Linkages between cultural and scientific indicators of river and stream health

Abstract

Scientific monitoring of river health is well established and has a significant role to play in environmental assessment by communities, managers and policy makers. Cultural indicators help to articulate cultural values, assess the state of the environment from a cultural perspective and assist with establishing a role for Māori in environmental monitoring. We reviewed the philosophies behind cultural and scientific monitoring of river health and compared the results from the two approaches at 25 sites in the Motueka and Riwaka catchments. Both scientific and cultural indicators suggested a decrease in river health in relation to increased land-use pressure. There were also correlations between the results from the two approaches suggesting cultural indicators could be used in a similar manner as scientific indicators to set environmental benchmarks. Using scientific approaches alongside culturally based monitoring provides a wealth of knowledge to understand better what we mean by river health. The two approaches can be regarded as complementary and reflect two different knowledge systems and perspectives.

Indigenous Māori values and perspectives to inform freshwater management in Aotearoa-New Zealand

“…These approaches have been developed in different parts of New Zealand and are continually adapted for local use (e.g., Harmsworth 2002, TRONT 2003, Townsend et al 2004, Harmsworth and Tipa 2006, Tipa and Tierney 2006a, b, Jollands and Harmsworth 2007, Harmsworth et al 2011, 2013, 2015, Awatere and Harmsworth 2014. Cultural monitoring data are being used to varying degrees to inform and improve local and regional collaborative processes and enhance understanding of environmental health from a Māori perspective.…”

Culturally significant fisheries: keystones for management of freshwater social-ecological systems

“…Freshwaters are often an intrinsic part of place and central to linking human values and relationships with areas of cultural significance (Langton 2002, Harmsworth et al 2011. Accordingly, many Indigenous peoples have value systems and concepts that recognize interconnections between people and freshwaters (Table 1), which typically seek to balance the human use of freshwaters by respecting them as a gift (e.g., Blackstock 2001, Tipa 2013 and harvesting in a manner that does not compromise ecosystem integrity (Kahui and Richards 2014).…”

Integrated catchment management—interweaving social process and science knowledge

“…This can be seen by the development of the iwi pan-tribal resource management committee, Tiakina Te Taiao, in the implementation of GIS on marae to aid Māori input into resource policy and resource consents, and the development and incorporation of iwi capability in environmental monitoring (e.g. Harmsworth et al 2011).…”

“…These indicators can be environmental, social, economic or cultural (e.g. Harmsworth et al 2011). Recognising that ICM has clear social dimensions, indicators may well for example measure trends in community cohesion or levels of conflict.…”