A place-based approach to conservation management using public participation GIS (PPGIS)

The New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) is an early adopter of a place-based approach to implementing regional Conservation Management Strategies (CMS). As a new approach, there are few signposts for guidance. The present DOC process relies on a top-down, deductive approach using expert judgement by agency staff. In this study, we examine an alternative approach that uses inductive, public participation GIS (PPGIS) methods to delineate places of significant conservation value. We compare and evaluate the agency's deductive approach with places identified as significant using PPGIS. We discuss the results and present a proposed hierarchy of places framework for use in future place-based conservation management.