title: A Study of Green Space Access in the Waikato Region

authors: Wackrow, Aidan

abstract: Access to green space provides a wide range of social, economic, health and environmental benefits. However, there are disparities in the ways that people access these benefits. This research aimed to examine how access to green space was spatially distributed across the Waikato region, whether a relationship existed between access to green space and socioeconomic deprivation, and what the planning and policy implications of this were.
In order to quantify access to green space, a Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis was undertaken using the Access to Natural Greenspace Standard (ANGSt) model, an English distance based accessibility measure. The ANGSt model measures how many people meet each of four standards based on travel distance to different sized green spaces. The results of this analysis were compared with New Zealand Deprivation (NZDep) index scores in order to determine if socioeconomic deprivation had any effect on access to green space. Semi- structured interviews were then undertaken in order to ground the results in current planning theory and practice.
The results of the GIS analysis showed that, generally, urban populations had better access to small green spaces within walking distance, while rural populations had better access to large green spaces. This study was unable to find evidence of a relationship between deprivation and green space access.
While most people in the region have access to a green space, there are still areas where access is lacking. Further study is needed in order to better understand the determinants of accessibility and how equitable access to the benefits of nature can be achieved.

text: A Study of Green Space Access in the Waikato Region Access to green space provides a wide range of social, economic, health and environmental benefits. However, there are disparities in the ways that people access these benefits. This research aimed to examine how access to green space was spatially distributed across the Waikato region, whether a relationship existed between access to green space and socioeconomic deprivation, and what the planning and policy implications of this were.
In order to quantify access to green space, a Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis was undertaken using the Access to Natural Greenspace Standard (ANGSt) model, an English distance based accessibility measure. The ANGSt model measures how many people meet each of four standards based on travel distance to different sized green spaces. The results of this analysis were compared with New Zealand Deprivation (NZDep) index scores in order to determine if socioeconomic deprivation had any effect on access to green space. Semi- structured interviews were then undertaken in order to ground the results in current planning theory and practice.
The results of the GIS analysis showed that, generally, urban populations had better access to small green spaces within walking distance, while rural populations had better access to large green spaces. This study was unable to find evidence of a relationship between deprivation and green space access.
While most people in the region have access to a green space, there are still areas where access is lacking. Further study is needed in order to better understand the determinants of accessibility and how equitable access to the benefits of nature can be achieved.

year: 2016

title: Carbon emissions pinch analysis (CEPA) for emissions reduction in the New Zealand electricity sector

authors: Atkins, Martin John

subjects: Carbon Emissions Pinch Analysis

abstract: Carbon Emissions Pinch Analysis (CEPA) is a recent extension of traditional thermal and mass pinch analysis to the area of emissions targeting and planning on a macroscale (i.e. economy wide). This paper presents a carbon pinch analysis of the New Zealand electricity industry and illustrates some of the issues with realising meaningful emissions reductions. The current large proportion of renewable generation sources (~67% in 2007) complicates wholesale emissions reductions. The biggest growth in renewable generation is expected to come from geothermal energy followed by wind and hydro. A four fold increase in geothermal generation capacity is needed in addition to large amounts of new wind generation to reduce emissions to around 1990 levels and also meet projected demand. The expected expansion of geothermal generation in New Zealand raises issues of GHG emissions from the geothermal fields. The emissions factors between fields can vary by almost two orders of magnitude making predictions of total emissions highly site specific.

text: Carbon emissions pinch analysis (CEPA) for emissions reduction in the New Zealand electricity sector Carbon Emissions Pinch Analysis (CEPA) is a recent extension of traditional thermal and mass pinch analysis to the area of emissions targeting and planning on a macroscale (i.e. economy wide). This paper presents a carbon pinch analysis of the New Zealand electricity industry and illustrates some of the issues with realising meaningful emissions reductions. The current large proportion of renewable generation sources (~67% in 2007) complicates wholesale emissions reductions. The biggest growth in renewable generation is expected to come from geothermal energy followed by wind and hydro. A four fold increase in geothermal generation capacity is needed in addition to large amounts of new wind generation to reduce emissions to around 1990 levels and also meet projected demand. The expected expansion of geothermal generation in New Zealand raises issues of GHG emissions from the geothermal fields. The emissions factors between fields can vary by almost two orders of magnitude making predictions of total emissions highly site specific.

year: 2009

title: Two-step human−environmental impact history for northern New Zealand linked to late-Holocene climate change

authors: Newnham, Rewi M.

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: Following resolution of a long-standing debate over the timing of the initial settlement of New Zealand from Polynesia (late 13th century), a prevailing paradigm has developed that invokes rapid transformation of the landscape, principally by fire, within a few decades of the first arrivals. This model has been constructed from evidence mostly from southern and eastern regions of New Zealand, but a more complicated pattern may apply in the more humid western and northern regions where forests are more resilient to burning. We present a new pollen record from Lake Pupuke, Auckland, northern New Zealand, that charts the changing vegetation cover over the last 1000 years, before and after the arrival of people. Previous results from this site concurred with the rapid transformation model, although sampling resolution, chronology and sediment disturbance make that interpretation equivocal. Our new record is dated principally by tephrochronology together with radiocarbon dating, and includes a cryptotephra deposit identified as Kaharoa tephra, a key marker for first settlement in northern New Zealand. Its discovery and stratigraphic position below two Rangitoto-derived tephras enables a clearer picture of environmental change to be drawn. The new pollen record shows an early phase (step 1) of minor, localised forest clearance around the time of Kaharoa tephra (c. 1314 AD) followed by a later, more extensive deforestation phase (step 2) commencing at around the time of deposition of the Rangitoto tephras (c. 1400‒1450 AD). This pattern, which needs to be corroborated from other well-resolved records from northern New Zealand, concurs with an emerging hypothesis that the ‘Little Ice Age’ had a significant impact on pre-European Māori with the onset of harsher conditions causing a consolidation of populations and later environmental impact in northern New Zealand.

text: Two-step human−environmental impact history for northern New Zealand linked to late-Holocene climate change Following resolution of a long-standing debate over the timing of the initial settlement of New Zealand from Polynesia (late 13th century), a prevailing paradigm has developed that invokes rapid transformation of the landscape, principally by fire, within a few decades of the first arrivals. This model has been constructed from evidence mostly from southern and eastern regions of New Zealand, but a more complicated pattern may apply in the more humid western and northern regions where forests are more resilient to burning. We present a new pollen record from Lake Pupuke, Auckland, northern New Zealand, that charts the changing vegetation cover over the last 1000 years, before and after the arrival of people. Previous results from this site concurred with the rapid transformation model, although sampling resolution, chronology and sediment disturbance make that interpretation equivocal. Our new record is dated principally by tephrochronology together with radiocarbon dating, and includes a cryptotephra deposit identified as Kaharoa tephra, a key marker for first settlement in northern New Zealand. Its discovery and stratigraphic position below two Rangitoto-derived tephras enables a clearer picture of environmental change to be drawn. The new pollen record shows an early phase (step 1) of minor, localised forest clearance around the time of Kaharoa tephra (c. 1314 AD) followed by a later, more extensive deforestation phase (step 2) commencing at around the time of deposition of the Rangitoto tephras (c. 1400‒1450 AD). This pattern, which needs to be corroborated from other well-resolved records from northern New Zealand, concurs with an emerging hypothesis that the ‘Little Ice Age’ had a significant impact on pre-European Māori with the onset of harsher conditions causing a consolidation of populations and later environmental impact in northern New Zealand.

year: 2018