Background Why Is Soil Health Important? Rationale for the Program Policy Implementation the Māori Component Contact the Scienc
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How Indigenous Values Shaped the Successful Establishment of a Multi-Year Soil Bryan Stevenson1, Garth Harmsworth2, Health Program n Aotearoa-New Zealand Electra Kaulagher3 PA53A-0244 Background Māori concepts of soil health (RA 2) Pedogenic thresholds research (RA 1) Explore Māori values (Kaitiakitanga, Mauri) Methods, sampling and analysis • New Zealand (Aotearoa) is a multicultural society where indigenous (Māori) rights are for soil heaith enshrined in the Treaty of Waitangi • Current funding proposals for national science programs contain a Māori component (Vision Mātauranga) that encourages: Participatory research (RA 2) Local and regional research with Māori - inclusion of Māori values - consultation and cooperation with iwi/hapu (regional and local level tribal groups) Integrated concept analysis (RA 3) - development of Māori capability in science and policy Policy approaches, Māori concepts and Western science approaches Why is Soil Health Important? An estimated 10 billion people are projected to inhabit the earth by 2050, healthy soils are Natural capital assessment (RA 1) Māori assessment framework (RA 2) Assesssment tools and manuscript Māori indicators of soil health and resilience needed to: • maintain and sustain the productive capacity of land to feed increasing populations • support many ecosystem services and regulating functions (e.g. climate regulation, Indicators (RA 3) Integrating results of research with current biodiversity, buffering and filtering of contaminants, provision of clean water, etc.) RA 1 Research Aim 1 indicators of soil health • support recreational, aesthetic, and cultural uses of the land RA 2 Research Aim 2 RA 3 Research Aim 3 Integrated framework (RA 3) Integration and assesssment into a Rationale for the Program universal assessment framework • Current soil health measures focus on short-term (dynamic) changes in soil characteristics • A longer-term view of soil health integrating soil resilience and mātauranga Māori was Figure 1. Project Framework desired with a resulting framework applicable to policy makers, primary sector growers, landowners and iwi/hapu Cosmology Three major aims of the project: 1) Test long-term land-use sequences on different soils to better define soil resilience Theology Ecology 2) Develop concepts of soil health from a Māori perspective Ethics 3) Incorporate cultural value systems and mātauranga Māori with new scientific knowledge Politics Science into an integrated soil health framework The project framework is illustrated in Figure 1. Practices Economics The Māori Component • Mātauranga Māori – knowledge emanating from a Māori world view (Fig. 2) – is holistic Culture Linguistics in nature Figure 2. Mātauranga Māori • Encompasses principles such as tangata whenua (people of the land) and kaitiakitanga (inter-generational guardianship of land) that complement a traditional science approach Aroturukitanga to defining a longer-term view of soil health - soil ecosystem monitoring • Development of a Māori framework for soil health important for utilisation by iwi/hapu and Māori owned businesses Ngā Pou Ngā Ngā Ngā Ngā Herenga Uaratanga Mahinga Whakataunga Huanga • Will inform the integrated framework for policy - underlying core - set goals and - management - decision making – desired outcomes values (eg.,) objectives intervention processes Kaitiakitanga Land management The Science Component Maintain/enhance practices (BMPs) soil health and • Define soil resilience using pedogenic threshold theory (i.e. soils may be subject to mauri of land Whānaungatanga assets Plant riparian thresholds from land use intensification beyond which their characteristics and behaviour zones/plant trees on erodible change abruptly). slopes Healthy and Manaakitanga productive soils Soil eco health • Land-use chronosequences/paired site studies used to determine changes in soil management Soil-land resource Understand Knowledge Whakapono systems characteristics (“inherent” characteristics as well as dynamic characteristics) resources/ implementation increase of soil eco health Maximise productivity of knowledge to • Further development of the genoform/phenoform concept of how soil properties change land Reduce nutrients return/profit Wairuatanga and sediment manage assets with land use • Development of taxonomic distance measures to quantitatively define resilience Mātauranga Māori Interface Western Science Policy Implementation • Under the Resource Management Act (1991), regional authorities can undertake or Figure 3. An example of Mātaraunga Māori integration into land use planning commission research necessary to report on the state of the environment (SoE) within their regions • Regional authorities have been actively monitoring soil health as part of SoE reporting since approximately 2000 Contact • National Reporting has recently been enacted and protocols are being put in place to better 1 standardize data (Regional Councils, Ministry for the Environment and Stats New Zealand) Byran Stevenson – [email protected] Garth Harmswoth2 – [email protected] • The broader framework developed in concert with these agencies to ensure policy Electra Kaulagher3 – [email protected] implementation 1 Senior Research Soil Scientist, Landcare Research, Hamilton, New Zealand Acknowledgements 2 Toi Rangahau Māori, Landcare Research, Palmerston North, New Zealand The 5-year program began in October 2016, and is funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) 3 Social Science Researcher, Landcare Research, Hamilton, New Zealand landcareresearch.co.nz.