The presented paper summarises the processes within a proposed impact assessment decision support tool tailored specifically to assist decision-makers in the geothermal development industry. The tool is inclusive of stakeholder biases and cultural interests within the Aotearoa New Zealand context. The methods, findings, and conclusions of each of the tool’s processes are described. The sequence of processes is:
- cultural mapping of New Zealand’s central north island to identify connections between Māori tribal homelands and geothermal resources;
- the identification and collation of geothermal development indicators of sustainability;
- defining indicator thresholds using mauri (life-force) as the metric of sustainability;
- defining the geothermal domains within which respective indicators of sustainability lie;
- stakeholder analyses in which stakeholder group worldviews are quantified as prioritised percentages between geothermal domains;
- workshopped and consulted assessment of indicator mauri impacted by geothermal developments;
- application of worldviews to the assessed impacts on indicator mauri to determine weighted priorities, and thus the relative perceived extents, of consequences and benefits upon indicators.
Results/Conclusions
The framework is founded on the principles of the Mauri Model, which defines cultural, environmental, social and economic dimensions. The tool herein further separates these dimensions to define the domains: spiritual, customary uses of geothermal resources, cultural identity, geothermal system capacity, climate, ecosystem diversity, education, family financial security, quality of life, national energy diversity, family/tribal economic resourcefulness, financial efficiency of geothermal developments. Each domain contains several indicators identified in workshops and consultations with stakeholders. We explore the the complexities involved in converting indicators' qualitative states to quantitative measures. Each indicator is assigned a value of mauri corresponding to its state and potential state of sustainability. Furthermore, we present the results of a New Zealand Geothermal Industry specific stakeholder analysis in which stakeholder worldviews are determined and applied to quantitative measures of indicators. The worldviews of Māori, the general public, energy companies, and engineers/scientist are analysed. It is identified that while all stakeholders placed a relatively equal amount of concern on environmental factors, there are significant differences between the amount of concern placed on economic, social, and cultural factors. While Maori place the least concern on economic factors and the most on cultural factors, energy companies place most on economic factors and the least on cultural factors. The general public place the most concern on social practice and the least on both economic and cultural factors. Engineers tended to act as a relatively neutral party in stakeholder dynamics.