Policy analysts, planners, and consent and compliance officers

In the interest of reducing adverse effects of nitrogen many countries have begun regulating N, thus extending the intense scientific research interest into applying scientific knowledge into effective policy making. Consequently, there has been interest among policy makers to learn about N to use expert advice effectively to formulate useful policies or regulations.

Apart from policy makers, consent processing officers will need sufficient N knowledge to deal with wastewater discharge applications. In New Zealand now N knowledge is also required to process land use or discharge consents for farming hence knowledge in N is becoming more important. Compliance officers who monitor resource consents will also benefit from the knowledge of nitrogen because consent conditions restrict N loading into the environment. It is the compliance officers who identify whether a consent review is required under the Resource Management Act (RMA) hence any discharge or land use consent monitoring does require knowledge in N.

Planning consultants

Many consultancies are engaged to prepare consent application or to provide Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE) reports to their clients. Without sufficient knowledge in N, preparation of applications related to land or water discharges or land use changes in the context of N control will be difficult. Some councils do use consultants to process resource consents, in which case consultants need sufficient knowledge in N to deal with N related applications.

Scientists, wastewater engineers, technical consultants, academics

Many experts are specialised in a specific field. Knowledge in N is becoming essential for scientists or experts who have not specialised in N but are working on collaborative projects. Even those who have specialised in N, given the wide range of processes within N dynamics, it is difficult to expect every N expert to have in-depth knowledge in all aspects of N. This is because fate of N and movement are determined by a combination of physical, biological and chemical factors. There is also cross-over between water, soil and air and often soil scientist would require a good knowledge of N process in water and vice versa. This training and the manual is designed to improve and expand experts’ knowledge in N.

Advisers on nutrient management

In the absence of government funded advisories, a number of agencies and private industries have taken advisory roles to manage nutrients. Some examples are regional council land management or environmental education officers, Dairy NZ field advisers, fertiliser industry representatives, Fonterra field staff and field staff of other private companies. Some or many such advisers might have completed a nutrient management course to use Overseer®. While there might have been opportunity to learn about N in such courses, there is no exclusive and detailed training performed on N in the environment, which covers N behaviour in soil, water and air.

This training manual is created with all the above users in mind and hence the content and the training should be as comprehensive and challenging as possible.

3. What can be learnt?