Informed by debates in recent literature on indigenous peoples' role in water governance, our research examines recent initiatives to enhance the role of M aori in water governance in Aotearoa/New Zealand based on the case of recently reinvented hybrid governance arrangements for Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere. The water governance landscape in New Zealand has been significantly reconfigured in the last 25 years, with wide-ranging changes precipitated by the neo-liberal agendas of recent governments. Running alongside this neo-liberal agenda was the revival of indigenous rights language during the 1970s, a reflection of growing political recognition of the aboriginal customary natural resource ownership and management rights. Set within this geo-political context, we argue that three factors, property rights, globalisation and the regulatory planning environment for management, both enable and constrain indigenous people to govern natural resources within a post-colonial society such as New Zealand.
Synthetic gene drive approaches are nascent technologies with potential applicability for pest control for conservation purposes. Responsible science mandates that society be engaged in a dialogue over new technology, particularly where there exist global ramifications as with gene drive. We hypothesize that public attitudes towards gene drive are not formed on scientific knowledge or demographics alone, but are heavily influenced by underlying worldviews, which encapsulate a broad and interactive system of attitudes, beliefs, and values. To test this, we conducted a national survey in New Zealand (n = 8199) and found that respondents clustered into four distinct segments with underlying worldviews, better able to explain attitudes toward gene drive than either the participants' scientific knowledge or other explanatory factors such demographics, political ideology or religiosity. We found that the use of gene drive for biodiversity conservation currently has moderate (32%) levels of support in New Zealand but that varied substantially across the four segments. Should gene drive become a technically viable approach for pest control, understanding the worldviews that shape public decision-making can guide a more empathetic engagement process and empower society to participate in informed decisionmaking about if and how gene drive should be used for conservation purposes.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Invasive animal species threaten global biodiversity. In New Zealand invasive species threaten iconic native species, and scientists are seeking approval to research new technologies that might be capable of eradicating these invasive species. The aim of this research was to understand what New Zealanders with an interest in pest control consider to be the main risks and benefits of introducing new technologies to manage invasive species. We invited key informants to participate in the focus groups, selecting people with knowledge and experience of pest control issues in New Zealand. Data were collected from seven focus groups held in three locations across New Zealand. A thematic analysis of the data was then conducted in which three key themes emerged: concern about the risk of unintended consequences, the benefits of landscape-scale technologies, and New Zealand being an early adopter of new technologies. The focus groups articulated a variety of benefits from introducing new technologies – such as replacing dangerous poisons with non-toxic alternatives – but it was the risks of the new technologies that dominated the discussions. Given these results, we recommend an education and communication strategy focussed on social learning, in conjunction with a codesigned decision-making process, to help establish social licence for the application of potentially controversial technologies.
Over the last 25 years, the philosophy behind an optimal fixation of orthopaedic implants to hard tissues progressively evolved towards "bone-conservative" solutions in order to minimize bone resection/loss and maximize tissue-implant integration. Hence, the researchers' attention moved from "traditional" fixation of the prosthesis to host bone by using screws or acrylic cement to new strategies based on physico-chemical bonding and surface modification of the implant. This research work explores the feasibility of a novel bioceramic monoblock acetabular cup for hip joint prosthesis that can be fixed to the patient's bone by means of a bone-like trabecular coating able to promote implant osteointegration. Sponge replica method was properly adapted and optimized to produce hemispherical foam-like bioactive glass-ceramic coatings that were joined to Al 2 O 3 /ZrO 2 composite cups by the interposition of a glass-ceramic interlayer. Morphological analyses by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro-computed tomography revealed the good quality of joining at the different interfaces. Preliminary investigation of the mechanical properties was carried out to evaluate the suitability of the device for biomedical use. In vitro bioactive behaviour was assessed by immersion studies in simulated body fluid and evaluating the apatite formation on the struts of the trabecular coating. The concepts and findings reported in the present work can have a significant impact in the field of implantable devices, suggesting a valuable alternative to currently-applied but often suboptimal techniques for bone-prosthesis fixation.
Indigenous ways of caring for the environment have long been marginalised through research methodologies that are blind to a range of ways of knowing the world. Co-production of knowledge across Indigenous knowledge systems and Western scientific approaches is receiving attention both internationally and within the science system in Aotearoa New Zealand. Addressing power asymmetries as part of the co-production process is also slowly gaining recognition. Those involved in knowledge co-production initiatives must support learning about different world views, ways of knowing and accounting for the environment, while also enabling learning of the many biases and assumptions built into methodologies. This deliberation is needed, so non-Indigenous researchers can form enduring trustworthy partnerships and contribute to co-production initiatives. Presented here are insights shared by a cohort of environment research practitioners who have been deliberating on co-production occurring across knowledge systems in Aotearoa New Zealand. Originating from analysis of interviews undertaken about relationships recreational groups have with Te Urewera (forested hill country in the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand), this paper depicts a layered reflection on how non-Māori (primarily but not exclusively) across Aotearoa New Zealand are learning to be manuhiri (those being welcomed on arrival to a place by the Indigenous people of that place). As a contribution to this collective learning, a set of methodological sensitivities are proposed as support for research amidst changing relationships with places. Doing so we aim to contribute to reflexive and decolonising encounters with Indigenous approaches to environmental care.
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