title: Waikato Taniwharau: Prioritising competing needs in the management of the Waikato River

authors: Morgan, Te Kipa Kepa Brian

subjects: Mauri

abstract: The Waikato River system is New Zealand’s longest river and has significant spiritual relevance for the Waikato-Tainui people and other river iwi, who regard it as an indicator of their mauri or well-being, and central to their identity. The Waikato has also been the focus of on-going tensions between Māori cultural and spiritual values and beliefs, and national engineering objectives. The Waikato River was the primary source of food, transportation and communications link for the region and of pivotal military significance in the New Zealand land wars of the 19th Century. The river system is also a strategic asset for power generation and the flow has been extensively modified with the engineering of dams, lakes, tunnels and canals used to generate one sixth of New Zealand's total electrical generating capacity via the Waikato and Tongariro Power schemes. 
Large scale deforestation in combination with altered hydrologic characteristics have resulted in siltation of the once navigable river. The Waikato is impacted upon by numerous sources of pollution including; Arsenic from a Geothermal Power Station; nutrient enrichment from fertilizer and effluent spreading practices in dairy farming; more than 80 point source discharges to the main stem; and 1,600 discharges to its tributaries. 
The river system contains numerous fish types and has an international reputation for fishing. More than twenty communities extract and treat its waters for potable use including Auckland City. Historic practices resulted in significant adverse impacts on water quality and the mauri of the Waikato. The river is now administered by a regional council. These attributes make the Waikato River a complex management challenge: a contemporary relevance of the widely known metaphor; Waikato Taniwharau (Waikato with hundreds of guardians). 
Aotearoa New Zealand is currently resolving policy issues for the effective management of its fresh water resource. A national survey of opinion in 2005 distilled public priorities for fresh water management. The Freshwater for a Sustainable Future consultation identified many concerns and that the management of these resources is not being carried out in a sustainable manner. The Land and Water forum acknowledged many of these issues in the National Policy on Fresh Water (2010). The New Zealand government is currently preparing to sell down its 100% control of the hydro generation assets on the river, through a sale of shares in the State owned Enterprises that manage these assets. 
During the initial public consultation, responses from Māori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, indicated that there existed significant dissatisfaction with past management and a lack of confidence in future policy and water management decision making. The dissatisfaction manifested as broad opposition to and indifference towards participation in consultation. In subsequent years, some Māori groups have nevertheless chosen to engage in research processes seeking improvements on past practice. A Decision Making Framework (DMF) developed in 2004 has been adopted in several of these proposals due to its ability to balance the competing priorities of engineers representing the dominant western worldview and Māori, the Tangata Whenua (people of the land). 
The Mauri Model DMF is unique in its approach to the management of water resources as the framework offers a transparent and inclusive approach to considering the environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects of decisions being contemplated. The Mauri Model DMF is unique because it is capable of including multiple-worldviews and adopts mauri (intrinsic value or well-being) in the place of money based assessments of pseudo sustainability using Cost Benefit Analysis. 
The Mauri Model DMF does this using a two stage process that first identifies participants’ worldviews and inherent bias regarding water resource management, and then facilitates transparent assessment of selected sustainability performance indicators. The assessment can then be contemplated as the separate environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions of the decision, collectively as an overall result; or the priorities associated with different worldviews can be applied to determine the sensitivity of the result to different cultural contexts or worldviews. 
A sustainability assessment for the Waikato River is presented within the context of new co-management aspirations that require decision making to reflect the values of both the Government and the Waikato-Tainui peoples. How might the Mauri Model contribute in the complex context of co-management of the Waikato River? Three existing resource uses are assessed to illustrate the contribution that alternative frameworks can make to an enhanced understanding of the challenges that the new co-management regime will need to overcome.

text: Waikato Taniwharau: Prioritising competing needs in the management of the Waikato River The Waikato River system is New Zealand’s longest river and has significant spiritual relevance for the Waikato-Tainui people and other river iwi, who regard it as an indicator of their mauri or well-being, and central to their identity. The Waikato has also been the focus of on-going tensions between Māori cultural and spiritual values and beliefs, and national engineering objectives. The Waikato River was the primary source of food, transportation and communications link for the region and of pivotal military significance in the New Zealand land wars of the 19th Century. The river system is also a strategic asset for power generation and the flow has been extensively modified with the engineering of dams, lakes, tunnels and canals used to generate one sixth of New Zealand's total electrical generating capacity via the Waikato and Tongariro Power schemes. 
Large scale deforestation in combination with altered hydrologic characteristics have resulted in siltation of the once navigable river. The Waikato is impacted upon by numerous sources of pollution including; Arsenic from a Geothermal Power Station; nutrient enrichment from fertilizer and effluent spreading practices in dairy farming; more than 80 point source discharges to the main stem; and 1,600 discharges to its tributaries. 
The river system contains numerous fish types and has an international reputation for fishing. More than twenty communities extract and treat its waters for potable use including Auckland City. Historic practices resulted in significant adverse impacts on water quality and the mauri of the Waikato. The river is now administered by a regional council. These attributes make the Waikato River a complex management challenge: a contemporary relevance of the widely known metaphor; Waikato Taniwharau (Waikato with hundreds of guardians). 
Aotearoa New Zealand is currently resolving policy issues for the effective management of its fresh water resource. A national survey of opinion in 2005 distilled public priorities for fresh water management. The Freshwater for a Sustainable Future consultation identified many concerns and that the management of these resources is not being carried out in a sustainable manner. The Land and Water forum acknowledged many of these issues in the National Policy on Fresh Water (2010). The New Zealand government is currently preparing to sell down its 100% control of the hydro generation assets on the river, through a sale of shares in the State owned Enterprises that manage these assets. 
During the initial public consultation, responses from Māori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, indicated that there existed significant dissatisfaction with past management and a lack of confidence in future policy and water management decision making. The dissatisfaction manifested as broad opposition to and indifference towards participation in consultation. In subsequent years, some Māori groups have nevertheless chosen to engage in research processes seeking improvements on past practice. A Decision Making Framework (DMF) developed in 2004 has been adopted in several of these proposals due to its ability to balance the competing priorities of engineers representing the dominant western worldview and Māori, the Tangata Whenua (people of the land). 
The Mauri Model DMF is unique in its approach to the management of water resources as the framework offers a transparent and inclusive approach to considering the environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects of decisions being contemplated. The Mauri Model DMF is unique because it is capable of including multiple-worldviews and adopts mauri (intrinsic value or well-being) in the place of money based assessments of pseudo sustainability using Cost Benefit Analysis. 
The Mauri Model DMF does this using a two stage process that first identifies participants’ worldviews and inherent bias regarding water resource management, and then facilitates transparent assessment of selected sustainability performance indicators. The assessment can then be contemplated as the separate environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions of the decision, collectively as an overall result; or the priorities associated with different worldviews can be applied to determine the sensitivity of the result to different cultural contexts or worldviews. 
A sustainability assessment for the Waikato River is presented within the context of new co-management aspirations that require decision making to reflect the values of both the Government and the Waikato-Tainui peoples. How might the Mauri Model contribute in the complex context of co-management of the Waikato River? Three existing resource uses are assessed to illustrate the contribution that alternative frameworks can make to an enhanced understanding of the challenges that the new co-management regime will need to overcome.

year: 2013

title: Manaakitia te paharakeke: an insight into the daily operational challenges facing Te Whakaruruhau

authors: Kurei, Anna

subjects: Women's refuge

abstract: This report is based on participant observations of the daily operations at Te Whakaruruhau, Hamilton. The observations represent the fieldwork element of an undergraduate paper contributing to the co-author, Anna Kurei’s Bachelor’s degree at the University of Waikato. Anna’s participation and observations over several weeks included attending meetings, shadowing Advocates, contributing (as appropriate) to operations and observing interactions between Advocates and the women in living in the service’s residential housing. 
Founded by Ruahine Albert and Ariana Simpson in 1986, Te Whakaruruhau Incorporated (Waikato women's refuge) was the first Māori women's refuge in Aotearoa. Since its inception, Te Whakaruruhau has been a Kaupapa driven service, with Māori cultural practices consciously employed throughout all its operations. Māori tikanga is fluid and adaptable by nature and can therefore meet the needs of people from multiple cultures and backgrounds. The current service has grown from humble beginnings in a four-bedroom state owned house providing emergency housing, to now include a twenty-four-hour crisis service, residential housing and a broadened community outreach programme. Staff numbers have increased from 7 to 36 paid staff and the twenty-fourhour crisis service has allowed the refuge to provide services for high risk cases that would otherwise be turned away. 
Funding is critical to the successful operation of the service. The refuge provides wrap-around services to meet clients’ needs and help them navigate through a maze of government and community services. The needs of women and families who have lived with domestic violence are deep-seated and complex. Achieving a stable, healthy, independent life is frequently a long-term process. Funding however, is not only limited, but is tied to expectations of achieving successful outcomes in the short-term. It was quickly evident during the fieldwork that Te Whakaruruhau is desperately under-resourced. In the year to June 2015 the Refuge provided services for 6575 cases, but had contracted funds for less than 1600. The consequences of such starkly inadequate resources are dire – for both clients and staff.
Advocates (case workers) are frequently exhausted as they try to assist women and children with high and complex needs with very little resources on a highly restricted budget. Many times, workers were observed relegating their own interests (including their own health and safety) in order to meet the demands and needs of their clients. Similarly, the successful rehabilitation of clients is jeopardised by restricted options, insufficient capacity in the system and at times even the simplest of requirements such as transport to essential services. We know that when women and children become free of violence they have better health, employment and education outcomes. These outcomes benefit not only themselves but their communities and the wider social and economic landscape. Higher levels of funding - with a longer term focus- would therefore ultimately reduce the costs of domestic violence overall. Further to this, Kaupapa-based services at Te Whakaruruhau offer a culturally meaningful response to the high representation of Maori women seeking assistance. Its success in the face of such high levels of under-resourcing suggests that expectations around funding also need to be altered.

text: Manaakitia te paharakeke: an insight into the daily operational challenges facing Te Whakaruruhau This report is based on participant observations of the daily operations at Te Whakaruruhau, Hamilton. The observations represent the fieldwork element of an undergraduate paper contributing to the co-author, Anna Kurei’s Bachelor’s degree at the University of Waikato. Anna’s participation and observations over several weeks included attending meetings, shadowing Advocates, contributing (as appropriate) to operations and observing interactions between Advocates and the women in living in the service’s residential housing. 
Founded by Ruahine Albert and Ariana Simpson in 1986, Te Whakaruruhau Incorporated (Waikato women's refuge) was the first Māori women's refuge in Aotearoa. Since its inception, Te Whakaruruhau has been a Kaupapa driven service, with Māori cultural practices consciously employed throughout all its operations. Māori tikanga is fluid and adaptable by nature and can therefore meet the needs of people from multiple cultures and backgrounds. The current service has grown from humble beginnings in a four-bedroom state owned house providing emergency housing, to now include a twenty-four-hour crisis service, residential housing and a broadened community outreach programme. Staff numbers have increased from 7 to 36 paid staff and the twenty-fourhour crisis service has allowed the refuge to provide services for high risk cases that would otherwise be turned away. 
Funding is critical to the successful operation of the service. The refuge provides wrap-around services to meet clients’ needs and help them navigate through a maze of government and community services. The needs of women and families who have lived with domestic violence are deep-seated and complex. Achieving a stable, healthy, independent life is frequently a long-term process. Funding however, is not only limited, but is tied to expectations of achieving successful outcomes in the short-term. It was quickly evident during the fieldwork that Te Whakaruruhau is desperately under-resourced. In the year to June 2015 the Refuge provided services for 6575 cases, but had contracted funds for less than 1600. The consequences of such starkly inadequate resources are dire – for both clients and staff.
Advocates (case workers) are frequently exhausted as they try to assist women and children with high and complex needs with very little resources on a highly restricted budget. Many times, workers were observed relegating their own interests (including their own health and safety) in order to meet the demands and needs of their clients. Similarly, the successful rehabilitation of clients is jeopardised by restricted options, insufficient capacity in the system and at times even the simplest of requirements such as transport to essential services. We know that when women and children become free of violence they have better health, employment and education outcomes. These outcomes benefit not only themselves but their communities and the wider social and economic landscape. Higher levels of funding - with a longer term focus- would therefore ultimately reduce the costs of domestic violence overall. Further to this, Kaupapa-based services at Te Whakaruruhau offer a culturally meaningful response to the high representation of Maori women seeking assistance. Its success in the face of such high levels of under-resourcing suggests that expectations around funding also need to be altered.

year: 2016

title: Dynamics of land use and land cover changes in China

authors: Deng, Xiangzheng

subjects: Land Use

abstract: A key contribution of environmental economics to policy making has been to provide empirical indicators of sustainable economic development. An economy is (weakly) sustainable if it saves more than the combined depreciation of its stocks of natural capital and produced capital. Thus, these indicators allow trade-offs where, for example, natural capital might be depreciated in order to build up other forms of capital, such as in the built environment or in the form of human capital. As an application of this general idea, this thesis focuses on the trade-offs between ecosystem services, provided by natural capital, and certain land use and land cover changes (LUCC) in China. With better understanding of these trade-offs, this thesis contributes to optimum management for sustaining ecosystem services and supporting socio-economic development.
The three case study areas are Hebei, Qinghai and Shandong provinces. I study trade-offs between landscape diversity and crop production, between grassland quality and livestock production, and between net primary productivity (NPP, a measure of the energy that enters ecosystems) and urbanization. After reviewing trade-off analyses of ecosystem services for sustainable land-use management (Chapter 2), the case studies are presented, with two chapters on Hebei, one on Qinghai, and three on Shandong. These chapters have econometric models for monitoring and assessing LUCC-induced ecosystem service changes, to enable quantitative analysis of the mechanisms available for policy-oriented optimum land-use management.
The case study areas each have different policy interventions that are designed to preserve or restore natural capital. For example, Hebei has ecological restoration programs, such as the Green for Grain program, that are implemented in an attempt to conserve landscape diversity. Qinghai province has policies of enhancing ecological restoration for grassland conservation, in order to improve livestock production. Shandong province has enforced a prime cropland preservation policy in order to ensure high cropland productivity. Collectively, the case studies add to the literature on the use of sustainable land-use management strategies, while helping to illustrate some of the trade-offs that are central to environmental economics. 
The results highlight issues created by conversion of cultivated land to urban use, in both Hebei and Shandong. In Qinghai province, grassland degradation, livestock production and farmers’ income interact and affect LUCC and changes in ecosystem services. Restorative interventions, such as nature reserves, seem to have a positive effect on NPP, as a measure of ecosystem productivity. On the other hand, in Shandong province there is relatively low land productivity, as measured by the NPP, in regions covered by built-up area. While this thesis does not calculate a value for the produced capital and human capital in built-up areas, the reduction in the value of natural capital as a result of urbanization highlights the potential trade-offs and the need for careful measurement to help whether China is on a sustainable development path. In summary, the research in this thesis examines various land-use practices and management regimes for conserving ecosystem services, and contributes to the literature on how management of land use change and land cover change can influence ecosystem services in rapidly urbanizing China.

text: Dynamics of land use and land cover changes in China A key contribution of environmental economics to policy making has been to provide empirical indicators of sustainable economic development. An economy is (weakly) sustainable if it saves more than the combined depreciation of its stocks of natural capital and produced capital. Thus, these indicators allow trade-offs where, for example, natural capital might be depreciated in order to build up other forms of capital, such as in the built environment or in the form of human capital. As an application of this general idea, this thesis focuses on the trade-offs between ecosystem services, provided by natural capital, and certain land use and land cover changes (LUCC) in China. With better understanding of these trade-offs, this thesis contributes to optimum management for sustaining ecosystem services and supporting socio-economic development.
The three case study areas are Hebei, Qinghai and Shandong provinces. I study trade-offs between landscape diversity and crop production, between grassland quality and livestock production, and between net primary productivity (NPP, a measure of the energy that enters ecosystems) and urbanization. After reviewing trade-off analyses of ecosystem services for sustainable land-use management (Chapter 2), the case studies are presented, with two chapters on Hebei, one on Qinghai, and three on Shandong. These chapters have econometric models for monitoring and assessing LUCC-induced ecosystem service changes, to enable quantitative analysis of the mechanisms available for policy-oriented optimum land-use management.
The case study areas each have different policy interventions that are designed to preserve or restore natural capital. For example, Hebei has ecological restoration programs, such as the Green for Grain program, that are implemented in an attempt to conserve landscape diversity. Qinghai province has policies of enhancing ecological restoration for grassland conservation, in order to improve livestock production. Shandong province has enforced a prime cropland preservation policy in order to ensure high cropland productivity. Collectively, the case studies add to the literature on the use of sustainable land-use management strategies, while helping to illustrate some of the trade-offs that are central to environmental economics. 
The results highlight issues created by conversion of cultivated land to urban use, in both Hebei and Shandong. In Qinghai province, grassland degradation, livestock production and farmers’ income interact and affect LUCC and changes in ecosystem services. Restorative interventions, such as nature reserves, seem to have a positive effect on NPP, as a measure of ecosystem productivity. On the other hand, in Shandong province there is relatively low land productivity, as measured by the NPP, in regions covered by built-up area. While this thesis does not calculate a value for the produced capital and human capital in built-up areas, the reduction in the value of natural capital as a result of urbanization highlights the potential trade-offs and the need for careful measurement to help whether China is on a sustainable development path. In summary, the research in this thesis examines various land-use practices and management regimes for conserving ecosystem services, and contributes to the literature on how management of land use change and land cover change can influence ecosystem services in rapidly urbanizing China.

year: 2018