Indigenous peoples' roles in conservation are important because they offer alternate perspectives and knowledge centred on the quality of the human-environment relationship. Here, we present examples of Māori cultural constructs, mechanisms, legislative warrants and customary (traditional and contemporary) interventions fundamental to the development and delivery of biocultural approaches within NZ's future conservation system. Biocultural approaches emphasise greater decision-making for the environment at the local institutional level, and contribute towards rebuilding a 'tuakana-teina' relationship (a reciprocal learning relationship and responsibility shared between older and younger persons) between societies and their environments. We further posit that the matching of social scales with ecological scales within local management is necessary for the effective implementation of biocultural approaches. Failure to do so could undermine motivation, action, energies and confidence of local communities.

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The global emphasis on stakeholder engagement in protected area management has increased over the last three decades. Here we present key values of statutory and non-statutory stakeholder groups as they relate to their relationship with the former Te Urewera National Park (NP), New Zealand, which is now recognised as “a legal entity” with “all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person.” Non-statutory stakeholders conveyed a close, personal connection to Te Urewera NP in terms of heritage and legacy, which include both consumptive (e.g., hunting; fishing) and non-consumptive use (e.g., sight-seeing, hiking, boating). In contrast, statutory stakeholders expressed a more distant and procedural relationship with the park. Both stakeholder groups perceived the possible transfer of ownership or governance of Te Urewera NP to Tūhoe (the Indigenous Māori peoples of the Te Urewera region) favourably and expressed a desire to be engaged in the future stewardship of the NP. Stakeholders considered the fostering of relations with Tūhoe and other stakeholder groups as important to nurturing and maintaining their links with the area in future. Importantly, common interests that emerge from these relationships can increase mutual understanding between cultures and willingness to collaborate. Moreover, we posit that the legal personhood status for protected areas will be a powerful tool for reconciling pluralistic values and enable deliberative processes and flexible modes of collaboration between Indigenous peoples and non-indigenous stakeholders.

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