People living in the Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve located on the south coast of Western Australia prefer to learn about social sustainability and environmental management from local experts who have grassroots knowledge and practical solutions to some of the eco-challenges and opportunities facing their community.  

This of one of the major findings of research by Dr Amma Buckley, a Research Fellow in the Alcoa Foundation’s Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship Program in the Alcoa Centre for Stronger Communities based at Curtin University of Technology.
 
Her working paper Beyond conceptual elegance: Local participation and the ‘model’ Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve – is part of the Sustaining Gondwana working papers series.

Sustaining Gondwana is a strategic initiative – funded by the Alcoa Foundation’s Conservation and Sustainability Fellowship Program and the University. It aims to research conservation and sustainability issues along the south coast of WA from Walpole to just east of Esperance which is one of the world’s biodiversity “hotspots” due to the diversity of its flora and fauna in the region.

“As a hotspot the Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve comes under the focus of UNESCO’s Man in the Biosphere (MAB) Program,” Dr Buckley said.

“I explored UNESCO’s main goal of the use of local engagement in sustainable natural resource management (NRM),” she said.

“There is growing sentiment world-wide that better NRM is achieved by involving local people in collaborative ways in the ‘science’ of environmental management.

“My research investigated this global trend and the social complexities of environmental management.”

The study was undertaken in conjunction with Greening Australia’s Biodiversity Awareness Project - a South Coast Natural Resource Management funded initiative.  The pilot area was located on the western side of Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve that falls within the Shire of Jerramungup and includes the townships of Jerramungup and Bremer Bay and the districts of Needilup, Jacup, Gairdner and Boxwood Hill.

Dr Buckley selected the Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve due to its diversity of land use and people, its significance as an international biodiversity hotspot and its strong history of local community NRM activities.

Dr Buckley looked at the attitudes, perception, activities and NRM knowledge of the natural environment of local people living in urban, urban outskirts and rural settings.

Her results showed encouraging levels of appreciation, awareness and activities related to the natural environment. Findings were   benchmarked against national data in the areas of personal priorities and wellbeing.

The local findings mostly matched national findings, with family the lead priority and the environment ranked third but the standard of living, life achievement, health and future security were significantly below national averages.

“The Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve is a dynamic community with many divergent views when it comes to conservation,” Dr Buckley said.

“While landcare and revegetation were the most evident environmental activities, people said that a “lack of time” impeded further environmental works being undertaken in the Fitzgerald area,” she said.

“Most people agreed that protecting the natural environment for future generations was the highest priority and the greatest problem was the impact of feral animals on the environment.

“Better ways involving the local community in practical NRM activities delivered by local experts with local knowledge will be an important focus of the next stage of my Fellowship project, centring on local participation in environmental management within the Fitzgerald Biosphere Reserve.”