Abstract:
This thesis puts forward the benefits of a transdisciplinary approach to environmental management, using urban New Zealand use and value of freshwater as a case in point. In New Zealand, the deficiencies of urban water management have become more evident over the last decades spurring a long process of water reform. Changing precipitation patterns are increasing the risk of flooding events and water shortages; there are regional and seasonal stresses on freshwater resources; and people's attitudes and expectations are poorly understood. Existing pricing structures are obscuring signals of both water shortages and wasteful practices. This research examined and mapped people's awareness, perceptions, attitudes and preferences in Auckland City and Christchurch City; two communities with different cultural, ecological and political systems of water management. A system-based contingent valuation method was developed to establish the level of acceptance for including ecosystem services as a part of the water infrastructure equation in the two communities. By eliciting a willingness to pay for water related ecosystem goods and services, values were coupled with price and consumption. It was found that the old mindset seeing water as a free gift from nature prevails in some communities even in the presence of higher environmental awareness, encouraging unsustainable consumption and potentially creating political inertia about water management reforms. It was found that there was a positive willingness to pay for ecosystem services in both cities, and that motivational factors were stronger predictors than socioeconomic variables for accepting the proposed pricing structure in Christchurch. The systems approach developed in this thesis identified cultural-ecological city identity constructs as having a strong potential for building community expectations for ecologically sustainable water management. It is recommended that local water authorities are established consisting of tangata whenua, stakeholders and experts from social, economic and ecological fields, and to be charged with developing local visions for water management and restoration programmes for water related ecosystems. It is recommended that pricing should include terms for full-cost recovery, resource rent, scarcity and investment in natural capital.