3.2.1. WHAT DOES LAND USE CHANGE INVOLVE?
Land use change was identified as any shift in how land was
used in the region, and could involve any commercial, non-commercial or other
utilization or experience of land considered relevant by interview
participants. This broad definition was used to ensure participants themselves
defined land use change, rather than pre-determining the types of things that
might be considered land use change?.
Land use change is commonly thought of as involving a change
in the amount of land used for a particular purpose. In reality, it is more
complex. Interviewers identified that land use change may involve some or all
of the following:
? Change in the area of land used for a particular purpose
? Change in the number of people employed in different land
use industries
? Changes in the way a land use is undertaken, including the
technology used, efficiency of production and methods of production
? Change in local and regional economic activity dependent on
different land uses, e.g. changes in the types of businesses needed to supply
goods and services, and
? Change in volume and value of goods produced.
This range of types of change is important to recognize. A
change in intensity or efficiency of land use can have socio-economic impacts
that are as significant as those resulting from a change in the total area of
land used for a particular purpose. For example, intensification of a
particular land use such as cropping can result in higher employment per
hectare, and a greater local economic activity due to more inputs being used
and greater volume of outputs being produced per hectare. This may have impacts
as significant as those resulting from a change in the total area of land used
for cropping.
24
3.2.2. RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF LAND USE
CHANGE
After listing the land use changes they had observed,
interviewers were asked to prioritize which were the most important or
significant. This was asked in a relatively open way, and when clarification
was requested it was suggested that this should be those land uses which
interviewers considered to have had the greatest or most important impacts (not
necessarily either positive or negative) on the part of the study region they
were familiar with, which they were most enthusiastic to discuss, or which they
felt should be investigated further in the Land Use Change study.
Interviewers were given five stickers, and asked to prioritize
significant land uses by placing their stars against those land uses they felt
were most important. They could choose to put all five stickers against a
single land use, to allocate their stickers to multiple land uses, or to use
only some of their stickers. Once all interviewers had indicated their
priorities, land use changes were ranked from highest importance (those with
the greatest number of stickers) to least (those with few or no stickers).
The land use changes identified as being important?
by many participants in interviews were:
? Increase in area of pine plantations
? Increase in the area of land used for cropping, and a range
of changes in how cropping is undertaken
? Changes in the dairy industry, which varied but included
increase in the area used for dairy farming in some parts of the region,
decreases in other parts, intensification and increasing herd size
? Farm amalgamation (across all types of agriculture),
associated with increased farm size, and increased efficiency enabling a farmer
to manage larger areas
? Increase in rural residential development
As with the process of analyzing land use and land use
changes, the first stage of analysis of impacts involved grouping similar
impacts into categories. While there were important differences in the impacts
described as resulting from different types of land use change, the individual
impacts described could be grouped into the categories of impacts on:
25
+ Local and regional economic activity: spending and flows of
goods and services at the local and regional level.
+ Population and demographics: numbers of residents in region
and in local areas, as well as diversity of these populations with regard to
age, length of residence, income and other salient characteristics.
+ Community interaction and cohesion: the extent to which
members of a community interact, and levels of consensus and conflict in
communities.
+ Employment availability and types: the type and quantity of
jobs available in different industries
+ Other industries: competition between industries for land and
other resources
+ Environmental conditions: condition of soil, streams, and
native vegetation in region + Water use and availability: amount of water
available for domestic and industrial uses + Land prices and markets: change in
the price of land suitable for particular land uses, and
+ Infrastructure condition and use: change in the provision and
condition of infrastructure such as roads, housing, and water distribution
facilities.
| 
