Biodiversity Conservation Governance: The Case of Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, Waikato, New Zealand

Abstract

Biodiversity conservation is an international environmental movement considering the various ecosystem services that biodiversity provides and their current status from several threats and pressures. In New Zealand, the introduced predatory mammals were regarded as one of the major threats to biodiversity loss. A number of biodiversity conservation projects were initiated to address this problem and improve the country's biodiversity. One of these is the Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari (SMM) conservation project which is co-governed and co-managed by key stakeholders such as government, landowners, iwi, and community. Through their combined efforts and sharing of a common goal, a 47-km pest-proof fence was built around Maungatautari, and pest animals (except mice) were eradicated. These actions created a safe habitat for the indigenous flora and fauna enabling species recovery programmes. As such, the study looked into the biodiversity conservation governance of SMM by analyzing its institutions, structures, and processes. The biodversity conservation governance of SMM can be described as policies- and plans-oriented, highly participated by stakeholders, and integrated with social, cultural and scientific aspects. Based on the best practices and accomplishments attained by SMM, a set of indicators were generated for the biodiversity conservation governance in a reserve or similar conservation areas. These indicators can be used not only to evaluate governance system but also to identify gaps and measures when planning and implementing biodiversity conservation projects in reserves or similar conservation areas.