Catlins Integrated Catchment Group

The Otago Regional Council is supporting the formation of a Catlins Integrated Catchment Group (CICG) to work with iwi and community to develop a Catchment Action Plan (CAP) for the Catlins.

The formation of the CICG represents a commitment to working in partnership with iwi, the community and stakeholders to co-design Catchment Action Plans.

Catlins Estuary

What is a Catchment Action Plan (CAP)?

A CAP is a plan for the management and conservation of an entire catchment or catchments. It is a long-term plan that builds on the work that communities and local government are already doing to protect and manage their place and serves as a focus for new actions and projects.

Although the catchment, or watershed, is used to frame a CAP, it is not focused on just freshwater. A CAP looks at the whole system: biodiversity, water (fresh and salty), land, and the ecosystem services they provide as well as human wellbeing values (including mahika kai, wāhi tupuna and livelihoods).

The CAP can refer to regulatory (or mandatory) rules that may need to be taken to achieve environmental outcomes required by regional plans, but it will not be creating 'rules'.

Successful CAPs are 'owned' by the community, iwi and the ORC. This means they are developed with the community. ORC, key stakeholders, and subject experts will be working with communities and iwi to co-design these detailed catchment action plans for their area.

How can I be involved?

The ORC is looking for people who are local or have some connection to the Catlins to be part of the CICG to help develop the Catchment Action Plan.

We are seeking expressions of interest to form a group that is diverse in geographical representation of the region, communities of interest, age and gender.

We are also looking for a range of experience and knowledge in the group, which includes, but is not limited to: 

• Agricultural systems
• Biodiversity – flora and fauna species, populations, or communities
• Community and networks
• Environmental management – conservation, restoration, rehabilitation, planning or legislation
• Estuaries and/ or marine ecosystems – processes, species
• Forestry practices
• Freshwater – hydrology, quality, aquatic species, processes
• Government processes and practices – local, regional and/ or national
• Historic heritage
• Land and soils management – health, productivity, rehabilitation, stabilisation
• Mātauraka Māori
• Socio-economic assessment or evaluation – Social science, economics
• Tourism

You are not expected to be an 'expert' in these areas, any relevant experience working in or knowledge about them would be useful.

What exactly am I signing up for?

We expect the CAP will take 9-12 months to develop. This will include 5-6 full-day workshops.

In the workshops, we’re going to trial an internationally recognised method for natural resource project design and collaboration called Conservation Standards (CS). CS has been designed to tackle large, complex, and urgent environmental problems and places the community and principles of co-design at its heart.

The workshops will be facilitated and supported by technical expertise from the ORC.

Read more about Conservation Standards

Timeline

Expressions of interest closed 13 August. After this date, we will discuss these with the Integrated Catchment Working Group and make recommendations to the Otago Regional Council for appointment. 

We hope to start the meetings and workshops in late October/ early November 2023 and have the process complete by September 2024.

Community Meeting 18 July 2023

We had a great online community meeting, chatting about the formation of a Catlins Integrated Catchment Group (CICG) to work with iwi and community to develop a Catchment Action Plan.

Watch the online community meeting below.

Terms of Reference

Read the Terms of Reference for the Catlins Integrated Catchment Group

What if I have questions?

We will be delighted to answer questions.

You can email the team at icm@orc.govt.nz or phone 0800 474 082