The politics of feral horse management in Guy Fawkes River National Park, NSW (original) (raw)
Related papers
2010
This research sought to establish the extent of and reasons for community participation and non participation in local decision-making practices in the New Forest National Park, a protected area, in Southern England. Following a critical examination of the literature and previous research the concepts and theories of government, governance and of social capital were identified as being critical for an understanding and explanation of community engagement and disengagement. Primary data was collected through a series of qualitative interviews with representatives of institutions and of the local community in the area together with two concurrent quantitative surveys, one a random household survey and the other of individuals registered on an existing citizen’s panel. Unlike studies of participation in society at large, the findings show a high level of participation is occurring. The nature and characteristics of this participation are examined in terms of non participation and three...
Shifting public values and what they mean for increasing democracy in wildlife management decisions
Over the last century, changing public attitudes about the value of wildlife have triggered substantial changes in species management that have both benefited and hindered conservation efforts. Understanding and integrating contemporary public values is therefore critical for effective conservation outcomes. Using historic and contemporary examples, we highlight how public attitudes—expressed through the media and cam-paigns—are shaping the management of introduced and native species, as values shift towards animal welfare and mutualism. We focus on the issue of deliberate human-caused killing of wildlife, because protests against such management have disrupted traditional political and management structures that favoured eradication of wildlife across many jurisdictions and ecological contexts. In doing so, we show that it is essential to work with multiple stakeholder interest groups to ensure that wildlife management is informed by science, while also supported by public values. Achieving this hinges on appropriate science communication to build a better-informed public because management decisions are becoming increasingly democratised.
Applying governance principles to systematic conservation decision-making
The literature on the science-policy interface suggests that stakeholders' perceptions of environmental planning and decision-making processes can affect the uptake of conservation plans. Despite calls for more and better stakeholder engagement in conservation planning there is currently no empirical evidence on participants' perceptions of such processes. We asked participants of a conservation planning process and other key informants to evaluate their engagement experiences using normative governance principles (legitimacy, inclusiveness, fairness, accountability, integration, adaptability, transparency and capability). We analysed a large-scale case-study of species prioritisation in Queensland, Australia. Conceptually, our systematic use of governance principles to interrogate perceptions of engagement showcased the utility of this analytical approach to uncover important issues influencing science-policy uptake. Empirically, we showed that there remains considerable debate about how a normative conservation planning process should be. Our data revealed different interpretations of species prioritisation, ranging from a deliberative process to define priorities in biodiversity conservation, to a technical, expert-based process. Matters of 'who' was included affected stakeholders' perceptions of species prioritisation. Perceived limitations of 'how' the process was conducted were also important, affected by the: 1) institutional culture of the Queensland government; 2) lack of transparency; 3) limited flexibility to incorporate both emerging data and participants' suggestions in program management; and 4) limited capability for implementation. These empirical data support existing evidence from studies in the broader field of collaborative planning. We draw from this literature to suggest how conservation planners can overcome the barriers to the uptake of prioritisation priorities identified in our research.
Hypatia, 2022
Conservation scholarship and policies are concerned with the viability of idealized ecological communities constructed using human metrics. We argue that the discipline of conservation assumes an epistemology and ethics of human sovereignty/dominion over animals that leads to violent actions against animals. We substantiate our argument by deconstructing a case study. In the context of recent bushfires in Australia, we examine recent legislation passed by the parliament of New South Wales (NSW), policy documents, and academic articles by conservationists that support breaking communities of horses and/or killing 4,000 horses in Kosciuszko National Park (KNP), NSW. Theoretically framing our deconstruction against human sovereignty over animals and anthropocentrism, we affirm an intersectional, ecofeminist approach that values animals as relational and vulnerable agents. We uncover first the epistemic violence of categorizing horses as “pests,” and the anthropocentric nature of recent...
Wild dogs are a widespread, established pest in Australia and have economic, environmental, and social impacts. Best practice management recommends coordinated community-led action as a key strategy to reduce this vertebrate pest. This research increased understanding of how citizens organize to collectively manage wild dogs in three case studies from Australia, with attention to the interaction of cultural, structural, and interactional domains of group action. Information asymmetry and changing demographic profiles emerge as challenges to effective group development. Visible community leaders and strong group identity are important, as is peer recognition of community efforts to develop collective action norms. This article complements and extends existing quantitative data sets with qualitative analysis and contextual understanding, while also reflecting on the implications of collective action for wild dog management more broadly. This research is relevant for those concerned with community action and complex issues of vertebrate pest management.
Prioritisation methods have been adopted for >20 years to inform resource allocation in species conservation. The academic literature on prioritisation focuses on technical matters, with little attention to the socio-political factors affecting the uptake of priorities. We investigated the policy instruments employed to promote uptake, and the structural factors affecting the uptake of priorities, using as our case study a species prioritisation method adopted by the Queensland Government (Australia). We interviewed 79 key informants and analysed policy documents and plans. The Queensland Government relied on ‘information delivery’ as a policy instrument to foster uptake. We identified communication channels to assist ‘information delivery’ between Government and intended users, but also found that several structural factors limited their use: fragmentation of policies, the relative strength of alternative priorities and centralisation of power in decision-making. We discuss the results in relation to other conservation planning initiatives and suggest how structural barriers can be addressed.