LATEST NEWS | BIODIVERSITY TOOL DEVELOPMENTS
20 March 2019 - Listen to this radio interview to learn more about how Conservation Evidence can be used to help New Zealand make environmental decisions. Professor William Sutherland (one of our collaborators at University of Cambridge, UK) explains to Jesse Mulligan at Radio New Zealand why he set up Conservation Evidence and how his team are advancing it's development. The Conservation Evidence database and its underlying protocols were critical resources informing our own biodiversity tool design.
20 Nov 2018 - The Ministry for Primary Industries and Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research (Wellington) hosted our seminar demonstrating our prototype biodiversity tool which provides live predictions of the biodiversity benefits of a suite of farming practices. We also outlined the process which identified specific farming practices and aspects of biodiversity relevant to NZ farms, and then linked farming practice to impacts on biodiversity for land and aquatic habitats. Building on international work in Conservation Evidence and with the Cool Farm Alliance, this tool makes expert science accessible in a practical way. We reviewed the lessons learnt from the co-design process and invite discussion to build on the advances made. The presentation slides are available here.
15 Oct 2018 – Our pilot study exploring how global scientific evidence can be locally adapted for use in New Zealand was completed. A BIG THANK YOU to our six biodiversity experts (from various NZ institutes) who helped us quantify the effectiveness of two farm management actions in enhancing several biodiversity groups. Studies derived from the Conservation Evidence database were scored by the specialists individually and anonymously in multiple rounds to reach a consensus on how beneficial a given action was for each biodiversity group. This structured assessment process was originally developed by the University of Cambridge for evaluating global evidence.
17 Sep 2018 – WATCH this 13-min video for an overview of our biodiversity tool co-design process and results; this presentation was recorded as part of the Biosecurity Bonanza workshop hosted by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research in Christchurch. Workshop attendees included biosecurity and biodiversity managers, consultants and researchers from local and national government agencies, private sector and community groups. Local council agencies indicated their interest in using the tool and adapting its components for their own purposes.
7 Sep 2018 – We provided the Regional Council Biodiversity Working Group with an update on the biodiversity tool developments, inviting their feedback on the tool design and potential applications. The group indicated their interest in the tool, recognising in particular its potential to assist land managers within their respective organisations.
11 Jul 2018 – The Southland Environmental Advanced Party (involving 10 livestock farmers based around Gore) invited us to introduce and discuss our prototype tool. Overall feedback was positive: the tool was easy to use and saved them time looking for the information. The group envisaged using the tool primarily for self-assessments of performance but were also interested to see how they were doing relative to others in a similar context. They were also keen to support future tool developments – recommendations for improvement included increasing the tool resolution, linking to other farm management tools and relevant educational resources to help their planning (e.g. what species are recommended for planting in their area).
26 June 2018 – We delivered a proof-of-concept for co-designing a locally-adapted tool - our prototype tool (version 1.3.2) for biodiversity assessments on NZ farms is launched and ready for the last bit of fine tuning. Learn more about our prototype tool and who helped us co-design it.
8 June 2018 - We were invited to present our online biodiversity assessment tool to the Deer Industry NZ's Passion2Profit’s Environmental Stewardship Theme Group; this advisory group are responsible for developing the industry's environmental code of practice and long-term strategy. This was a great opportunity to pilot test our prototype tool and get some preliminary feedback on its design and how to improve it.
19-20 April 2018 – We were invited to give two presentations at the Cool Farm Alliance Annual Meeting at the University of Cambridge, UK. We provided a brief introduction to our work to c. 50 members of the Cool Farm Alliance (including Mars, Pepsico and the Sustainability Consortium). Then, as part of a workshop on biodiversity tool developments, we demonstrated how the Cool Farm Biodiversity Tool concept could be adapted to meet specific regional needs. Workshop attendees included international corporations (e.g. Tescos, Syngenta), sustainability assessment schemes (e.g. LEAF), various consultancies and research organisations.
18 April 2018 – We met with the Conservation Evidence team based at the University of Cambridge, UK, to invite their peer review of our NZ biodiversity tool developments to-date; our work was positively received with the team being impressed with the progress made in the space of a year. Parallels in our thinking about the processes for synthesising, evaluating and getting better uptake of evidence were evident, with strong support for ongoing collaboration so NZ can continue to contribute to and benefit from the Conservation Evidence database concept.
16 April 2018 – The Agribusiness Group helped us to review and refine our checklist of farm management actions – aiming to make sure that the management actions are locally relevant and easily understood by the tool users.
20 March 2018 –Check out our 2-min video ‘Tell the NZ biodiversity story – what goes into our tool?’ to find out what you and other stakeholders considered most useful for inclusion in our prototype tool for biodiversity assessments on NZ farms. Full report available here.
8 March 2018 – Thirty-one stakeholders around the country were invited to review a draft report summarising the discussion and outcomes of our prioritisation workshop – to ensure both workshop attendees and other parties who have supported our biodiversity tool development to-date had a chance to comment on the report before it was finalised.
26 February 2018 – THANKS TO OUR 20 WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS for engaging in some lively discussion at our prioritisation workshop hosted by the Ministry for Environment in Wellington. The group consensus was to prioritise 10 biodiversity groups and 35 management actions for inclusion in the tool now, with some of those actions flagged for further discussion and refinement. Supporting documents and presentations for the workshop can be accessed here.