Economic Value of Parks

This was the question asked by the New Zealand Parks Leaders Forum in 2024. The Forum is a network of parks agency managers and parks business leaders that provides support to its members and progresses issues faced by the sector. 

In 2024, the Parks Leaders Forum commissioned the Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU) at Lincoln University to design a national infrastructure for collecting, synthesising and analysing data that can be used to create reliable evidence on the various forms in which national, regional and local parks contribute to the economic prosperity and wellbeing of New Zealanders.

Paul Dalziel was the lead author of the report. Other authors were Associate Professor Stephen Espiner, Dr John Saunders and Paul Rutherford, all from Lincoln University. The report was completed in December 2024; it was the final report prepared by the AERU before Caroline and Paul retired. 

The title of the report is The Economic Value of Parks: A framework and preliminary estimate. It estimated the current value of the country’s network of parks, assuming benefits for 8 generations (200 years). This produced an estimated economic value for the network of national, regional and local parks of $3 trillion.

The report is currently available for members of the Parks Leaders Forum and will be made public in the near future. When this happens, a link will be posted here. In the meantime, the Forum issued a press release that can be read here [external link].