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Working with Nature in Aotearoa New Zealand

Some of you will remember Friederike Gesing, who came and spoke at our conference in Whitianga. She has now published her NZ research. Here is the subtitle and an introduction to her book. For more information or to obtain it, please check out this link.

An Ethnography of Coastal Protection 

Working with nature – and not against it – is a global trend in coastal management. This ethnography of coastal protection follows the increasingly popular approach of “soft” protection to the Aotearoa New Zealand coast. Friederike Gesing analyses a political controversy over hard and soft protection measures, and introduces a growing community of practice involved in projects of working with nature. Dune restoration volunteers, coastal management experts, surfer-scientists, and Maori conservationists are engaged in projects ranging from do-it-yourself erosion control, to the reconstruction of native nature, and soft engineering “in concert with natural processes”. With soft protection, Gesing argues, we can witness a new sociotechnical imaginary in the making.

Changing Tides

Climate Adaptation Methodology for Protected Areas (CAMPA) - Coastal and Marine

WWF International has published a manual on this topic, funded by The European Union. Here is the executive summary:

“Climate change poses serious threats to many coastal and marine systems, including those being managed as
protected areas. Yet people responsible for the management of coastal and marine protected areas (CMPAs) do not have to wait and see their sites deteriorate, but can take active steps to minimise the detrimental impacts of climate change. Because many coastal areas are heavily settled by human communities, such actions need to be taken in close cooperation with people living inside or near to the CMPA, which often include fishing communities and tourism operators.

The following manual describes an approach – Climate Adaptation Methodology for Protected Areas (CAMPA): Coastal and Marine – for developing climate adaptation measures in CMPAs. It combines ecosystem and community-based approaches to adaptation and uses a participatory approach that aims to build consensus
amongst stakeholders on the actions necessary to address the current and potential impacts of climate change. The methodology is described in detail and three case studies summarise lessons learned from its field-testing in six CMPAs in Colombia, Madagascar and the Philippines. It utilises a series of worksheets to simplify the process of completion and can be applied either in a detailed, data-driven process that will take some time or a shorter, quicker but less rigorous assessment to help make basic decisions about management.

An introductory section provides some background and key concepts. The CAMPA begins by defining the objectives and scope of any approach, then identifies ecological, ecosystem service and socio-economic targets and explains how to collate information on baseline conditions.

The main vulnerability assessment then starts by identifying possible climate and oceanographic manifestations (i.e. weather and climate events) in the area of the CMPA, along with non-climate influences, and develops scenarios looking at likely changes as a result of these various threats. A vulnerability analysis is then carried
out: the manual lists various alternative methods and provides a simple assessment approach developed specifically for the CAMPA. Results from whatever vulnerability assessment system is used then undergo validation and prioritisation in a workshop involving a range of stakeholders. The end result will be the identification of potential impacts, categorised by type, plus a long list of possible adaptation actions to address these impacts. The proposals are compared against a checklist of adaptation actions to test for gaps and are further assessed in a second stakeholder workshop, which considers the benefits, opportunities, risks and costs of each from environmental, social and economic perspectives. The workshop aims to develop a priority list of actions for climate adaptation in the protected area. Advice is given on running a workshop and drawing up and checking the resulting adaptation plan. A final section provides guidance on implementation, monitoring and evaluation and adaptive management.

Case studies describe application of CAMPA in the Gorgona and Sanquianga National Protected Areas in Colombia; Nosy Hara and Ambodivahibe Marine Protected Areas in northern Madagascar and two small protected areas in the Island Garden City of Samal in the Philippines.”

For the full 164p manual please go here.

Succesful Pingao Workshop held at Lincoln

A group of people got together for a pingao workshop at Lincoln on Saturday 11 June.

The workshop was part of a larger project, the aim of which is to build an ongoing, collaborative, knowledge-sharing network of iwi, weavers, scientists, social scientists and conservationists interested in the biology, ecology, conservation, restoration and traditional use of New Zealand taonga plant species. It is a collaboration between two Māori Organisations (Te Taumutu Rūnanga and Ngāti Hinewaka) and two universities (Lincoln University and Victoria University of Wellington).

Please check out their revamped website: https://pingao.wordpress.com/. Here you can find a full description of the project, the main people involved, a summary of the workshop (as well as those held in 2014), and resources such as the posters that were displayed at the workshop. They are also starting a blog under the “News” section where they will post regular updates of what they’re up to with the research side of things. If you use twitter you can also follow @buckleyhannah and @StaceyBryan3 for updates on the project.

Many people asked about how to get copies of the Coastal Restoration Trust information booklets. These are available through the following website: http://www.scionresearch.com/general/publications/reports/coastal-dunes. There is similar information available on our Coastal Restoration Trust Websites. Specifically check out these articles that are part of our handbook for dune restoration:

7.3 Pingao - Ecology
7.4 Pingao - Establishment
7.5 Sustainability for Weaving

Please note it is really important that any pīngao you are planning to plant are ecosourced. That is, the seed must come from the area that you want to plant in. This is so essential for maintaining the high degree of genetic diversity among pīngao populations. Keep in mind that plants from other parts of New Zealand may not grow as well in a different place and if they interbreed with the existing populations, this may also affect their health. If you are interested in restoring your local pīngao population, please get in touch with your local Council or Coastal Restoration Trust representative, because they can advise you on how to do this best.

Uawanui project wins Green Ribbon Award

The project in Uawa/Tolaga Bay that we visited as part of our conference this year has won the Green Ribbon Award for Protecting our Biodiversity this year.

The Minister for the Environment, the Hon Dr Nick Smith, and the Minister of Conservation, the Hon Maggie Barry, announced the winners of the 2016 Green Ribbon Awards at a ceremony at Parliament on 7 June 2016.

From the MfE website:

Collaborative and innovative, the Uawanui Project has taken a whole-community approach to improving the environmental health of the Kaituna Estuary, by managing the activities in the catchment that impact on the estuary – a “mountains-to-sea” approach.

Input from marae, iwi, individuals, business, primary industries, landowners and schools has developed a project that enables the community to manage the catchment in their everyday activities, with direct benefits to both the community’s and the environment’s health. Activities have included trapping pests, weed control, planting and monitoring. Creative thinking has led to planting of seeds from Cook’s first collections, transit of Venus celebrations, and archaeological investigations – building on the area’s history, and adding to the local community’s knowledge of their culture and where they have come from.

For more information about the Uawanui Project go here:

To see this year’s other Green Ribbon Award winners, check out the MfE website.