Abstract:
The significance of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) and their pivotal role for traditional and indigenous communities will provide useful outcomes to the design of more appropriate and sustainable urban and regional planning for water resources and the natural environment. The intangible characteristics of these services and lack of appropriate valuation indicators in current decision-making, apart from monetization of such values, are creating problems. This is one of the main reasons for the underestimation of these services in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) or Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE), and therefore, unsustainable use of precious resources. In this study, we demonstrate a context-based definition of CES with contribution of matauranga Māori and tikanga Māori . Oakley Creek in Auckland is selected for its high urbanization rate and unique characteristics to identify in-depth visions of mana whenua values for nature and water resources. We aim at recognizing more CESs, more meaningful non-monetary valuation indicators, a more tangible identification understandable for local people, and ultimately the appropriate application to the AEE process.