Engagement for NPS–FM Implementation Using Watershed Plans

Auckland Council is implementing an integrated watershed planning process (integrated catchment management) in order to follow international best practice in water management, and to meet requirements under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2017 (NPS-FM).

Successful watershed management relies on agreeing desired water outcomes and actions with the many stakeholders interested in water management. In Auckland, some challenges for this process include:

• Auckland’s size and the number of stakeholders with an interest in water;
• Competing stakeholder interests and priorities and how to represent them all fairly;
• Uncertainty about the future, including possible changes in climate, city growth, city finances, land use, community expectations and legal requirements.

Robust, considered engagement with stakeholders is vital for addressing these challenges. However, it is difficult to manage the size and complexity of engagement on water management without a common frame of reference.

To address this, Auckland Council is developing GIS-based integrated watershed plans. This paper describes how watershed plans support stakeholder engagement for NPS-FM implementation.