Halting indigenous biodiversity decline: ambiguity, equity, and outcomes in RMA assessment of significance

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dc.contributor.authorWalker, Susan F.
dc.contributor.authorBrower, Ann L.
dc.contributor.authorClarkson, Bruce D.
dc.contributor.authorLee, William G.
dc.contributor.authorMyers, Shona C.
dc.contributor.authorShaw, William B.
dc.contributor.authorStephens, R. T. Theo
dc.date.accessioned2009-03-02T00:20:05Z
dc.date.available2009-03-02T00:20:05Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.description.abstractIn New Zealand, assessment of ‘significance’ is undertaken to give effect to a legal requirement for local authorities to provide for protection of significant sites under the Resource Management Act (1991). The ambiguity of the statute enables different interests to define significance according to their goals: vested interests (developers), local authorities, and non-vested interests in pursuit of protection of environmental public goods may advance different definitions. We examine two sets of criteria used for assessment of significance for biological diversity under the Act. Criteria adapted from the 1980s Protected Natural Areas Programme are inadequate to achieve the maintenance of biological diversity if ranking is used to identify only highest priority sites. Norton and Roper-Lindsay (2004) propose a narrow definition of significance and criteria that identify only a few high-quality sites as significant. Both sets are likely to serve the interests of developers and local authorities, but place the penalty of uncertainty on non-vested interests seeking to maintain biological diversity, and are likely to exacerbate the decline of biological diversity and the loss of landscape-scale processes required for its persistence. When adopting criteria for assessment of significance, we suggest local authorities should consider whose interests are served by different criteria sets, and who will bear the penalty of uncertainty regarding biological diversity outcomes. They should also ask whether significance criteria are adequate, and sufficiently robust to the uncertainty inherent in the assessment of natural values, to halt the decline of indigenous biological diversity.en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationWalker, S., Brower, A. L., Clarkson, B. D., Lee, W. G., Myers, S. C., Shaw, W. B. & Stephens, R. T. T. (2008). Halting indigenous biodiversity decline: ambiguity, equity, and outcomes in RMA assessment of significance. New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 32(2), 1- 13.en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10289/2048
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherNew Zealand Ecological Societyen_NZ
dc.relation.isPartOfNew Zealand Journal of Ecologyen_NZ
dc.relation.urihttp://www.newzealandecology.org/nzje/abstract.php?volume_issue=j32_2&pdf_filename=NZJEcol32_2_225.pdfen
dc.rightsThis article has been published in the New Zealand Journal of Ecology. Copyright ©New Zealand Ecological Society.en
dc.subjectcollective actionen
dc.subjectconservation evaluationen
dc.subjectinterestsen
dc.subjectprecautionary principleen
dc.subjectrepresentativenessen
dc.subjectuncertaintyen
dc.titleHalting indigenous biodiversity decline: ambiguity, equity, and outcomes in RMA assessment of significanceen
dc.typeJournal Articleen
pubs.begin-page1en_NZ
pubs.declined2014-06-05T17:47:33.497+1200
pubs.elements-id33496
pubs.end-page13en_NZ
pubs.issue2en_NZ
pubs.volume32en_NZ
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