Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) Framework
Our land in New Zealand is used in many different ways:
Urban land for housing, business and communities
Agricultural land for crop and livestock production
Forestry for wood production, as well as parks and reserves, rivers and other natural environments
As our population grows and needs change, land is being used for different purposes. Land-use change refers to the conversion of an area of land's purpose by humans. This can happen in a variety of ways, such as:
From forest to farmland
From grassland to urban development
From wetland to cropland
Land-use change is driven by a number of factors, including population growth, economic development, and climate change.
Land-use change is a complex issue with both positive and negative consequences. While a change may bring more jobs and money into the economy, it can have negative impacts on water quality and soil health. Another change might provide more homes but take away from productive land to grow crops or natural habitats for our native flora and fauna.
It's important to carefully consider the potential impacts of land-use change before making decisions about how to use land. To help enable this, AERU has developed a framework called the “Integrated Impact Assessment” framework.
This tool has been developed as an Excel workbook which enables people to explore different land use scenarios and see a broad assessment of the impacts. Impacts considered include:
Economic impacts, including gross output and employment
Environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity
Social impacts, including housing, life satisfaction and health.
The tool has been designed to be used by councils however the layperson should also be able to use it to make broad assessments and understand the complex nature of the impacts of land use change.
The framework has been developed for two case study areas, the Ashburton district and Mosgiel, or any of the sixteen regions of New Zealand.
Example scenarios are provided to help understand use of the framework, these demonstrate the impact of land use changes associated with reduction of nitrate leaching and of changing agricultural land to urban development.
More information about this framework can be found here: