Groundbreaking report gets to the roots of the returns on investing in parks and nature

In what may likely be a world first, a groundbreaking report commissioned by the New Zealand Parks Leaders Forum (NZPLF) has opened up an opportunity to appraise and discuss the true value of Aotearoa New Zealand’s network of national, regional and local parks.

The dollar amount arrived at in the report for the long-term economic value of our parks, taking into account different scales and different purposes of individual parks, makes for a headline-grabbing estimate of just below $3 trillion dollars.

This is rightly described as a preliminary estimate because it is the first time such a project has been attempted.

Geoff Canham, NZPLF Convenor, says the report serves as an overdue recognition of how important having an unbroken connection to green open spaces is to prosperity and wellbeing.

“This is about far more than advocacy, it is about filling the absence of a long-term methodology for quantifying the benefits of spaces that are both central to our national identity and pivotal to our economy.

“The economy relies on the green infrastructure of our parks in more ways than is commonly understood and carries huge significance by striping across so many sectors and industries.

“It shouldn’t be the case that greenspaces are often considered a ‘nice to have’ when funding is concerned. When considering investment needs they shouldn’t - in our view - become any more discretionary or low profile than other essential infrastructure such as roads or utility engineering”.

Geoff: “As stated in the report’s introduction, our managed parks and other open spaces have a positive impact on society, recreation, cultural and other total ecosystem services. Nature is where you are, and the investment benefits are also about human habitat too.

“Be they managed by central government, local government, iwi, private and charitable trusts, private owners or local residents there has never been any doubt that parks deliver wellbeing benefits. This report turns our the attention to those benefits.

“Through this highly structured report we can now point to quantifiable evidence of the role that parks play in reducing public health costs, attracting domestic and international tourists and helping to create cities and regions where talented people want to live.

“When reviewing infrastructure spending, overlooking the value of parks underplays an economic advantage for Aotearoa New Zealand. This report will hopefully generate broader discussions so as a country we can play to our strengths.

“We’ve set out to enable discussions not so much within the parks sector - who already understand the broader demand and benefits of parks as they work in their communities every day - but with decision makers, statutory planners, government ministries, business and development sector groups, Treasury and analysts.

“Now is an ideal time to discuss the opportunities delivered by our national, regional and local parks so we can keep moving the economy forward.

“Nations that have understood the broader economic benefit of parks have taken their economies in a forward direction - and yet Aotearoa New Zealand is still viewed as leading the field environmentally based on perceptions shaped by the great nature assets here and branding campaigns like 100% Pure. It’s time to realise we can’t take the ‘Golden Whio’ for granted, in economic terms.

“The level of investment in parks will play a part in determining our economic performance, be that in terms of tourism, resources, wellbeing, climate change, biodiversity, fresh water, property values or social cohesion”.

The AERU Research Report - THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF PARKS

Research for the report, titled The Economic Value of Parks: A Framework and Preliminary Estimate, was undertaken by Paul Dalziel, Stephen Espiner, John Saunders and Paul Rutherford of the Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU) at Lincoln University.

It is the first time in New Zealand that such comprehensive research has been done to collect, synthesise and analyse data to create reliable evidence on the various forms in which parks contribute to the economic prosperity and wellbeing of New Zealand.

A wide approach was taken in the report to defining the country’s network of parks as a “living system of environmental and human resources that is an important aspect of how the wealth of Aotearoa New Zealand is organised in order to create capabilities for wellbeing”.

As part of describing the diversity of park types in the country’s network AERU have pointed to this table published in 2017 by the NZ Recreation Association. It also illustrates that an individual park does not exist in isolation, but is part of a diverse network of managed open spaces.

The AERU research report posed three key questions to underpin its analysis:

What is the annual value of the major benefits that the network of parks allows to happen?
What is the annual value of major costs associated with achieving those benefits?
What is the net present value of the benefits minus the costs over the next 200 years?

A spreadsheet tool used for the analysis has now been made available on the NZPLF website at parksmanagers.org.nz (sign up required).

Geoff Canham: “Tools and resources like this are a ‘holy grail’ for assisting organisations throughout the country to demonstrate the economic value of the greenspaces they are responsible for and ”.

The wide set of underlying data drawn on for the AERU report focused on the quantity of time spent in parks, and not on activities undertaken while visiting a park. Four priority areas for further research have been identified:

● better data on time spent by New Zealanders in parks

● an appropriate methodology for measuring the benefit of parks on the wellbeing of children

● an updated study on non-use benefits to New Zealanders

● an extension to include the value of New Zealand’s national parks to the global population, including international tourists to this country.

Fourteen sponsors contributed financial support to make the report possible: Ashburton District Council; Auckland Council; Christchurch City Council; Cornwall Park; Gore District Council; Greater Wellington Regional Council; Invercargill City Council; New Plymouth District Council; Tauranga City Council; Thrive Spaces and Places; Timaru District Council; Waimakariri District Council; Wellington City Council; and Xyst.

LAA readers can download a copy of the AERU report commissioned by the NZ Park Leaders Forum here (PDF, 7MB). The 87 page report contains more than 30 Tables and Figures, example below, and draws from more than 100 references.