A recently-concluded study, facilitated by the Zeitz Foundation, evaluates the costs of biodiversity loss and the associated decline in ecosystem services worldwide, comparing them with the costs of effective conservation and sustainable use. In researching Tahi Long Run Destination in New Zealand, Jonathan David Middendorf found, amongst other things, that ecosystem services once valued at NZ$ 161223 increased to NZ$ 887739 some seven years later, further to changes in land-use, primarily from an agricultural farm to a conservation area. The increase was due mainly to restoration work.
In his thesis, Middendorf investigates the importance of nature and how people in a particular region of Northland, New Zealand see it, comparing two protected areas: privately-owned Tahi and public Bream Head. The study provides information to guide activities at the two sites, and contributes to the growing global body of knowledge on ecosystems management and the value of ecosystems services.
Overall, the research suggests that for the general public, public conservation areas are of high importance, whilst the values connected to private parks are also highly-recognised and their broader values to wider parts of society are considered.
Middendorf’s thesis, entitled ‘Socio-economic evaluation of public and private conservation, two examples from Northland, New Zealand’, was written in conjunction with the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Germany and Lincoln University in New Zealand.
