Analysis Structuring stakeholder participation in New Zealand's water resource governance James Lennox a, ⁎, Wendy Proctor b , Shona Russell a a Landcare Research, PO Box 40, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand b CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, GPO Box 284, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia abstract article info Article history: Received 20 October 2010 Received in revised form 14 February 2011 Accepted 19 February 2011 Available online 30 March 2011 Keywords: Participatory methods Deliberative Multicriteria Evaluation Sustainability Appraisal International experience has shown that extensive, systematic and structured stakeholder engagement is important in modern water resource governance. Through two case studies in the Canterbury Region, we investigate the emergence of structured and deliberative participatory processes for decision-making in New Zealand. We particularly focus on the use of evaluative criteria and weightings in providing structure for stakeholder deliberations and clarity and transparency in decision-making processes. Some of the benefits of using criteria weightings to reflect individuals' priorities include their ability to bring out the various perspectives and preferences to start the deliberations and increase the understanding of other people's points of views and their knowledge to all of the stakeholders. We consider particular aspects of the New Zealand context, including the development of criteria specific to Maori interests. These case studies lead us to conclude that stakeholder participation in decision-making is beneficial and increasingly necessary to resolve the problems and tensions around the governance of Canterbury's water resources. They also demonstrate that there are numerous practical and systemic barriers that must be overcome if the potential is to be fully realised. We provide recommendations on how such participatory processes can be successfully implemented to produce meaningful and effective outcomes. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The sustainable management of freshwater resources is an increasingly important issue in New Zealand (Harding et al., 2004), as in many other countries (e.g. Australia (CSIRO, 2008) and Germany (Mauser et al., 2008)). In many cases, current systems of water resource governance have failed to cope with increasing demands of quantity and quality on water systems, and new solutions are being sought. Such solutions are likely to require a shift from the conventional hierarchical models of water governance focusing on regulatory controls, to hybrid governance models in which collabo- rative, market-based and regulatory elements all play a role (Gunningham, 2008). One element that is clearly emerging in New Zealand is a greater role for stakeholder participation in decision- making (Russell and Frame, accepted for publication). This ranges from involvement in specific water resource infrastructure develop- ments, to development of catchment and regional plans, and even to the redesign of water governance institutions. Our focus in this paper is on approaches to structuring stakeholder involvement, and particularly, the use of multiple evaluative criteria to assess alternative options for water management. We consider two case studies in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand, where problems of water governance have become contested and severe (Smith, 2010) (Fig. 1). Decisions concerning management of water resources often involve complex and uncertain (sometimes disputed) scientific, social and cultural facts, multiple (sometimes conflicting) values of individual and different stakeholders, and high stakes. Engaging stakeholders meaningfully and constructively in making such decisions is not easy. In Canterbury, these difficulties are multiplied by the misunderstanding and polarisation of stakeholders' positions and mistrust (between not only different stakeholder groups but also between agencies with responsibility for water management) that are the legacy of inadequate water governance (Gunningham, 2008). Various criteria can be identified to effectively assess alternative options available to decision-makers. These evaluative criteria can then be used to bring structure to decision problems, to identify important values and data/knowledge relevant to these, and to clarify stakeholders' different value positions (as stakeholders may consider some criteria more important in assessing options than others and these rankings may differ between stakeholders). This general approach to structuring stakeholder participation – including but not limited to the use of formal multicriteria decision tools (Proctor, 2009) – may be useful in a wide range of decision problems that can be framed in terms of choices between alternative options and by extension, development, adaptation and refinement of such options. Through a case study approach, we seek to understand how evaluative criteria may be applied to aid stakeholder participation in Ecological Economics 70 (2011) 1381–1394 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +64 3 321 9718; fax: +64 3 321 9998. E-mail addresses: lennoxj@landcareresearch.co.nz (J. Lennox), wendy.proctor@csiro.au (W. Proctor), russells@landcareresearch.co.nz (S. Russell). 0921-8009/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.02.015 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon