Thank you for attending the OESF 2019 from Monday 2nd to Friday 6th September 2019 in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Included in the price of the OESF 2019 registration was a range of workshops on ecosystem services. These workshops provided a setting where courses were taught, and different communities came together to discuss technical topics and engage in an active exchange of ideas and expertise (e.g. professional development, education/skills focused, research topic focused, place-based studies).
Workshops were held on Monday (2nd Sept) and Tuesday (3rd Sept). Forum participants were encouraged to fill their agenda and participate in workshops in ‘non-overlapping’ time slots. Workshops ran for either 2 hours, 1/2 day or 1 full day.
Download the OESF 2019 Final Programme Overview
Monday 2nd September 2019
Workshop 1:
Forest Ecosystem Services in Oceania- Progress in Policy and Decision Making
Forest ecosystem services are the direct and indirect contributions that forests make to economic prosperity, environmental conservation and human well-being. These services include the provision of timber, climate regulation, biodiversity conservation, recreation, cleaner air and improved water quality.
We will discuss the progress made on recognizing and accounting for ecosystem service indicators in policy in Oceania, what are key gaps and challenges moving forward, and how these lessons can influence current and future policies, for example, afforestation, reforestation, and climate change adaptation.
Participants will gain a better understanding of the challenges of informing policies that include forest ecosystem services, including social license to operate issues. We will build on our collective knowledge through small group discussions to explore how these challenges could be overcome.
Time: Monday 2nd September, 8:30-5pm
Room: Savoy East
Coordinator: Scion
Materials: See Forest Ecosystem Services forum programme.
Workshop 2:
Ecosystem approaches to health
In this workshop participants will be introduced to the concept of “ecosystem approaches to population health”. The workshop format is interactive and participant driven. The aim of this workshop is to establish an ecosystem stakeholder driven agenda for population health in Oceania. Through participation in this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Define the term “population health”
- Understand the basic linkages between ecosystems and public health
- Identify the key components of an ecosystem approach to health
- Identify the challenges and opportunities that underlie an ecosystem approach to health
- Determine a way forward to better integrate the ecosystem and human health in Oceania in the short, medium and long-term.
Time: Monday 2nd September, 10:00am-12:00pm
Room: Clarendon
Coordinator: ANU Research School of Population Health
Workshop 3:
Accessing and Using Oceania Shoreline and Terrestrial Ecosystem Data
In this workshop participants will be instructed in how to access and explore rich new data ‘freely available’ on the distribution of the islands of Oceania and their terrestrial ecosystems. The workshop format will be a computer demonstration by the organizers. Participants will learn how to use the Global Island Explorer, download the data, explore the attributes, and make a simple map. An analysis of the representation (protection) of ecosystems in protected areas will also be presented.
All Forum participants are welcome. This workshop will be most relevant to spatial analysts interested in exploring and using standardized data on Oceania islands and terrestrial ecosystems.
Time: Monday 2nd September, 10:00am-12:00pm
Room: Windsor
Coordinator: USGS
Workshop 4:
Stakeholder analysis using social network analysis
Stakeholder analysis and social network analyses are increasingly employed in Natural Resource Management. Stakeholder analysis identifies key stakeholder groups and assesses their relationships relative to power and importance. Social Network Analysis (SNA) focuses on understanding the characteristics of social networks that increase the likelihood of collective action and successful natural resource management.
The aim of this workshop is to establish a social network map of key stakeholders involved in ecosystem services decision-making distributed across Oceania. Participants will:
- Identify key stakeholders
- Identify key issues involved in environment planning and management
- Determine ways to improve current existing issues in environment planning and environment
- Determine the influence that connectivity between key stakeholders has on decision making and planning outcomes
Stakeholder analysis is a simple but effective method that can help planners and managers understand the social dimensions of their undertaking without waiting for long term policy changes. It also helps with formulating future strategy and implementation of policies. Participants will get the opportunity to be included in a social network analysis which results provided shortly after the end of the Oceania Ecosystems Services Forum 2019.
All the information provided will be treated in strict confidence with no participant being identified. Where participants are willing to be identified, they will be credited for their valid input towards the first author’s study. The results from the workshop will be further analysed and be written up as part of a PhD thesis.
Time: Monday 2nd September, 1:00pm-3:00pm
Room: Windsor
Coordinators: Massey University. Download Workshop details.
Workshop 5:
What we know and what we need to know – ecosystem services and environmental reporting
The environmental system is complex, operates at many different scales, and provides a range of benefits and services. Through understanding and monitoring our environment, we can improve the way we manage and protect it and the services and benefits that it provides.
New Zealand’s state of the environment report, Environment Aotearoa 2019, highlights the need to make better use of our existing knowledge, to fill key knowledge gaps, and to build a better environmental reporting system.
This two hour workshop, co-led by New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ, will draw on the collective knowledge of participants to explore how ecosystem services are represented in state of the environment reporting, including the data and knowledge needed to inform environmental decision making.
Time: Monday 2nd September, 3:15pm-5:00pm
Room: Windsor
Coordinators: Ministry for the Environment, Stats NZ
Tuesday 3rd September 2019
Workshop 6:
A game tool to tackle complex environmental problems: “Catchment 2030”
This workshop is a fun opportunity to understand complex relationships and ‘the big picture’ through a natural resource management simulation. Participants will experience the game “Catchment 2030” hands-on with a focus on learning by doing and building empathy.
Key benefits: Hands on learning of a thought-provoking tool in a safe environment. You will be able to test and challenge your ideas, network with like minded individuals and explore further use of the tool to adapt to your own context. This is a unique opportunity to have some fun and experience some different perspectives.
What will happen: The workshop includes explanation of background of the tool and purpose, overview of steps of the simulation, playing the simulation and debrief and reflection. We will create an inter-team simulation of a complex environmental challenge, working together to explore how it might operate in 2030. Teams will play out the strategies and goals of characters in organisations, including community, business, philanthropic, tribal and government.
We will finish with a debrief to explore how this simulation tool can be adapted to other contexts and uses in Oceania, for example, understanding of complex environmental problems, supporting engagement processes, and capacity and professional development in decision-making. The tool has been tested 9 times in New Zealand and 80% of participants recognised it has changed or expanded their views on managing natural resources.
This games tool prompts participants to think about their approach to problems from a different perspective and increase their understanding of each other’s outlook. The tool was originally designed using New Zealand narratives and can be extrapolated to engagement and understanding of complex environmental problems elsewhere.
For more information on the tool, please visit: www.scionresearch.com/adaptivegovernance (Tool 3)
Time: Tuesday 3rd September, 8:30am-11:30am
Room: Savoy East
Coordinators: He Oranga mo Nga Uri Tuku Iho Trust and Scion
Workshop 7:
Connecting Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services to Wellbeing
Natural capital and ecosystem services play a crucial role providing for human wellbeing. Accounting for natural capital, ecosystem services, and wellbeing in policy is also becoming commonplace both here and around the world. Yet despite this increased recognition, questions remain about how to connect ecosystem services to wellbeing in policy. How do we account for trade-offs between ecosystem services and human wellbeing? How are services and wellbeing distributed across New Zealand? How do culture, cultural identity, and social capital relate to ecosystem services and wellbeing?
Co-led by representatives from the Ministry for the Environment and Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, this workshop will explore the links between ecosystem services and human wellbeing and elaborate on the above questions. The workshop will demonstrate methods for connecting natural capital and ecosystem services to wellbeing.
Participants will develop a better understanding of how to approach trade-offs between ecosystem services and wellbeing to connect ecosystem services to wellbeing, and also learn about the role of social capital and culture in accounting for ecosystem services and wellbeing.
Time: Tuesday 3rd September, 8:30am-11:30am
Room: Clarendon
Coordinators: Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and Manaaki Whenua
Workshop 8:
Standards and Principles for Nature-based Solutions
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) offer an innovative, sustainable and inclusive approach to addressing societal challenges across the globe. They are actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, whilst simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. IUCN, with the Commission for Ecosystem Management, published the eight principles of Nature-based Solutions in 2016 (Cohen-Shacham et al, 2016). More recently, a review of these principles informed the core principles for successfully implementing and upscaling NbS (Cohen-Shacham et al, 2019). And for the last year, IUCN has been crowd sourcing the development of a global standard for the design and verification of NbS, to be officially launched at the World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France in June, 2020.
The NbS global standard aims to create a common understanding and consensus on what constitutes a NbS, and provide guidance on how the services of nature can be harnessed for biodiversity and society both. NbS are guiding the way in safeguarding nature and ecosystem services with the purpose of addressing societal needs such as adaptation to climate change, economic and social development, food and water security, human health, as well as reducing disaster risk. Come to this interactive town hall meeting to learn more about the development of the standard from the IUCN Ecosystem Management Programme, and build your own capacity to use the global standard to design and verify your own NbS.
Time: Tuesday 3rd September, 8:30am-11:30am
Room: Windsor
Coordinators: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Oceania Ecosystem Services Forum 
You must be logged in to post a comment.