Experiences of Canterbury People with the Canterbury Biodiversity Information Network
Alan Ambury amburya@lincoln.ac.nz
Environmental Management and Design Division,
P.O. Box 84,
Lincoln University,
Canterbury
This research was undertaken during a research placement within the Changing Landscapes and Biodiversity Programme at Landcare Research. I thank all the people that took part in this research for their time, and for their willingness to discuss their experiences. I also thank Margaret Kilvington (my placement supervisor at Landcare Research) and Stefanie Rixecker (my supervisor at Lincoln University) for their support.
Abstract: This report describes a qualitative research study that explored the experiences of Canterbury people, as they attempted to inform their interest in New Zealand's indigenous flora and fauna. A specific aim of the research was to explore factors that were helping and hindering the ability of Canterbury people to gain positive information that they could use to transform their interest in indigenous flora and fauna into appropriate actions. Data were collected, firstly, through a series of unstructured interviews with 17 participants and, secondly, through a series of semi-structured interviews with 15 participants. Interviews were specifically sought with people from five broad target groups: established community groups with ecological restoration goals, establishing community groups with ecological restoration goals, private landowners, community groups that play a role in information provision, and public sector organisations that play a role in information provision. The participants described a variety of experiences with the network. The people who were having the most success gaining information were those that had close links with information-providing agencies and local experts. However, in general, Canterbury people's ability to gain positive information appeared to be hindered by three main factors. Firstly, desired information was not always present within the network. Secondly, desired information within the network was difficult to access. Thirdly, desired information was able to be accessed but was not able to be comprehended.
CONTENTS
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Experiences of people involved with established community groups with ecological restoration goals
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Experiences of people involved with establishing restoration groups with ecological restoration goals, and private landowners with an interest in indigenous flora and fauna
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Experiences of people involved with community groups that play a role in information provision
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Experiences of people involved with local government or central government agencies that play a role in information provision
Appendix One: Sample for semi-structured interviews
Appendix Two: Key questions posed during semi-structured interviews
Appendix Three: Summary of positive and negative experiences with the Canterbury biodiversity information network
Appendix Four: Participants'
suggestions for improving the Canterbury biodiversity information
network
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Page last updated: Friday, September 14, 2001