The term “social licence to operate”, or SLO, has increasingly featured in public discussion about commercial operations in the marine environment. As part of the Sustainable Seas National Challenge, we are studying how this term is being used in New Zealand and its implications for industry-community relations

Farrelly, T

Newton, M

Sinner, J

English

Massey Research Online

Funded by Sustainable Seas National ChallengeOF SOCIAL LICENcE TO OPERATEThe public discourse of SLO has been dominated by industry and central government voices. They frequently vest agency over SLO with industry and then state or imply that industry already has SLO and just needs to maintain or improve it. Changing the way we talk about social licence would help achieve the vision of a blue economy, increasing benets from the ocean environment while sustaining communities and marine ecosystems.DISSECTING THE DISCOURSEJim Sinner1, Mark Newton1, Trisia Farrelly2From a series of online searches, we found 99 documents that mentioned SLO in relation to NZ’s marine industries. We analysed sentence structure and verb choice to assess who is given agency to aect SLO. NZ usage started in 2008, though most occurred after 2012. Seafood sectors combined had more mentions of SLO (38) than mining sectors combined (30). Industry and government were the most frequent sources (Fig.1).An actor has agency with respect to SLO if the text refers to them as being able to inuence SLO. We assigned agency where the actor (i.e. agent) was explicitly identied in the text. For example, “the community granted social licence” or “industry can build social licence…” Of 40 documents that assign explicit agency, only 16 give agency over SLO to community and only 5 give agency to iwi. Most give agency to industry and/or central government. (Table 1)The term ‘social licence’ suggests that communities have power to grant or withhold approval of commercial operations in the marine environment, but the actual wording used by those talking about SLO suggests otherwise.Figure 1. Mentions of SLO in NZ marine industries3025201510502008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016IndustryCentral GovernmentOtherNGOIwiLocal GovernmentSourceNUMBER OF DOCUMENTSWHO HAS AGENCY?Table 2. Implied agency based on verbs used, by sourceIMPLIED AGENCY BASED ON VERBS USEDThe verbs used also indicate who is given agency in the documents. Of 84 instances, 70 involve verbs that refer to:‘acquiring’, ‘building’, ‘maintaining’ or ‘losing’ SLO.These clearly refer to industry, while only 6 use verbs that refer to communities or iwi:‘granting’ or ‘withholding’ SLO. See Table 2. Industry verbsAchieve, Acquire, Build, Buy, Earn, Enhance, Establish, Gain, Grow, Improve, Increase, Lose, Maintain, Obtain, Preserve, Retain, Strengthen, UndermineCommunity verbsChallenge, Grant, Remove, WithholdAmbiguous verbsCreate, Engender, Erode, Evaporate, Foster, Invest, Reinforce, SupportSource Industry Community AmbiguousCentral Govt 27 1 2Local Govt 1 0 1Industry 17 2 1NGO 3 1 3Iwi 1 1 0Other 21 1 1Total 70 6 8Implied AgentIndustry and government could change their wording to send a dierent, more empowering message to iwi and community groups about seeking their acceptance and trust. DOCUMENTS REFERRING TO SLO OF NZ MARINE INDUSTRIESMETHODS SECTORS & TRENDSCONCLUSIONACKNOWLEDGEMENTSAGENCYThe term “social licence to operate”, or SLO, has increasingly featured in public discussion about commercial operations in the marine environment. As part of the Sustainable Seas National Challenge, we are studying how this term is being used in New Zealand and its implications for industry-community relations.1 Cawthron Institute  |   jim.sinner@cawthron.org.nz   |  2 Massey UniversitySource Central Govt 6 1 3 1 2 6 1      20Local Govt                0Industry 5    1  3 3    12NGO 2       1      3Iwi 1           1   2Other 1       1    1 3Total 15 1 3 2 2 11 4 1 1 40IndustryCentral GovtCentral Govt / CommunityIndustry / Central GovtIndustry / CommunityCommunityCommunity / IwiIwiScientistsTotalTable 1. Which actors are given agency in documents about SLO, by source categoryIndustry Central Government CommunityIwi Scientists TotalMASSEY UNIVERSITYMASSEY RESEARCH ONLINE http://mro.massey.ac.nz/Massey Documents by Type Conference PostersDissecting the Discourse of Social Licenceto OperateSinner, J2018-08-01http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1514420/01/2020 - Downloaded from MASSEY RESEARCH ONLINE

Dissecting the Discourse of Social Licence to Operate

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Dissecting the Discourse of Social Licence to Operate

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