Volume 27, Issue 3: June, 2000

Abstract

PARTICIPATORY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH IN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND: CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Karen Witten, MSc, Dip Clin Psych, Margot Parkes, MBChB, MAS, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, MCP, PhD

Within the Aotearoa/New Zealand context, this article identifies opportunities for, as well as constraints on, using participatory research to address environmental health concerns. In New Zealand, principles of partnership fundamental to the Treaty of Waitangi, and the requirements for consultation within the Resource Management Act, provide a framework for participatory approaches. Participatory environmental health research integrates knowledge from various scientific and community sources. It also fosters the innovation, evaluation, and sharing of information that new public health approaches demand. As an emerging field in Aotearoa/New Zealand, it must drawon experience from resource management, rural development, and public health research and practice. Water quality is used as an example of the complexity of environmental health issues and of the potential benefits of engaging stakeholders where long-term health and well-being require balancing ecosystem integrity, economic viability, and social processes.