Research History

1998-1999 EcoLink Environmental Accounts for Northland, Auckland and Waikato Regions - $168,000

This project, sponsored by Ministry for the Environment's Sustainable Management Fund and nine supporting local authorities (Northland Regional Council, Auckland Regional Council, Waikato Regional Council, North Shore City Council, Waitakere City Council, Auckland City Council, Manakau City Council, Hamilton City Council and Waipa District Council), established a set of Environmental Accounts for the three most northern regions in New Zealand.

The accounts, known as "EcoLink", cover economic, energy and energy-related emissions, water and water-based pollutants, and land resources.

EcoLink was developed collaboratively by McDermott Fairgray Group (Mr Garry McDonald, Ms Kiri LeHeron), Massey University (Dr Murray Patterson) and representatives of the various participating Councils. The EcoLink accounts provide a quantitative picture of the interactions between the economy and the environment.

These accounts can be queried by the use of a database tool, covering a number of fields including: years (1994/95, 1997/98), economic sectors (43 types), spatial areas (regions, cities, district, catchments), eco-efficiency and lifecycle assessment indicators, economic performance indicators, economic production and consumption data, resource use (energy, land water) and pollutants (nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon dioxide, methane).

Queries can be flexibly answered using different elements of these fields. A simple forecasting/spreadsheet tool was also produced to investigate different 'What If' scenarios for these regions. The use of this tool is intended to highlight trade-offs between achieving economic and environmental policy objectives in these particular regions.

Click on Ecolink to experiment with how this programme works.