Seasonal rhythms in practice : relating localised experiences of seasons to organised responses to changing climates : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Abstract

With seasons providing important temporal references to ongoing processes of social-environmental change the world over, this thesis considers local experiences of seasonality as a basis to effecting adaptive responses to changing climates within resilient communities of place. Here, adaptation is construed as a practical attunement to the shifting temporal patterns of places, involving dynamic intersections of rhythmic human-environment relations across scales. Engaging with multiple bodies of scholarship, from critical institutional-organisational theories to geographies of time-space, the research tenders enhanced understandings of the local conditions under which seasonal adaptations and associated social-ecological resilience are implicated in the wider transitions of politicised social-ecological systems.

Focusing on coastal conservation networks operating on the Coromandel’s Kūaotunu Peninsula, in Aotearoa – New Zealand, the qualitative ethnographic inquiry probes the dynamic relations of organised groups with place by engaging phenomenological methods alongside rhythmanalysis to reveal a strong seasonality to Kūaotunu’s contemporary rural lifestyles. Manifest in unique forms of contemporary stewardship, including that of indigenous Māori, the findings suggest that the familiarity bred through a practical rhythmic engagement with local beach environments – according to a shared seasonal framework – is associated with distinctive capacities for navigating social-environmental shifts. Not least in their practical accommodation of coastal restoration activities around the fluxes of seasonal tourism on the Kūaotunu Peninsula, the organised activities of resident voluntary conservation groups are seen to adjust to incrementally changing conditions, from one year to the next, through ongoing processes of seasonal acclimatisation.

Alongside an intrinsic fostering of social resilience, the inherently adaptive processes of acclimatisation observed in organised conservation practices at Kūaotunu are contrasted with remotely modelled projections of retreating coastlines as the basis to district-wide strategic adaptation pathways being developed for its coastal communities by local Council. With grassroot conservation initiatives already responding practically to ongoing change from within their means, one bay and one season at a time, they are vitally contributing local wisdoms and innovations to uncertain futures. With clear imperatives to integrate ‘seasoned’ environmental governance approaches within deliberative adaptation planning initiatives, new forums are required to strategically align with the multiple temporalities of divergent communities of place as formative to process.