Non-governmental organisation (NGO) participation in New Zealand's biodiversity strategy : Summary of focus group proceedings

Abstract

This report summarises the results of a cooperative research programme (focus group sessions) - between a research student from Lincoln University and the Biodiversity Strategy working group - which contributes toward developing the public participation process for New Zealand's Biodiversity Strategy. The research programme included a series of five focus group sessions that involved forty Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and Maori organisation representatives. This report attempts first and foremost to provide an impartial summary of the focus group proceedings - a summary that is free of evaluation or critical assessment and, rather, conveys the balance and range of views expressed across the five focus group sessions. For this reason the participants original comments are used wherever this is possible, indicated as italicised text within this report. Some comments are offered by the author and the Biodiversity Project Group (after the report overview) and critical assessment of the focus group results is provided in the author's Master of Science research which complements this summary and is held by the Department of Conservation and Lincoln University Libraries. In this section, background information to New Zealand's Biodiversity Strategy is provided, followed by a description of the focus group research (purpose, aims, objectives and methods) and structure of this report.