Abstract:
Community-based restoration initiatives have grown in prevalence throughout New Zealand in recent years. But, what value do such projects provide? This deceptively simple question lies at the heart of this study, which aims to explore, and deepen understanding about the range of values assigned to community-based restoration efforts in New Zealand. Contrasting with standard ecological economic approaches, this research takes an open approach to environmental valuation, viewing the research question through a constructivist lens. Semi-structured interviews, undertaken with 84 research participants (identified using stakeholder analysis, snowball and purposeful sampling), involved in or affected by three different community-based restoration projects, provided a unique opportunity to consider how value is assigned to restoration using people’s own words. The twenty discrete, but interrelated, categories of value were identified using thematic analysis provide insight into the complexity of the many, plural ways that people recognise value in restoration. The range assigned values are encapsulated within five organising themes. Community-based restoration was perceived to have value because projects: (i) improve the condition of local environments, (ii) facilitate learning and sharing of knowledge, (iii) build a sense of community, (iv) strengthen people’s connection to place, and (v) help shape the future of local regions. This exploration into the value of community-based restoration has increased awareness about wider aspects of value, broadening appreciation beyond a narrow emphasis on ecological or economic value of restoration. Developing a context-rich understanding of the ways in which different people attribute value deepens awareness about the range of aspects that are perceived to be supported and enhanced through community-based restoration. This will enable community-based projects to follow a path that connects more broadly, and explicitly, with socially and culturally important values by providing a useful starting point to stimulate discussion about the value of restoration in a various contexts. Restoration success is intimately related to goals; learning about the range of aspects that people regard as important about restoration needs to inform any discussion about how to judge the on-going success of such community-based projects.