Arowhenua, Aoraki & Mountaineers: A Research Project - Peak Perspectives
This series of articles first appeared in New Zealand Alpine Journal #79 (autumn, 2024). The other articles in this series can be found here.
Peak Perspectives: Uncovering Mountaineer Behaviour Towards Human Waste In Aotearoa New Zealand
by Lynette Mcleod & Don Hine
Human waste is causing considerable environmental and cultural harm in alpine areas globally, as well as posing a potential health risk. Many alpine and wilderness areas around the world are now requiring that all solid human waste be carried out of the area, for example Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Dealing with Human Waste (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)) and Mt Everest (https://www.9news.com.au/world/mount-everest-climbers-to-take-their-own-poo-back-to-base-camp/1a0c30e6-fd37-4e5a-812a-04e9f8147442?ocid=Social-9News). Environmental programs, such as Leave No Trace, encourage ‘pack it in, pack it out’ waste management principles to all users of outdoor areas (Leave No Trace New Zealand | Promote and inspire responsible outdoor recreation).
This research was conducted to gain insights into the solid human waste (SHW) management practices of mountaineers in Aotearoa New Zealand. As many of the areas where mountaineering activities occur have high cultural significance for Māori – for example, Aoraki Mt Cook represents the most sacred of ancestors, from whom local iwi tribes descend and who provide the local hapū Kāti Huirapa and Arowhenua people with their sense of communal identity, solidarity and purpose – we also investigated mountaineers knowledge of Māori values and its influence on their SHW practices.
Our research methodology was underpinned by behaviour change theory from Environmental Psychology and Behavioural Economics. Recognising that mountaineers are not homogenous, we used population segmentation based on demographic and behavioural variables to gain insights into the unique influential factors for each subgroup. We surveyed 461 members of the Aotearoa New Zealand mountaineering community, using an online survey and identified four mountaineer segments or personas – Occasional Young Adventurers, Young Active and Ambitious, Seasoned Mountaineers and Occasional Veterans:
Occasional Young Adventurers were younger in age and contained the highest proportion of females versus other personas. On average they had less than five years involvement in mountaineering activities, made three to five trips per year, rated their experience as beginners/advanced beginners and had minimal overseas experience. They enjoyed mountaineering activities, which were important to them, and were motivated by a sense of achievement and spiritual introspection.
Young, Active and Ambitious were also younger in age. On average they had six to ten years involvement in mountaineering activities, made six to ten trips per year, rated their experience as intermediate and had some overseas experience. They enjoyed mountaineering activities, which were very important to them, and they tended to organise their life around mountaineering activities. Many of their friends were associated with mountaineering and they were motivated by a sense of achievement, fitness, adventure, risk-taking, skill development, exploration, escape from stress and spiritual introspection.
Seasoned Mountaineers were older in age. On average they had over sixteen years involvement in mountaineering activities, made more than sixteen trips per year, rated their experience as advanced to expert, had numerous overseas experiences and tended to be members of professional mountaineering organisations (NZMGA, NZOIA etc). They enjoyed mountaineering activities, which were very important to them, and they tended to organise their life around mountaineering activities. Many of their friends were associated with mountaineering and they were motivated by a sense of achievement, connection to similar people, exploration, skill development and escape from everyday stress.
Occasional Veterans were the oldest of the groups. On average they had over twenty years involvement in mountaineering activities, made three to five trips per year, rated their experience as intermediate to advanced and had numerous overseas experiences. They enjoyed mountaineering activities, which were important to them and were motivated by a range of reasons including a sense of achievement.
Although most of the respondents across all personas believed that SHW disposal was an important issue, only 12% of respondents mostly or always carried out their SHW, with Seasoned Mountaineers the most likely to do so. Respondents were more willing to collect SHW and dispose in the provided hut facilities (74%) than carry out their SHW from the area (60%). Occasional Young Adventurers expressed the most future willingness to carry out their SHW. The top factors preventing respondents carrying out SHW were:
1) lack of awareness of the range of available products to carry out SHW,
2) perceived chance of leakage when carrying out SHW,
3) reliance on using hut facilities to dispose of SHW,
4) perceived lack of personal responsibility towards SHW disposal,
5) preference to pay higher hut fees than carry out the SHW,
6) lack of awareness of the cost of waste removal from hut facilities and
7) the cost of available products to carry out SHW.
There were differences in the influence of these barriers across the four personas (Figure 1). Occasional Young Adventurer members were the least aware of the range of available products and believed these products were too expensive. Seasoned Mountaineer and Occasional Veteran members were more likely to be concerned about leakage of SHW than the younger personas. Seasoned Mountaineer members were more likely to believe it was their responsibility to dispose of SHW and the least likely of the personas to rely on hut facilities to dispose SHW, however they showed the highest preference to pay more for use of the hut facilities than carry out their SHW. Occasional Young Adventurer and Young, Active and Ambitious members were the least aware of the cost of waste removal from hut facilities.
Only 11% of respondents said they had a good understanding of Māori tikanga and tapu in the areas where they mountaineered. Seasoned Mountaineers tended to have the best understanding compared to the other personas. There was no difference in the influence of understanding of Māori culture on mountaineering behaviour between the four personas.
The next stage of the project will see these findings used, alongside the understandings gained from local Māori iwi around their cultural beliefs, to identify leverage points for behaviour change and to design more effective and culturally appropriate campaigns and messaging to improve SHW management in alpine areas across Aotearoa New Zealand.