Alpine stewardship: towards zero-waste mountaineering activities in Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park

Abstract

This study explores the goal of implementing a zero-waste strategy for mountaineering activities in Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park AMCNP will be referred to throughout this thesis by this acronym or as 'the Park'. by disseminating an adaptive management model utilising the 'limits for acceptable change' (LAC) framework developed in various United States national parks since 2003. This planning framework was chosen to support the Department of Conservation ('DOC' or 'the Department' hereafter) DOC is the central government agency charged with balancing the dual mandates of resource protection and recreation provision within New Zealand's national parks. in the development of fundamental 'best practice' involved within this process including: (a) detailed understandings of the problems, origins, and prospective practical solutions for waste minimisation in AMCNP, (b) the involvement and participation of key stakeholders in all phases of AMCNP's zero-waste strategy, (c) the long-term capacity building for alpine stewardship: towards zero-waste mountaineering activities in AMCNP. The applied methodology for collecting this information was a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, and a comprehensive text analysis investigating the sequential development of stakeholders perspectives towards zero-waste initiatives, the wider spectrum of waste in the Park, including vocalised reasons and hidden arguments, public participation approaches in AMCNP and different levels of public involvement in a zero-waste strategy for the Park. This study has highlighted that there are various opportunities to increase the acceptance of sustainable low-impact human waste facilities in AMCNP including design, education, providing appropriate facilities, and public participation in a zero-waste strategy. The results from this research also demonstrate that increased public participation may potentially satisfy key stakeholders.