether the values expressed previously in regional plans and statutory planning instruments are still relevant and whether any current values identified were different (additional or absent) from those previously identified.
To assess whether community values and attributes vary at different scales and how the data from the community engagement process could inform the Regional Forum process and other projects.

Summary and findings:

This report found:

The 18 community values identified from regional plans and other statutory documents were confirmed as still being relevant in the region.
Two new community values were identified from the engagement data - Community wellbeing and connectedness and Amenity and recreation
Weeds, slime, algae, cyanobacteria, sediment and muddiness were attributes that featured most prominently in the engagement data.
Overall, the same community values occurred everywhere with slightly differing emphases at differing scales
nitrate toxicity in rivers and streams (four classes)
ammonia toxicity in rivers and streams (five classes)
ammonia toxicity in lakes (three classes)
The most frequently cited issue related to concerns about pollutants and refuse/rubbish in and around water bodies across the region.

Read the report - Community values for Southland’s Freshwater Management Units

Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku Freshwater Values Survey 2019

Interviews and surveys were undertaken by Te Ao Marama to ascertain the values of tangata whenua in relation to water in Murihiku.

Wai - Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku

This report was written as part of a two-strand process to ascertain the values of the Murihiku Southland community with respect to freshwater. Whereas the earlier reports mentioned, focussed on the wider or ‘general’ community, this report specifically focuses on the values of tangata whenua.

Purpose:

To provide a foundation for resource management agencies and Papatipu Rūnanga planning for freshwater catchment values.

To provide a platform for the mutual understanding of Iwi and Council values for the effective management of resources.

Summary:

This report broadly sets out Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku values with respect to freshwater.

Māori perceive water as a holistic and sacred (taonga) entity within which it holds its own life force or ‘Mauri’. The Māori worldview promotes that we as humans are ‘one’ with the environment (Earth mother Papatūānuku). The worldview also promotes that water and rivers are like the life blood of Papatūānuku.

The cultural values associated with freshwater can be divided into three overarching sets of values; Te Mana o te Wai, Kaitiakitanga and Tino Rangatiratanga. Each of these themes are explored in this report. Values for the Oreti, Waiau, Aparima, Mataura and Mataua/Clutha river catchments, and the Waituna Lagoon catchment, are also covered.

Summary and findings:

Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku strive for the highest possible standard of water quality that is characteristic of a particular place and waterway. This means:
- striving for drinking water quality in water that was once drank from,
- bathing or swimming in water once used for contact recreation,
- having water quality capable of sustaining healthy mahinga kai in waters once used to source kai.
Water quality definitions, categories and standards need to be determined, measured and assessed with cultural values and indicators alongside scientific information.
Such indicators and values centre on the ability of the waterway to support life and the fitness of water for cultural uses.

Read the report - Wai - Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku

Developing draft freshwater objectives for Southland

Following on from the identification of community values, attributes and draft freshwater objectives for Southland were developed following the nationally consistent process prescribed in the NPS-FM.

Purpose:

The purpose of this report was to begin the process of developing draft freshwater objectives for consideration by Environment Southland’s Council and the Te Ao Marama Board.

Summary:

This report considers the existing broad narrative (descriptive) region-wide freshwater objectives for Southland, and describes the method used to develop draft numeric objectives. For ease of reporting and for consistency with the National Objectives Framework, numeric thresholds are shown as A, B, C or D band states (A band = very good; B band = good; C band = fair, D band = poor).

Rivers and streams are classified into seven classes (lowland soft bed, lowland hard bed, hill, mountain, lake fed, spring fed and natural state). Six national compulsory attributes were included along with 11 proposed numeric Southland attributes. A further four Southland attributes were included as either narrative objectives or numeric objectives that were yet to be developed at the time of writing.

Lakes are classified into five classes (lowland shallow lakes, upland shallow lakes, deep lakes, brackish lakes and lagoons and natural state). Six national compulsory attributes were included along with five proposed numeric Southland attributes. A further five attributes were included as draft narrative objectives.

Estuaries are classified into four classes (tidal lagoon estuaries, tidal river estuaries, fiords and bays and natural state). There are no nationally compulsory attributes for estuaries and 11 Southland numeric attributes were proposed along with 4 attributes to be included as narrative objectives.

Groundwater are classified into three classes for human health attributes (potable groundwater, non-potable ground and groundwater drinking supply protection zones). Distinct classes have not been proposed for groundwater-related ecosystem health; rather, the objectives apply to all groundwater in the region. There are no national compulsory attributes for groundwater and four numeric attributes were proposed along with 2 narrative objectives.

Wetlands are often difficult to distinguish from other water bodies (e.g. lakes, estuaries, streams) and have not been subdivided into classes for pragmatic reasons. Instead, attributes that apply to all types of wetlands were selected. There are no national compulsory attributes for wetlands and three Southland attributes were proposed based on maintain or improve criteria.

Open coast has been included in recognition of interactions, ki uta ki tai (from the mountains to the sea) between freshwater, land and coastal environments.

A comprehensive suite of numeric freshwater objectives have not been developed for the open coast, and there are no nationally compulsory attributes. Two draft numeric objectives, and two draft narrative objectives are given for Southland attributes.

Draft numeric freshwater objectives have been inferred where possible from previous Southland regional plan decisions. Where it was not possible to infer choices from previous plan decisions, the A, B, C or D options have been laid out the choice left undefined for subsequent discussion.

Read the full report - Developing draft freshwater objectives for Southland

Current environmental state and the “gap” to draft freshwater objectives for Southland

This report provides an assessment of the attribute state and assesses spatial and temporal variability.

Purpose:

To assess current environmental state to check whether any of the starting set of draft freshwater objectives were unknowingly set lower than current state, thus necessitating their revision upwards to at least current state, in order to satisfy the need to “maintain or improve” under the NPS-FM. Environmental state was then compared with the relevant draft freshwater objective state to identify the size of the gap needed to achieve the draft freshwater objective band.

Note: wording change as a result of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020. Draft freshwater objectives now referred to as draft environmental outcomes.

Summary:

Existing draft environmental outcomes were recommended to be revised up for the following:

A minimum draft environmental outcome threshold was identified for some attributes which previously could not have a draft environmental outcome band inferred from plan decisions. These include the majority of estuary attributes along with:

Deposited fine sediment in rivers and streams
Suspended sediment (turbidity) in rivers and streams
Trophic state (LakeSPI) in lakes
Nitrate toxicity in lakes

The size of the gap to achieve draft environmental outcomes varies for different measurable attributes across different freshwater management units, classes and waterbodies. Several overarching conclusions were:

There is a substantial gap to close to meet environmental outcomes for faecal indicators (E. coli and enterococci) for many groundwater sites, lowland river and lake classes and in estuaries. Most sites in mountain rivers, deep lakes and many open coast sites meet faecal indictors;
There is a substantial gap to close to meet environmental outcomes at some sites, particularly in lowland rivers and lakes and in estuaries, for nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and a related stream of environmental outcomes that are influenced by elevated nutrients (e.g. periphyton and macroinvertebrates in rivers and streams, phytoplankton and macrophytes in lakes and macroalgae in estuaries).
There is a substantial gap to close to meet environmental outcomes at some sites, again particularly in lowland rivers and lakes and in estuaries, related to sediment, such as objectives for deposited fine sediment, suspended sediment and visual clarity in rivers and streams, trophic condition (TLI) in lakes, muddiness, sedimentation rate and sediment oxygen level in estuaries.

Read the full report - Current environmental state and the “gap” to draft freshwater objectives for Southland

Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku Freshwater Objectives

Produced by Te Ao Marama, this report provides background and context relevant to describing draft Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku freshwater objectives.

Purpose:

The purpose of this report was to describe draft Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku freshwater objectives for Council, the Te Ao Marama Board and Regional Forum.

Summary:

Note: wording change as a result of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020. Draft freshwater objectives now referred to as draft environmental outcomes.

The report starts with an introduction to the customary and statutory framework that applies to the draft environmental outcomes described. It includes discussion of key concepts informing the ouctomes – Ki uta ki tai, Te mana o te wai, hauora and mahinga kai.

The Hauora and FMUs section outlines the relationship between some Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku Indicators of Health and some water quality measures being explored by the Regional Forum, including where there is overlap and where additional indicators have been identified by mana whenua. Diagrams are also included that show how Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku are approaching the freshwater management units (FMUs).

Following these sections are specific draft environmental outcomes and supporting information for each of the FMUs, the Matāura, Ōreti, Aparima, Waiau and Fiordland and Islands.

Findings:

Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku consider the relationship of the national attributes and ‘Southland attributes’ with Ngāi Tahu Indicators of Health and bottom lines. There are some basic principles that can be applied to better align application of national and Southland attributes with Ngāi Tahu ki Muirihiku draft environmental outcomes.

Guiding Principles for Attributes

The national and Southland attributes alone cannot support the hauora of waterbodies, so additional measures are needed, including assessing against Ngāi Tahu Indicators of Health.
Where an attribute is referencing an issue associated with risk to human health, Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku will seek that this risk be reduced to the lowest possible level.
Where an attribute is assessing levels of toxicity to species, Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku will also seek to avoid toxic effects harmful to species by reducing this risk to the lowest possible level.
A state of hauora, or healthy resilience in a waterbody, is likely to correspond with a mixture of ‘A’ and ‘B’ state attributes.
Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku will only consider a state lower than ‘A’ or ‘B’ appropriate for an attribute if the waterbody being assessed would naturally sit at a lower level for that measure, and the lower state is therefore assessed as consistent with a state of hauora for that waterbody.
The nature and behaviour of particular waterbodies is important to understand when considering attributes.
A state of hauora will be the result of the interaction of a combination of attributes and indicators.

Read the full report - Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku Freshwater Objectives

Draft Murihiku Southland Freshwater Objectives

This report is a coming together of the two parallel strands of work undertaken by Environment Southland and Te Ao Marama.

The values and objectives previously established by each workstream have been woven together, to comprehensively reflect the values and objectives of the Murihiku Southland community.

Note: wording change as a result of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020. Draft freshwater objectives now referred to as draft environmental outcomes.

Purpose:

This report has been prepared to assist Environment Southland’s Council and the Te Ao Marama Board in determining a set of draft environmental outcomes for Murihiku Southland. It will also inform the Regional Forum’s advice to Council and the Board on methods and limits to achieve these environmental outcomes.

Summary:

The focus of this report is on identifying environmental outcomes that reflect the qualities that come together to support hauora (wellbeing/ healthy resilience) within water bodies and by association the environment and communities, in the context of national and regional direction for freshwater management.

The report presents both narrative and numeric environmental outcomes. The narrative outcomes are designed to reference all of the relevant qualities of water bodies that provide for hauora in combination, not all of which are covered by draft numeric objectives.

Draft numeric outcomes are outlined for groundwater, rivers and streams, lakes, estuaries, wetlands and open coast waters building on the approach used in previous reports. The report presents these as two overlapping envelopes – a decision envelope based on existing policy settings that establish the minimum required point of improvement for water bodies degraded below that point and a hauora envelope within which the region is expected to, over time, recognise Te Mana o te Wai.

Findings:

The analysis in this report represents a significant step towards enabling the setting of environmental outcomes, limits and methods for water bodies within Murihiku Southland in accordance with national and regional direction.
The suite of draft environmental outcomes provides a technical basis upon which decisions can be made during the process of setting environmental outcomes, limits and methods.
The report therefore assists Council and the Te Ao Marama Board to express “what” state is desired to be achieved for water bodies in Murihiku Southland. Limits and other methods identified in the next stage of the Regional Forum process will provide advice on “how” this can be achieved.

Read the full report - Draft Murihiku Southland Freshwater Objectives

Other outputs

Supporting material

Supporting material for the values and objectives workstream includes: