title: Developing an eDNA approach for wetland biomonitoring: Insights on technical and conventional approaches

authors: Bird, Starsha

abstract: Wetlands are ecologically and culturally significant ecosystems that are experiencing biodiversity declines globally. Biomonitoring techniques that use environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect and monitor biodiversity are well established in lake, riverine, and marine ecosystems. However, their use in wetlands requires further development due to the presence of sediments that block eDNA filters to limit water filtration, alongside a lack of standardized methodology. In this study, we examined eDNA dynamics to understand spatiotemporal biodiversity patterns in an Aotearoa New Zealand wetland and to optimize their application to wetland-specific challenges. We sampled four sites across Opuatia Wetland at three time points during an austral spring. We conducted conventional taxonomic surveys, tested three different filter sizes (1.2 μm, 5 μm, and semi-quantitative dacron filters), and assessed our ability to detect foreign DNA (from kea; Nestor notabilis) at different time points and distances post-release. We found significant differences in DNA sequence composition across time and space, and when using different sized filters. eDNA data generally complemented (versus replaced) conventional survey and identification methods, with certain species only detected by one method or the other. Taxonomic resolution of conventional sampling and identification methods often exceeded that of eDNA. Foreign DNA was detectable 10 m from its release point for up to 1 week post-release. Our results provide new considerations for future eDNA research in wetland environments, where rapid biomonitoring techniques are needed to support conservation and preservation.

text: Developing an eDNA approach for wetland biomonitoring: Insights on technical and conventional approaches Wetlands are ecologically and culturally significant ecosystems that are experiencing biodiversity declines globally. Biomonitoring techniques that use environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect and monitor biodiversity are well established in lake, riverine, and marine ecosystems. However, their use in wetlands requires further development due to the presence of sediments that block eDNA filters to limit water filtration, alongside a lack of standardized methodology. In this study, we examined eDNA dynamics to understand spatiotemporal biodiversity patterns in an Aotearoa New Zealand wetland and to optimize their application to wetland-specific challenges. We sampled four sites across Opuatia Wetland at three time points during an austral spring. We conducted conventional taxonomic surveys, tested three different filter sizes (1.2 μm, 5 μm, and semi-quantitative dacron filters), and assessed our ability to detect foreign DNA (from kea; Nestor notabilis) at different time points and distances post-release. We found significant differences in DNA sequence composition across time and space, and when using different sized filters. eDNA data generally complemented (versus replaced) conventional survey and identification methods, with certain species only detected by one method or the other. Taxonomic resolution of conventional sampling and identification methods often exceeded that of eDNA. Foreign DNA was detectable 10 m from its release point for up to 1 week post-release. Our results provide new considerations for future eDNA research in wetland environments, where rapid biomonitoring techniques are needed to support conservation and preservation.

year: 2024

title: Introducing a new subject: The case of environmental education in Taiwanese junior high schools

authors: Yueh, Mei-Chun Michelle

subjects: environmental education

abstract: The introduction of environmental education in schools has been the focus of a long campaign worldwide since the late 1960s.  The difficulties in teaching environmental education, including the choice of curriculum models, and the obstacles to changing contemporary schooling patterns have been well documented.  The traditional process of new subject emergence has been detailed in the literature; whether or not environmental education should or could follow this traditional pattern of subject emergence in schools is the focus of this thesis.  

In Taiwan, the introduction of environmental education in junior high schools occurred as part of a nationwide curriculum change in 2002.  This research used an interpretive approach to explore the views and practices of staff in three typical Taiwanese junior high schools at this time.  The focus of the research was to study what happened at the level of classroom teaching and school development.  The research program was designed to interview both administrators and teachers before, during and after the first year (2002 school year) of curriculum implementation in each of the three case study schools.  Three rounds of interviews were conducted over a period of three years (Sept. 2001 - June 2004).  As well as interviews, national and school documents were collected; and announcements and decisions from the Ministry of Education and schools were documented.  Also, because the reform encouraged the development of school-based curriculum, a questionnaire was given to the one school which chose environmental education as their school-based curriculum in order to better understand the emergence of environmental education in this school.  

The findings show a paradox in Taiwanese junior high schooling: although each school placed considerable value on environmental education, the data showed that the introduction of environmental education via an infusion strategy during a time of national curriculum change had minimal impact in the three Taiwanese case study schools.  A cross-case analysis indicated the reason for this failure was the lack of effectiveness of eleven supporting themes often discussed in the emergence of a new subject: the possibility of gaining external examination credit and entry to a university department; the prioritising of the subject in school timetabling and programming; the development of a systematic syllabus; the presence of proactive support from central government leadership; the provision of teacher professional development; the inclusion in the informal as well as the formal curriculum in a school; the inclusion of environmental education in non-formal education in society; the presence of clear subject characteristics and definition; the presence of substantial school-based material interests; the gaining of support from an external constituency, especially parents; and the presence of an emergence process that couples internal value evolution with external compulsion.  The Taiwanese case studies raised three particular and additional themes for the emergence of environmental education, specifically: the need to set up long-term partnerships with local groups that have an interest in or responsibility for the local environment (e.g. societies, agencies and non-governmental organisations) to achieve local environment involvement; the need for a whole school approach through curriculum integration to achieve the transformative nature of environmental education; and the need to build up a sound cooperative network that includes people at all levels of the education system and society to achieve a national cooperation network.  These three particular themes derived from the nature of environmental education as a holistic, integrative and interdisciplinary subject.  In summary, the findings not only confirmed the themes important for the emergence of environmental education and other contemporary school subjects, but they also raised particular themes pertinent to the emergence of environmental education.  When these three particular themes are not taken into account, the effective emergence of environmental education in contemporary schooling, as exemplified by Taiwanese junior high schools, will be difficult to achieve in mainstream education.

text: Introducing a new subject: The case of environmental education in Taiwanese junior high schools The introduction of environmental education in schools has been the focus of a long campaign worldwide since the late 1960s.  The difficulties in teaching environmental education, including the choice of curriculum models, and the obstacles to changing contemporary schooling patterns have been well documented.  The traditional process of new subject emergence has been detailed in the literature; whether or not environmental education should or could follow this traditional pattern of subject emergence in schools is the focus of this thesis.  

In Taiwan, the introduction of environmental education in junior high schools occurred as part of a nationwide curriculum change in 2002.  This research used an interpretive approach to explore the views and practices of staff in three typical Taiwanese junior high schools at this time.  The focus of the research was to study what happened at the level of classroom teaching and school development.  The research program was designed to interview both administrators and teachers before, during and after the first year (2002 school year) of curriculum implementation in each of the three case study schools.  Three rounds of interviews were conducted over a period of three years (Sept. 2001 - June 2004).  As well as interviews, national and school documents were collected; and announcements and decisions from the Ministry of Education and schools were documented.  Also, because the reform encouraged the development of school-based curriculum, a questionnaire was given to the one school which chose environmental education as their school-based curriculum in order to better understand the emergence of environmental education in this school.  

The findings show a paradox in Taiwanese junior high schooling: although each school placed considerable value on environmental education, the data showed that the introduction of environmental education via an infusion strategy during a time of national curriculum change had minimal impact in the three Taiwanese case study schools.  A cross-case analysis indicated the reason for this failure was the lack of effectiveness of eleven supporting themes often discussed in the emergence of a new subject: the possibility of gaining external examination credit and entry to a university department; the prioritising of the subject in school timetabling and programming; the development of a systematic syllabus; the presence of proactive support from central government leadership; the provision of teacher professional development; the inclusion in the informal as well as the formal curriculum in a school; the inclusion of environmental education in non-formal education in society; the presence of clear subject characteristics and definition; the presence of substantial school-based material interests; the gaining of support from an external constituency, especially parents; and the presence of an emergence process that couples internal value evolution with external compulsion.  The Taiwanese case studies raised three particular and additional themes for the emergence of environmental education, specifically: the need to set up long-term partnerships with local groups that have an interest in or responsibility for the local environment (e.g. societies, agencies and non-governmental organisations) to achieve local environment involvement; the need for a whole school approach through curriculum integration to achieve the transformative nature of environmental education; and the need to build up a sound cooperative network that includes people at all levels of the education system and society to achieve a national cooperation network.  These three particular themes derived from the nature of environmental education as a holistic, integrative and interdisciplinary subject.  In summary, the findings not only confirmed the themes important for the emergence of environmental education and other contemporary school subjects, but they also raised particular themes pertinent to the emergence of environmental education.  When these three particular themes are not taken into account, the effective emergence of environmental education in contemporary schooling, as exemplified by Taiwanese junior high schools, will be difficult to achieve in mainstream education.

year: 2007

title: The Application of the "Best Interests" Principle to Maori Children's Collective Cultural Rights: A Conceptual Shift for the New Zealand Family Court?

authors: Macbeth, Steven Alexander

subjects: "collective cultural rights"

abstract: Indigenous Peoples assert their collective rights in a world where Western liberal theory and individual rights dominate. International human rights law, however, increasingly recognises Indigenous Peoples collective rights in addition to their members’ individual rights. In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which represents the most comprehensive acknowledgement of Indigenous Peoples collective rights within international law. In 2009 the Committee on the Rights of the Child issued under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 11 “Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention”. The Comment references the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as providing important guidance on the rights of indigenous children. The Comment provides authoritative guidance to State Parties that the application of the “best interests” principle to indigenous children under the Convention requires the assessment of indigenous children’s collective cultural rights and their need to exercise such rights collectively with members of their group, in addition to the indigenous children’s individual rights. Only then can the best interests of indigenous children be determined. 
As a State Party, New Zealand is obliged to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child through legislation, judicial determinations and administrative processes. The best interests principle is already the paramount consideration and touchstone for judicial decision-making under the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 and Care of Children Act 2004. The Family Court of New Zealand (while making some inroads in the 1980s and 90s) has yet, however, to develop a coherent and robust approach to the assessment of Maori children’s collective cultural rights when applying the best interests principle as it is obliged to do. General Comment No. 11 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples assist by providing authoritative guidance. They augment New Zealand’s family legislation, common law and social policy, which already acknowledge cultural rights and the collective nature of Maori familial relationships.
This paper looks beyond children’s individual rights and the universal application of such rights. It considers the assessment of Maori children’s collective cultural rights in addition to their individual rights under the best interests principle. Further, it analyses the relevant international and domestic authority the Family Court of New Zealand must consider when applying the best interests principle to Maori children, and the practical realities the recognition of Maori children’s collective cultural rights present. A conceptual shift by the Family Court and counsel is required. This paper urges the Family Court to develop the application of the best interests principle under the Care of Children Act 2004 and the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 to include the assessment of Maori children’s collective cultural rights in addition to their individual rights. In so doing the common law will reflect New Zealand’s unique history and circumstances, and comply with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. If it fails to do so, the Family Court risks being the subject of criticism for breaching the Convention, being out of sync with international human rights law, domestic legislation and social policy, and increasingly losing relevancy.

text: The Application of the "Best Interests" Principle to Maori Children's Collective Cultural Rights: A Conceptual Shift for the New Zealand Family Court? Indigenous Peoples assert their collective rights in a world where Western liberal theory and individual rights dominate. International human rights law, however, increasingly recognises Indigenous Peoples collective rights in addition to their members’ individual rights. In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which represents the most comprehensive acknowledgement of Indigenous Peoples collective rights within international law. In 2009 the Committee on the Rights of the Child issued under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 11 “Indigenous children and their rights under the Convention”. The Comment references the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as providing important guidance on the rights of indigenous children. The Comment provides authoritative guidance to State Parties that the application of the “best interests” principle to indigenous children under the Convention requires the assessment of indigenous children’s collective cultural rights and their need to exercise such rights collectively with members of their group, in addition to the indigenous children’s individual rights. Only then can the best interests of indigenous children be determined. 
As a State Party, New Zealand is obliged to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child through legislation, judicial determinations and administrative processes. The best interests principle is already the paramount consideration and touchstone for judicial decision-making under the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 and Care of Children Act 2004. The Family Court of New Zealand (while making some inroads in the 1980s and 90s) has yet, however, to develop a coherent and robust approach to the assessment of Maori children’s collective cultural rights when applying the best interests principle as it is obliged to do. General Comment No. 11 and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples assist by providing authoritative guidance. They augment New Zealand’s family legislation, common law and social policy, which already acknowledge cultural rights and the collective nature of Maori familial relationships.
This paper looks beyond children’s individual rights and the universal application of such rights. It considers the assessment of Maori children’s collective cultural rights in addition to their individual rights under the best interests principle. Further, it analyses the relevant international and domestic authority the Family Court of New Zealand must consider when applying the best interests principle to Maori children, and the practical realities the recognition of Maori children’s collective cultural rights present. A conceptual shift by the Family Court and counsel is required. This paper urges the Family Court to develop the application of the best interests principle under the Care of Children Act 2004 and the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 to include the assessment of Maori children’s collective cultural rights in addition to their individual rights. In so doing the common law will reflect New Zealand’s unique history and circumstances, and comply with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. If it fails to do so, the Family Court risks being the subject of criticism for breaching the Convention, being out of sync with international human rights law, domestic legislation and social policy, and increasingly losing relevancy.

year: 2015