tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/tasmanian-wilderness-10425/articlesTasmanian Wilderness – The Conversation2023-05-09T04:12:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2051152023-05-09T04:12:29Z2023-05-09T04:12:29ZHow Alone Australia can help us understand and appreciate our place in nature<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525007/original/file-20230509-258589-gz6i5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1213%2C811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alone Australia/SBS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than a million Australians have tuned in to <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/alone-australia">Alone Australia</a>, SBS’s <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/alone-australia-cements-its-place-as-breakout-hit-new-tv-show-of-2023">highest-rating series</a> for 2023 to date. What is it about this program that’s got us so hooked? And what can it tell us about our own relationships with nature? </p>
<p>The series started with ten contestants dropped off in a remote area of lutruwita/Tasmania. The aim is to survive alone for as long as possible. Each contestant is relying on their ability to find food, create adequate shelter and contend with isolation from people. </p>
<p>Each contestant’s experiences have been shaped, in part, by their unique relationship with nature. We all value and experience nature in different ways. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/apr/19/alone-australia-brings-out-the-armchair-experts-i-should-know-im-on-it">armchair experts</a> watching from home, we may reflect on how we would act if we had to survive alone in a remote place. How might our own relationship with nature shape our actions? </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/alone-australia-contestants-are-grappling-with-isolation-and-setbacks-heres-what-makes-a-winner-204264">Alone Australia contestants are grappling with isolation and setbacks. Here's what makes a winner</a>
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<h2>Nature is everywhere</h2>
<p>Watching Alone Australia may generate the sense that nature, and nature experiences, happen “out there” away from urban places and other people. This narrative has been fuelled by media, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-planet-is-billed-as-an-attenborough-documentary-with-a-difference-but-it-shies-away-from-uncomfortable-truths-114889">David Attenborough’s awe-inspiring nature documentaries</a>, which paint nature and humans as separate. While this kind of media can inspire fascination with nature, it can be damaging if it perpetuates an idea that <a href="https://theconversation.com/humanity-and-nature-are-not-separate-we-must-see-them-as-one-to-fix-the-climate-crisis-122110">humans are separate from nature</a>. </p>
<p>Nature is all around us, including in our cities. Indeed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12404">one-third</a> of Australia’s threatened species live in cities. </p>
<p>This means that what urban residents (that’s most of us) actually do is important for helping nature to survive and thrive. And there are many <a href="https://theconversation.com/nature-is-in-crisis-here-are-10-easy-ways-you-can-make-a-difference-202855">easy things we can do</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nature-is-in-crisis-here-are-10-easy-ways-you-can-make-a-difference-202855">Nature is in crisis. Here are 10 easy ways you can make a difference</a>
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<h2>We shape nature, and nature shapes us</h2>
<p>Your relationship with nature is part of your identity. This relationship is shaped by values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. It’s personal and it’s cultural. </p>
<p>Alone Australia demonstrates how humans value nature in different ways. The show helps us widen our view of <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-01980-7_2">valuing nature</a> from what it provides for us (instrumental/utilitarian values) to seeing beauty and worth in nature itself (intrinsic values). </p>
<p>Some contestants value nature from an even broader perspective (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.11.003">relational values</a>) as they reveal their deep, caring, reciprocal and even spiritual relationship with the natural world. </p>
<p>Previous overseas seasons of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4803766/">Alone</a> have highlighted <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/pdf/S0169-5347(16)00050-1.pdf">utilitarian</a> nature relationships, with most contestants being white male survivalists. This season, the first in Australia, includes people from different cultures and genders, including First Nations peoples. This has highlighted different types of human-nature relationships, including spiritual and nature-as-kin relationships. </p>
<p>Experiences in nature early in life shape these relationships. In their “flashback” footage, several contestants express gratitude to their parents for early experiences of nature. </p>
<p>For those of us with children, this might inspire us to help shape our child’s “nature identity”. Meaningful <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pan3.10128">nature experiences</a> can include looking after nature (gardening, indoor plants), bushwalks, visiting botanical gardens, or getting up close and personal with wildlife at your local zoo. </p>
<h2>Nature as medicine</h2>
<p>Being in nature is good for us. It might seem like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/alone-australia-contestants-are-grappling-with-isolation-and-setbacks-heres-what-makes-a-winner-204264">moments of awe</a> and self-discovery in nature that we have seen Alone Australia contestants experience can only happen in these “out there” places. But these experiences can happen anywhere - if we seek them out. </p>
<p>This will be apparent to many of us who sought solace in nature <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2023.127895">during COVID lockdowns</a>. Connecting with nature, <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-for-wellbeing-science-tells-us-how-to-design-urban-spaces-that-heal-us-82437">including in urban places</a>, can help people <a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-4-australians-is-lonely-quality-green-spaces-in-our-cities-offer-a-solution-188007">feel less lonely</a> and support their wellbeing in many ways. </p>
<p>For two Alone Australia contestants, in particular, their experiences of post-traumatic stress disorder (Chris) and the loss of a child (Gina) have been harrowing. Both describe how nature provides them with solace and healing. </p>
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<p>For several contestants, craving connection with people was the reason to head home. Others seek <a href="https://theconversation.com/empathy-in-conservation-is-hotly-debated-still-the-world-needs-more-stories-like-my-octopus-teacher-149975">kinship with nature</a>. For example, ecologist Kate befriends her local possum family and Gina delights in regular visits by a platypus. </p>
<p>For First Nations man Duane, the experience strengthened his connection to Country, but experiencing that connection with family was critical:</p>
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<p>It’s about oneness with nature, but sharing it collectively – kindness, actions towards others, not being alone out there. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-alone-australia-tells-us-about-fear-and-why-we-need-it-203399">What Alone Australia tells us about fear, and why we need it</a>
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<h2>Learning about nature</h2>
<p>TV nature content like Alone Australia is educational. As the remaining contestants find food and other resources, we learn about plant and animal species and their use by the palawa people, the Traditional Custodians of the land. </p>
<p>This might prompt viewers to find out more about the plants and animals in their own local environments. Indeed, recent renewed interest in urban foraging has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-foraging-and-gathering-are-food-for-the-soul-109044">touted as cementing our connections to place</a> and sense of belonging. </p>
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<h2>We need nature, and nature needs us</h2>
<p>Alone Australia highlights our complete interdependence with nature. Ultimately, everything we need for survival, including clean water, shelter and food, is derived from nature, even when we live in a city. The “successes” of the contestants are determined by their ability to understand their relationship to the land and how to meet their basic survival needs. </p>
<p>If we broaden our view of nature and see ourselves as interwoven in nature’s rich tapestry, as many of the contestants do, we can gain more than basic survival. We can improve our wellbeing while feeling kinship with the more-than-human, and a sense of responsibility to care for it. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/nature-is-in-crisis-here-are-10-easy-ways-you-can-make-a-difference-202855">Nature is in crisis</a>, and that matters for all of us. </p>
<p>People who feel connected to nature are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101323">more likely to protect it</a>. If TV nature content such as Alone Australia encourages us to reflect on our relationship with nature and seek meaningful moments with nature and nature knowledge, then perhaps it might lead us to strengthen our environmental identities and act as nature stewards. And that’s a great outcome for people and the planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205115/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lily van Eeden receives funding from the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. She is affiliated with Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, BehaviourWorks Australia (Monash University), and ICON Science (RMIT University). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Renowden receives funding from the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. She is affiliated with Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research and BehaviourWorks Australia (Monash University). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fern Hames receives funding from the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA). She is affiliated with the Arthur Rylah Institute for Enviromental Research in DEECA, and Monash University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Lee receives funding from the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. She is affiliated with Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research and the University of Melbourne.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Hatty receives funding from the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) and the NSW Office of Energy and Climate Change through her affiliation with BehaviourWorks Australia (Monash University). She has previously received funding from DEECA, the Biodiversity Council, Melbourne Water, and WWF Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Bekessy receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Ian Potter Foundation and the European Commission. Research cited in this article was undertaken by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub with funding from the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program (Phase 1) and the Victorian Department of Land, Water, Environment and Planning. She is a Lead Councillor of the Biodiversity Council, a Board Member of Bush Heritage Australia, a member of WWF's Eminent Scientists Group and a member of the Advisory Group for Wood for Good.</span></em></p>The contestants’ relationships with nature clearly shape their actions. As armchair experts, each of us may reflect on our own relationship with nature and how we would act in the same situation.Lily van Eeden, Research fellow, Monash UniversityChristina Renowden, PhD candidate, Monash UniversityFern Hames, Director, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental ResearchKate Lee, Program Coordinator, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental ResearchMelissa Hatty, Research Fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash UniversitySarah Bekessy, Professor in Sustainability and Urban Planning, Leader, Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group (ICON Science), RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2042642023-05-03T03:36:40Z2023-05-03T03:36:40ZAlone Australia contestants are grappling with isolation and setbacks. Here’s what makes a winner<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523957/original/file-20230503-26-dytqdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3600%2C2401&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will it be Gina?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SBS TV</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The winner of the reality TV show <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/alone-australia">Alone Australia</a>
will need more than “survival skills” to succeed. They will also need to draw on a host of psychological strengths.</p>
<p>Will the winner be the one who shows the most mental toughness or “grit”? Will it be the one who copes with being socially isolated in the Tasmanian wilderness for weeks? How about the contestant who takes a moment to feel awe watching a sunset?</p>
<p>I’m a social psychology researcher, specialising in the dynamics between social interactions and emotions. Here’s what happens when you take away those social interactions, and some thoughts on who’s most likely to thrive.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-alone-australia-tells-us-about-fear-and-why-we-need-it-203399">What Alone Australia tells us about fear, and why we need it</a>
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<h2>Remind me, what’s Alone Australia?</h2>
<p>Alone Australia on SBS TV involves ten contestants who are dropped into the wilds of a Tasmanian winter. Each has ten chosen items (from an approved list) and kilos of recording equipment. </p>
<p>Aside from medical check-ins, they have no social contact. Over the coming days and weeks, they film themselves building a shelter, making fire, and finding food and water. Some thrive, some clearly struggle.</p>
<p>Contestants can choose to “tap out” or can be removed for medical reasons. The contestant who lasts the longest wins A$250,000.</p>
<p>Contestants were selected on the basis of having survival skills and a personality likely to be engaging on camera. </p>
<p>But success on the show will likely also stem from a range of psychological capacities – and perhaps a bit of good luck.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/woman-spends-500-days-alone-in-a-cave-how-extreme-isolation-can-alter-your-sense-of-time-204166">Woman spends 500 days alone in a cave – how extreme isolation can alter your sense of time</a>
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<h2>Mental toughness is key</h2>
<p>Contestants face a gruelling environment. They are repeatedly challenged by the terrain and weather, as well as by hunger and setbacks.</p>
<p>Here, “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1612197X.2007.9671836">mental toughness</a>”, which is related to the popular idea of “<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.545526/full">grit</a>”, plays a role. </p>
<p>Mental toughness is a group of personality characteristics originally identified in elite and successful athletes. It relates to coping with the pressures of competition, as well as setting and following through on training and performance goals. </p>
<p>Athletes higher in mental toughness tend to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S144024401400632X">perform better</a>. Mentally tough military recruits are more likely to be <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robin-Lines-2/publication/339962608_Mental_toughness_as_a_psychological_determinant_of_behavioral_perseverance_in_special_forces_selection/links/5e858551a6fdcca789e8e6bf/Mental-toughness-as-a-psychological-determinant-of-behavioral-perseverance-in-special-forces-selection.pdf">selected</a> to join special forces.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523967/original/file-20230503-26-6m3cre.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mike, contestant on Alone Australia, in Tasmanian wilderness" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523967/original/file-20230503-26-6m3cre.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523967/original/file-20230503-26-6m3cre.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523967/original/file-20230503-26-6m3cre.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523967/original/file-20230503-26-6m3cre.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523967/original/file-20230503-26-6m3cre.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523967/original/file-20230503-26-6m3cre.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523967/original/file-20230503-26-6m3cre.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Will it be Mike?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SBS TV</span></span>
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<p>Can mental toughness be cultivated in the moment? It appears so. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20445911.2014.995104">Thinking back</a> to past failures tends to spur people to stick to current tough goals. Future thinking also plays a role. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10413200.2011.605422">Imagining a future</a> in which you are confident and in control builds self-reported toughness.</p>
<p>We know mentally tough people use a few “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17461390903049972">performance strategies</a>”. These include talking positively to themselves (either out loud or in their mind), controlling their emotions, and intentionally staying relaxed. People can practise and draw on these strategies in the face of adversity. Mentally tough people also avoid negative thinking such as leaning into thoughts of failure or engaging in self-blame.</p>
<p>But mental toughness has limits. When <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244017317498">fatigued</a>, mental toughness no longer predicts perseverance towards a difficult physical goal. Instead, underlying fitness levels appear to be critical.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grit-or-quit-how-to-help-your-child-develop-resilience-195195">Grit or quit? How to help your child develop resilience</a>
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<h2>Combating loneliness is crucial</h2>
<p>The main premise of the show – and its namesake – is total social isolation.</p>
<p>Research highlights the <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/social-isolation-and-loneliness-covid-pandemic">difference</a> between <em>social isolation</em> (lack of opportunity for social interaction) and <em>loneliness</em> (the distressing feeling that one’s social needs aren’t being met). A person can be socially isolated but not feel lonely or feel lonely even in the presence of others.</p>
<p>Not everyone has the same needs for social interaction. Indeed, some people place high value on solitude and generally need less interaction to <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1068609/full">avoid loneliness</a>. </p>
<p>But there’s a caveat. “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00702.x">Social anhedonia</a>” (markedly low interest in and reward from interpersonal connection) is associated with poor functioning.</p>
<p>Even people who don’t prefer solitude can get creative about fulfilling social needs when people aren’t around.</p>
<p>Humans tend to <a href="https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/soco.2008.26.2.143">anthropomorphise</a> (or perceive as human) non-human objects and animals when feeling lonely. </p>
<p>You might remember <a href="https://www.wilson.com/en-us/blog/volleyball/behind-scenes/true-story-wilson-volleyball">Wilson the volleyball</a> from the movie Cast Away. Wilson kept the lead character company during his years being stranded on an island.</p>
<p>People can also remember past, or anticipate future, social interactions. This “<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00013/full">social daydreaming</a>” may help people cope when their friends and family are not around.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-politics-of-the-castaway-story-200827">The politics of the castaway story</a>
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<h2>How about awe and pride?</h2>
<p>Emotional experiences also likely have a role in pushing some contestants to endure longer. Others have written about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-alone-australia-tells-us-about-fear-and-why-we-need-it-203399">role of fear</a> on the show (in a nutshell, fear has its place and isn’t to be avoided). </p>
<p>But research also points to the potential benefits of positive emotions in this situation, such as awe and pride.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523969/original/file-20230503-28-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kate, contestant in Alone Australia, in Tasmanian wilderness" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523969/original/file-20230503-28-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523969/original/file-20230503-28-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523969/original/file-20230503-28-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523969/original/file-20230503-28-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523969/original/file-20230503-28-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523969/original/file-20230503-28-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523969/original/file-20230503-28-i6veb9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Will it be Kate?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SBS TV</span></span>
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<p>Natural environments are in no short supply for contestants on the show. In fact, nature is nearly all they see. And nature is a prime trigger of
<a href="https://www.templeton.org/discoveries/the-science-of-awe">awe</a> – the positive emotional experience when witnessing extraordinary things that are vast and complex.</p>
<p>Awe is linked to a variety of <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/eight_reasons_why_awe_makes_your_life_better">beneficial outcomes</a>, including higher self-reported wellbeing, physical health, critical thinking and humility.</p>
<p>Most of us are familiar with pride – the emotional experience associated with achievement. Pride isn’t just felt upon attaining a goal, but also when making <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029217307446">progress</a> along the way. </p>
<p>Despite pride’s bad rap (for instance, as a deadly sin), my own research links the experience of pride to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18505314/">pursuing goals</a>. People work harder at a goal when they’re feeling proud of earlier accomplishments. </p>
<p>One key to unlocking the benefits of positive emotions such as pride and awe is to mindfully find the opportunities to experience them. Specifically, <a href="https://internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow/article/view/18">savouring the moment</a> is a documented strategy for intentionally increasing the experience of positive emotions such as awe and pride.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/personalities-that-thrive-in-isolation-and-what-we-can-all-learn-from-time-alone-135307">Personalities that thrive in isolation and what we can all learn from time alone</a>
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<h2>Are you a future Alone Australia winner?</h2>
<p>If you’re thinking of applying for future seasons of Alone Australia, you might be wondering if you have what it takes.</p>
<p>Given time, you can build both your survival and psychological skills.</p>
<p>You can develop mental toughness, your capacity to combat loneliness while socially isolated, and your ability to savour positive emotions such as awe and pride.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-hedonism-and-how-does-it-affect-your-health-78040">What is hedonism and how does it affect your health?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204264/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa A. Williams receives funding from the Australian government (Australian Research Council; Department of Industry, Science, and Resources).</span></em></p>Is winning about mental toughness? How about coping with social isolation? Or will it be the one who’s in awe of a sunset?Lisa A Williams, Associate Professor, School of Psychology, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048542018-10-16T05:39:56Z2018-10-16T05:39:56ZGreen light for Tasmanian wilderness tourism development defied expert advice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240418/original/file-20181012-119126-dc88di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C2580%2C1726&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">At least 30 tourism developments have been proposed for Tasmania's World Heritage-listed wilderness.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The Commonwealth government’s decision to wave through a controversial tourism development in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area was made in defiance of strident opposition from the expert statutory advisory body for the region’s management, <a href="https://twitter.com/giblinite/status/1052020975775014912">it was revealed today</a>.</p>
<p>In August, federal environment minister Melissa Price’s office <a href="http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/_entity/annotation/d3c5c54d-18af-e811-b817-005056ba00a7/a71d58ad-4cba-48b6-8dab-f3091fc31cd5?t=1539327928331">decided</a> the proposed luxury development on Halls Island did not need to be assessed under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. </p>
<p>But according to documents tabled in Tasmania’s parliament by the Greens this morning, the state’s <a href="https://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?id=1715">National Parks and Wildlife Advisory Council</a> had advised the opposite, as well as recommending that the proposal should not be approved at all in its current form. The council also argued “contentious projects” like this one should not be considered for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area without “an agreed framework to guide assessment”.</p>
<p>This situation is not unique, and reveals a deeper problem with our national environmental laws. They may look strong on paper, but their strength can be eroded by bureaucratic discretion.</p>
<h2>From conservation to commercialisation</h2>
<p>Tasmania’s wilderness has long been ground zero for the struggle between conservation and commercialisation of our natural estate. In the 1980s, the Commonwealth government nominated the area for <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/181">World Heritage listing</a> to stop the state government building a hydroelectric dam on one of Australia’s last truly wild rivers. </p>
<p>The “locking up” of large parts of wilderness from industrial development has prompted deep social divisions. Nevertheless, the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) has since become part of Tasmania’s cultural and natural fabric. Yet this wilderness is now under renewed threat, as commercial interests seek to capitalise on its tourism potential.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-wilderness-and-why-it-matters-36591">Explainer: wilderness, and why it matters</a>
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<p>World Heritage Areas must have an up-to-date management plan to ensure compliance with Australia’s obligations under the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/convention/">World Heritage Convention</a>. In 2016 the Commonwealth and Tasmanian governments <a href="https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/TWWHA_Management_Plan_2016.pdf">revised the TWWHA management plan</a> to reflect its “socio-economic” value, allowing a range of tourism uses that were banned under the previous 1999 plan. </p>
<p>The World Heritage Committee <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/6290/">warned in 2015</a> that without “strict criteria for new tourism development”, there would be significant risks to the area’s “wilderness character and cultural attributes”. Australia accepted the recommendation but has still not meaningfully implemented strict criteria to assess and protect wilderness values, even as it accepts proposals for tourism developments.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240388/original/file-20181012-119123-mwlla0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240388/original/file-20181012-119123-mwlla0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240388/original/file-20181012-119123-mwlla0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240388/original/file-20181012-119123-mwlla0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240388/original/file-20181012-119123-mwlla0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240388/original/file-20181012-119123-mwlla0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240388/original/file-20181012-119123-mwlla0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240388/original/file-20181012-119123-mwlla0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=957&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Proposed commercial infrastructure projects involving built structures, transport, and modification of the natural environment in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, which have received preliminary or final approvals at October 2018. 30 proposals have been made and additional projects are likely to be announced as the EOI process continues.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(c) Nick Fitzgerald 2018.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since both levels of government agreed to open up the TWHHA, a range of commercial interests have proposed tourism developments there. Expressions of interest for commercial developments are done behind closed doors, but it is clear that <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/hodgman-challenged-over-lake-malbena-development/9860202">at least 30 commercial development proposals have been made</a> for sites in the TWWHA, including projects involving permanent huts, lodges and camps, and some that would necessitate helicopter access.</p>
<h2>Halls Island</h2>
<p>The first of these proposals to be released for public comment and assessed under the 2016 management plan is a plan to build a “luxury standing camp and guided ecotourism experience” at Halls Island in <a href="https://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=3904">Walls of Jerusalem National Park</a> – a remote highland region of the TWWHA. </p>
<p>The plan includes <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-12/hodgman-challenged-over-lake-malbena-development/9860202">reclassifying the lake surrounding Halls Island from “wilderness” to “self-reliant recreation”</a>. On March 22, 2018, the proponent (Wild Drake Pty Ltd) <a href="http://epbcnotices.environment.gov.au/_entity/annotation/6fdfc222-f732-e811-886f-005056ba00a8/a71d58ad-4cba-48b6-8dab-f3091fc31cd5?t=1539138560646">referred the proposal to the Commonwealth Environment Minister</a> to determine whether it should be formally assessed under the EPBC Act.</p>
<p>Upon referral the proposal met with widespread opposition from <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328262046_Marthick_and_Worth_2018_8177_Wild_Drake_Pty_Ltd">scientists</a>, <a href="http://tnpa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Lk-Malbena-development-briefing-notes-EPBC-referral-submissions-v2.pdf">conservation specialists</a>, <a href="https://www.wilderness.org.au/news-events/the-wild-drake-proposal-make-a-submission">civil society</a>, and recreational users of the park, especially the <a href="https://www.examiner.com.au/story/5687886/fishers-and-walkers-group-to-rally-against-helicopter-access/">fishing community</a>. What became clear today is that it was also strongly opposed by the expert advisory council for the TWWHA.</p>
<h2>Expert advice</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?id=1715">National Parks and Wildlife Advisory Council (NPWAC)</a> is a statutory body of independent experts, with responsibility to advise on the management of the TWHHA in line with Australia’s national and international World Heritage commitments. <a href="https://twitter.com/giblinite/status/1052020975775014912">The documents released today</a> show that on July 13 2018, the NPWAC argued strongly against the proposal being allowed to proceed, stating that it “does not support this project progressing at this time”.</p>
<p>It cited a range of objections, including the fact that the development would effectively grant “exclusive private commercial use” of an area in the TWWHA, and that the opening up of airspace to helicopters would set an unwelcome precedent. It also described the development’s planned “standing camp” as a “pretence” because it would involve the construction of permanent buildings for year-round use. And it pointed to the proposal’s failure to address adequately the risk to threatened species and the fire-sensitive nature of the property.</p>
<p>Like the World Heritage Committee, NPWAC argued that the range of projects currently proposed for the TWWHA “should not be considered until there is an agreed framework to guide assessment”. Yet despite this, the minister’s delegate allowed the proposal to proceed without further assessment under the EPBC Act.</p>
<h2>Commonwealth government’s decision</h2>
<p>On August 31, 2018, the delegate of the minister decided that the referred action “is not a controlled action”, which means that it will not be subject to any further assessment, or even attention, by the Commonwealth government. No other reasons were given to reject the NPWAC’s recommendations, or the submissions from 78 individuals (including <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328262046_Marthick_and_Worth_2018_8177_Wild_Drake_Pty_Ltd">expert scientists</a>) and 808 campaign submissions opposing the development.</p>
<p>Government ministers are not bound to act on expert advice. But they do have a duty to take it into account in a meaningful way. That is especially the case when expert advice is so clear, and supported by a range of relevant, independent and compelling public submissions from scientists and specialist groups.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240390/original/file-20181012-119126-1xygys5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240390/original/file-20181012-119126-1xygys5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240390/original/file-20181012-119126-1xygys5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240390/original/file-20181012-119126-1xygys5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240390/original/file-20181012-119126-1xygys5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240390/original/file-20181012-119126-1xygys5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240390/original/file-20181012-119126-1xygys5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">According to the IUCN, world heritage wilderness area areas allow us to understand nature <em>on its own terms</em> and maintain those terms while allowing (and even encouraging) humans to experience <em><strong>wild</strong></em> nature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(c) Brendan Gogarty</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the case of Halls Island, these factors should have tipped the balance towards undertaking a proper, legal assessment of the proposal and its likely impacts.</p>
<p>In a response to The Conversation, Price said her department had considered a range of advice and concluded that the proposed development is “not likely to have significant impacts on any nationally protected environmental matters, including the value of the World Heritage Area”.</p>
<p>Examined against the government’s increasingly cavalier attitude to our <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/history-and-future-of-protecting-great-barrier-reef/7649840">national estate</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-08/the-opera-house:-world-heritage-listed-cultural/10353062?section=business">world heritage</a>, and role in <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-09/environment-minister-says-calls-to-end-coal-drawing-long-bow/10354604">global environmental governance</a> it is tempting to conclude that Tasmania’s wilderness has become yet another place where economic values trump conservation ones.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth is supposed to provide a check and balance on states’ self-interest in exploiting areas of outstanding universal value. But with another 29 development proposals on the list, our fear is that Tasmania’s World Heritage “wilderness” will become a lot less wild in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104854/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Newly revealed documents show the Commonwealth government approved a controversial tourism plan for Tasmania’s World Heritage wilderness without assessing it against federal conservation legislation.Brendan Gogarty, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of TasmaniaNick Fitzgerald, PhD candidate, University of TasmaniaPhillipa C. McCormack, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/580552016-04-19T06:26:00Z2016-04-19T06:26:00ZWas Tasmania’s summer of fires and floods a glimpse of its climate future?<p><a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/archive/20160108.shtml">Drought</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fires-in-tasmanias-ancient-forests-are-a-warning-for-all-of-us-53806">fires</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-29/more-rain-expected-in-tasmanian-flash-flooding-zones/7123014">floods</a>, <a href="http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/species-on-the-move-worldwide/news-story/8a7caf95adeb512c64308504bcf42ceb">marine heatwaves</a> – Tasmania has had a tough time this summer. These events damaged its natural environment, including world heritage forests and alpine areas, and affected homes, businesses and energy security.</p>
<p>In past decades, climate-related warming of Tasmania’s land and ocean environments has seen <a href="http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/species-on-the-move-worldwide/news-story/8a7caf95adeb512c64308504bcf42ceb">dozens of marine species moving south</a>, contributed to dieback in several tree species, and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-28/climate-change-driving-a-boom-in-tasmanian-wine-industry/5627836">encouraged businesses and people from mainland Australia to relocate</a>. These slow changes don’t generate a lot of attention, but this summer’s events have made people sit up and take notice. </p>
<p>If climate change will produce conditions that we have never seen before, did Tasmania just get a glimpse of this future?</p>
<h2>Hot summer</h2>
<p>After the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-31/tasmania-shivers-through-coldest-winter-in-50-years/6738326">coldest winter in half a century</a>, Tasmania experienced a warm and very dry spring in 2015, including a record dry October. During this time there was a <a href="https://theconversation.com/hasta-la-vista-el-nino-but-dont-hold-out-for-normal-weather-just-yet-53565">strong El Niño event</a> in the Pacific Ocean and a <a href="https://theconversation.com/droughts-and-flooding-rains-it-takes-three-oceans-to-explain-australias-wild-21st-century-weather-56264">positive Indian Ocean Dipole event</a>, both of which <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-indian-ocean-and-el-nino-join-forces-things-can-get-hot-and-dry-48969">influence Tasmania’s climate</a>. </p>
<p>The dry spring was followed by Tasmania’s warmest summer since records began in 1910, with temperatures 1.78°C above the long-term average. Many regions, especially the west coast, stayed dry during the summer – a pattern consistent with <a href="http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/conservation/climate-change/climate-futures-for-tasmania">climate projections</a>. The dry spring and summer led to a reduction in available water, including a reduction of inflows into reservoirs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119189/original/image-20160419-5318-7gtsjs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119189/original/image-20160419-5318-7gtsjs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119189/original/image-20160419-5318-7gtsjs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119189/original/image-20160419-5318-7gtsjs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119189/original/image-20160419-5318-7gtsjs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119189/original/image-20160419-5318-7gtsjs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119189/original/image-20160419-5318-7gtsjs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119189/original/image-20160419-5318-7gtsjs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left: September-November 2015 rainfall, relative to the long-term average. Right: December 2015-February 2016 temperatures, relative to the long-term average.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bureau of Meteorology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Is warmer better? Not with fires and floods</h2>
<p>Tourists and locals alike enjoyed the clear, warm days – but these conditions came at a cost, priming Tasmania for damaging bushfires. Three big lightning storms struck, including one on January 13 that delivered almost 2,000 lightning strikes and sparked many fires, particularly in the state’s northwest. </p>
<p>By the end of February, more than 300 fires had burned more than 120,000 hectares, including more than 1% of Tasmania’s World Heritage Area – alpine areas that had not burnt since the end of the last ice age some 8,000 years ago. Their fire-sensitive cushion plants and endemic pine forests are <a href="https://theconversation.com/fires-in-tasmanias-ancient-forests-are-a-warning-for-all-of-us-53806">unlikely to recover</a>, due to the loss of peat and soils. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the state’s emergency resources were further stretched by heavy rain at the end of January. This caused flash flooding in several east coast towns, some of which received their highest rainfall ever. Launceston experienced its <a href="https://theconversation.com/fires-in-tasmanias-ancient-forests-are-a-warning-for-all-of-us-53806">second-wettest day on record</a>, while Gray recorded 221 mm in one day, and 489 mm over four days. </p>
<p>Flooding and road closures isolated parts of the state for several days, and many businesses (particularly tourism) suffered weeks of disruption. The extreme rainfall was caused by an intense low-pressure system – the <a href="http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/conservation/climate-change/climate-futures-for-tasmania">Climate Futures for Tasmania</a> project has predicted that this kind of event will become more frequent in the state’s northeast under a warming climate.</p>
<h2>Warm seas</h2>
<p>This summer, an extended <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079661116000057">marine heatwave</a> also developed off eastern Tasmania. Temperatures were 4.4°C above average, partly due to the warm <a href="http://theconversation.com/this-summers-sea-temperatures-were-the-hottest-on-record-for-australia-heres-why-56906">East Australian Current</a> extending southwards. The heatwave began on December 3, 2015, and was ongoing as of April 17 – the longest such event recorded in Tasmania since satellite records began in 1982. It began just days after the end of the second-longest marine heatwave on record, from August 31 to November 28, 2015, although that event was less intense.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119214/original/image-20160419-13910-10yj58j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119214/original/image-20160419-13910-10yj58j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119214/original/image-20160419-13910-10yj58j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119214/original/image-20160419-13910-10yj58j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119214/original/image-20160419-13910-10yj58j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119214/original/image-20160419-13910-10yj58j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119214/original/image-20160419-13910-10yj58j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119214/original/image-20160419-13910-10yj58j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anatomy of a marine heatwave. Top left: summer sea surface temperatures relative to seasonal average. Top right: ocean temperature over time; red shaded region shows the ongoing heatwave. Bottom panels: duration (left) and intensity (right) of all recorded heatwaves; the ongoing event is shown in red.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eric Oliver</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As well as months of near-constant heat stress, oyster farms along the east coast were devastated by a new disease, <a href="http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/content/fisheries/pests-diseases/animal-health/aquaculture/poms">Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome</a>, which killed 100% of juvenile oysters at some farms. The disease, which has previously affected New South Wales oyster farms, is thought to be linked to unusually warm water temperatures, although this is not yet proven.</p>
<h2>Compounding the damage</h2>
<p>Tasmania is often seen as having a mild climate that is less vulnerable to damage from climate change. It has even been portrayed as a “<a href="http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/climatechange/Climate_Change_Priorities/about_us">climate refuge</a>”. But if this summer was a taste of things to come, Tasmania may be less resilient than many have believed. </p>
<p>The spring and summer weather also hit Tasmania’s hydroelectric dams, which were already <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-much-will-tasmania-pay-for-shorting-the-carbon-price-29106">run down during the short-lived carbon price</a> as Tasmania sold clean renewable power to the mainland. Dam levels are at an <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-07/hydro-tasmania-in-uncharted-territory/7227494">all-time low and continue to fall</a>. </p>
<p>The situation has escalated into a looming energy crisis, because the state’s connection to the national electricity grid – the Basslink cable – has not been operational since late December. The state faces the prospect of meeting winter energy demand by running 200 leased diesel generators, at a cost of A$43 million and making major carbon emissions that can only exacerbate the climate-related problems that are already stretching the state’s emergency response capability.</p>
<p>Is this summer’s experience a window on the future? Further study into the causes of climate events, known as “detection and attribution”, can help us untangle the human influence from natural factors. </p>
<p>If we do see the fingerprint of human influence on this summer, Tasmania and every other state and territory should take in the view and plan accordingly. The likely concurrence of multiple events in the future – such as Tasmania’s simultaneous fires and floods at either end of the island and a heatwave offshore – demands that governments and communities devise new strategies and mobilise extra resources.</p>
<p>This will require unprecedented coordination and cooperation between governments at all levels, and between governments, citizens, and community and business groups. Done well, the island state could show other parts of Australia how to prepare for a future with no precedent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58055/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alistair Hobday receives research funding from the FRDC, AFMA, and the Department of Environment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Grose receives funding from the Department of Environment. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Oliver and Jan McDonald do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This summer has seen Tasmania suffer through drought, bushfires, floods and the worst marine heatwave on record. Is this what life under a climate-changed future will be like?Alistair Hobday, Senior Principal Research Scientist - Oceans and Atmosphere, CSIROEric Oliver, Postdoctoral Fellow (Physical Oceanography and Climate), University of TasmaniaJan McDonald, Professor of Environmental Law, University of TasmaniaMichael Grose, Climate Projections Scientist, CSIROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/539482016-02-01T19:03:45Z2016-02-01T19:03:45ZFighting fire in the wilderness: learning from Tasmania<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109791/original/image-20160201-32244-12p6xj7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fighting fires in remote wilderness requires a different way of thinking. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.matthewnewton.com.au/">Matthew Newton</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The first <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/gallery/2016/feb/02/tasmania-bushfires-leave-world-heritage-area-devastated-in-pictures#_=">images</a> of the impact of fire on the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area were accompanied by <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-30/fire-ravages-world-heritage-area-tasmania-central-plateau/7127300?section=tas">claims</a> from Tasmanian Greens Senator Nick McKim that state and federal governments had ignored warnings from climate scientists that this would happen, and that the fire service had been slow to act. </p>
<p>Some 70 fires were started by lightning on January 13 and a further 14 on January 27. They have so far burned around 100,000 hectares, 17,000 of which are in the southwest Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.</p>
<p>Remote area specialists were sent in early and more flown in from New Zealand. The Tasmanian Fire Service was well prepared, and has stated repeatedly that the government has promised whatever resources they need. However this event suggests more emphasis is required on remote area specialist fire fighting.</p>
<p>That’s the policy change this event might precipitate. </p>
<h2>Fires in the wilderness</h2>
<p>Fires in wilderness are not just a matter of out of sight, out of mind. Left to burn, they can have a devastating impact on the environment, and indeed on people. </p>
<p>On January 2, 2003, one of us (Andrew) on the 6:40 am Qantas flight from Canberra to Melbourne counted 42 tendrils of smoke curling benignly above the tree canopy in the crystal clear air of the Australian Alps, after overnight lightning strikes on the drought-parched bush. Sixteen days later, in much more severe fire weather, some of those fires had joined up and tore into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Canberra_bushfires">Canberra</a>, destroying 500 houses, killing 4 people and injuring 490. </p>
<p>On December 1, 2006, lightning started fires in the Victorian Alps that went on to burn for 69 days, the longest running in the state’s history. Rangers in the Victorian Alpine National Park counted dozens of small fires the next morning but as the terrain was inaccessible, they had to wait until either it rained or the fires reached country in which they could fight them. That <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006%E2%80%9307_Eastern_Victoria_Great_Divide_bushfires">Great Divide fire</a> went on to burn 1.2 million hectares of mainly national park.</p>
<p>By 2013, 85% of the Australian Alps national parks in Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory had burnt in the space of a decade, seriously compromising the ability of sub alpine forests to regenerate and <a href="http://www.lifeatlarge.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/650007/Reshaping-alpine-landscapes-summary.pdf">increasing the likelihood</a> that they will be replaced by more fire tolerant vegetation from lower altitudes. </p>
<h2>Bombs away</h2>
<p>Both the Canberra and the Great Divide fires may have had different histories if water bombing helicopters and highly-trained and well-equipped <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helitack">helitack crews</a> had been deployed the morning after the lighting strikes. While water bombing can never control an intense wildfire, used early with on-ground follow up from elite firefighting crews, it can stop them before they get to that stage. </p>
<p>Similar arguments have been made by experienced firefighters in the Institute of Foresters of Australia in <a href="http://www.forestry.org.au/news/foresters-call-for-wye-river-fire-inquiry">calling for an independent inquiry</a> into why the fires that caused such devastation to Wye River and Separation Creek on Christmas Day were not tackled more aggressively in more benign conditions, soon after they started from lightning strikes several days earlier.</p>
<p>This is not to be confused with the calls for more large <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-01/thor-water-bombing-aircraft-arrives-in-nsw-ahead-bushfire-season/6740796">water bombing</a> aircraft, the Very Large Air Tankers, described by environmental historian <a href="https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2016/01/water-bombing-magic-bullets/">Stephen Pyne</a> as “primarily political theatre and only secondarily part of fire control”. </p>
<p>And it would take more than money and kit. It would first require a change in policy, a different attitude to land management and a different attitude to risk. With growing evidence of more frequent <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150714/ncomms8537/full/ncomms8537.html">extreme fire weather</a>, that change is likely to be good insurance.</p>
<p>Politicians of all stripes are very good at finding hundreds of millions of dollars after devastating disasters, but in times of concern over budget deficits, they appear less willing to find tens of millions for prevention and first response measures. The approach we are advocating here is having more nimble (to use a fashionable word) capabilities in aircraft and highly trained personnel, supported by state of the art scanning, sensing and communications capabilities, to be able to hit fires in remote bush very quickly, while they are small and tractable. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109793/original/image-20160201-32247-10gj1aa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109793/original/image-20160201-32247-10gj1aa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109793/original/image-20160201-32247-10gj1aa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109793/original/image-20160201-32247-10gj1aa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109793/original/image-20160201-32247-10gj1aa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109793/original/image-20160201-32247-10gj1aa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109793/original/image-20160201-32247-10gj1aa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109793/original/image-20160201-32247-10gj1aa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fire-sensitive pencil pines have been killed in the fires.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.matthewnewton.com.au/">Matthew Newton</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Changing environment</h2>
<p>We need a major rethink about wild fire, a story that played out over last century in Yellowstone, the world’s first national park. In the first decades of the twentieth century, naturally lit fires were jumped on as soon as they started. With growing environmental awareness in the 1960s and 70s, the policy changed to letting nature takes its course. That might have been fine, all other things being equal. But they weren’t.</p>
<p><a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/12557177">Human intervention</a> resulted in wildly fluctuating populations of elk and deer as wolves were removed and the deer and elk ate the country bare to such an extent the beavers up and left. Rivers changed course, cutting into valleys that formerly featured beaver dams, flooded meadows and riparian woodlands of poplar and aspen. </p>
<p>So the deer and elk were shot, and a series of wet years led to a massive build-up of fuel. Drought followed, and then in 1988 a series of wildfires burned 320,000 hectares over three months, 36% of the park.</p>
<p>It took that dramatic event for the attitude to land management and wildfire to be turned on its head. Wolves have been reintroduced, some beavers have returned, and while <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/rethinking-predators-legend-of-the-wolf-1.14841">this story</a> is still unfolding and there will still be wildfires, they are less likely to be as extensive and as damaging. </p>
<p>In Australia, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/fuelling-rational-debate-20120118-1q6gz.html">the debate</a> continues on what role land management has played in recent fires. </p>
<h2>Time for change</h2>
<p>Like the Port Arthur massacre which brought about gun law reform, the black box flight recorder and safety belts, it takes tragedy to bring about major changes in policy and practice. Abstract warnings in the form of models, predictions and forecasts are never enough on their own to produce major shifts in funding or attitudes.</p>
<p>A dramatic event is unfolding in Tasmania’s Central Highlands right now. Maybe it could be handled differently next time. </p>
<p>That depends on two things. First, the value we as a community place on the fire-sensitive vegetation that has survived in Tasmania in the absence of fire since the Cretaceous, over 65 million years ago, a major reason for south west Tasmania being listed on the World Heritage register. </p>
<p>And, second, the federal and state governments accepting their responsibility to protect those values by providing air support, training and resources for remote area fire fighters. </p>
<p><em>This article was updated on February 2.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53948/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ted Lefroy has received funding in the past from the National Environmental Research Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Campbell is a member of the Institute of Foresters of Australia. The Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods at CDU receives funding from the National Environmental Science Program.</span></em></p>Fires in Tasmania have burnt thousands of hectares of wilderness. Other remote fires it’s better to put them out quickly.Ted Lefroy, Director, Centre for Environment, University of TasmaniaAndrew Campbell, Director, Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/538062016-01-29T01:27:54Z2016-01-29T01:27:54ZFires in Tasmania’s ancient forests are a warning for all of us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109582/original/image-20160129-27133-mq18j7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pencil pines are found nowhere else in the world, and are extremely sensitive to fire. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brewbooks/4109178790/">brewbooks/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than 72,000 hectares of western Tasmania have been burned by a cluster of bushfires, most of them ignited by a spectacular dry lightning storm that crossed the island on January 13. </p>
<p>The geographic scale of the fires can be seen on the Tasmanian Fire Service <a href="http://www.fire.tas.gov.au/Show?pageId=colGMapBushfires">website</a>. These fires pose an enormous, ongoing challenge to the fire service, with little immediate prospect of a speedy resolution to this crisis given the absence of soaking rains in the foreseeable future. </p>
<p>Thankfully there has been no loss of life and comparatively limited damage to property because most fires are in remote areas. But there is mounting concern about the environmental impacts of the fires to the Tasmanian World Heritage Wilderness, especially fires in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park and Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park. Bushwalking tracks, such as the popular Overland Track, have been closed until at least next week. </p>
<p>Faced with so many fires, the Tasmanian Fire Service has implemented a triage process, focusing on threats to life and property. This includes farmland, critical infrastructure such as major hydro-electric transmission lines, and also some core areas with extraordinary biodiversity values. </p>
<p>Remote area teams, including specialists from New Zealand to help exhausted fire crews, supported by water bombing aircraft, are fighting the fires in Cradle Mountain–Lake Saint Clair and Walls of Jerusalem National Parks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109552/original/image-20160128-27180-1khjniq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109552/original/image-20160128-27180-1khjniq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109552/original/image-20160128-27180-1khjniq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109552/original/image-20160128-27180-1khjniq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109552/original/image-20160128-27180-1khjniq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109552/original/image-20160128-27180-1khjniq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109552/original/image-20160128-27180-1khjniq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109552/original/image-20160128-27180-1khjniq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map showing the extent of fires in Tasmania on January 29, showing fires (white), warnings (yellow and blue) and burned area (grey).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.fire.tas.gov.au/Show?pageId=colGMapBushfires">Tasmanian Fire Service</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why are world heritage values threatened by these fires?</h2>
<p>The fires are extremely destructive for two main reasons. </p>
<p>First, the fires are threatening vegetation that is unique to Tasmania, including iconic alpine species such as the Pencil Pine and cushion plants, as well as temperate rainforests. </p>
<p>Second, the fires are burning up large areas of organic soils upon which the unique Tasmanian vegetation depends. It is extremely unlikely burnt areas with the endemic alpine flora will ever fully recover given the slow growth of these species and the increased risk of subsequent fires given the change to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12674/abstract">more flammable vegetation</a> and the slow accumulation of peat soils, which takes thousands of years. </p>
<p>Past fires have resulted in a permanent switch from the unique Tasmanian alpine vegetation to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.12229/abstract">more fire-tolerant vegetation</a>.</p>
<h2>Is climate change the cause?</h2>
<p>Destructive fires in the alpine zone are known to have occurred in western Tasmania in the past 10,000 years, yet these fires were extremely infrequent until European colonisation. Due to the reckless use of fire by prospectors, pastoralists, recreationalists and arsonists there has been a drastic contraction of much of Tasmania’s unique vegetation. </p>
<p>Since the declaration of the World Heritage Area, fire has been carefully regulated with a prohibition of campfires, which has sharply reduced the number of bushfires. Unfortunately, over the last decade there have been an increasing number of lightning storms that have ignited fires.</p>
<p>For instance, in 2013 the Giblin River fire that burned more than 45,000 ha was set off by a lightning storm, one of the largest fires in Tasmania in living memory. </p>
<p>The current fire season is shaping up to be truly extraordinary because of the sheer number of fires set by lightning, their duration, and erratic and destructive behaviour that has surprised many seasoned fire fighters. The root cause of the has been the <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/season/tas/summary.shtml">record-breaking dry spring</a> and the largely rain-free and <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/tas/summary.shtml">consistently warm summer</a>, which has left fuels and peat soils bone dry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109551/original/image-20160128-27177-1b3ksqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109551/original/image-20160128-27177-1b3ksqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109551/original/image-20160128-27177-1b3ksqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109551/original/image-20160128-27177-1b3ksqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109551/original/image-20160128-27177-1b3ksqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109551/original/image-20160128-27177-1b3ksqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109551/original/image-20160128-27177-1b3ksqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109551/original/image-20160128-27177-1b3ksqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tasmania’s alpine vegetation, including cushion plants, are extremely sensitive to fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougbeckers/8683390888/">Doug Beckers/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are two ways to think about the recent fire situation in Tasmania. We can focus on the extreme climate conditions and unusual fire behaviour, or we can see what is happening as entirely predictable and consistent with climate change. </p>
<p>I have formed the latter view because the current fires are part of a global pattern of increasing destructive fires driven by <a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150714/ncomms8537/full/ncomms8537.html">extreme fire weather</a>.</p>
<p>A critical feature of the current Tasmanian fires is the role of lightning storms – climate is not only creating the precursor weather conditions for the fires, it is also providing the storms that ignite them.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>Obviously we need to maintain efforts to contain the fires in the iconic World Heritage Area. Given that such destructive fires are likely to become more common under a warming and drying climate we need to increase the capacity to attack fires quickly using both air craft and <a href="http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/time-to-bring-in-the-big-guns-in-tasmanias-bushfire-fight/news-story/cd23353fe7f15b80f0c7a4dcd73ccc44">specially trained personnel</a>. </p>
<p>However, under a warming climate the ecological niche of much of the unique Tasmanian vegetation is shrinking, so serious thought is required about moving species to artificially protected environments, such as botanical gardens. In the worse case scenario moving some species to sub-Antarctic island may not be far-fetched. </p>
<p>More fundamentally, the loss of vegetation that takes thousands of years to recover from disturbance is a warning shot that climate change has the potential to result in bushfires that will impact food security, water quality and critical infrastructure. </p>
<p>In other words, like the Pencil Pines, our ecological niche will be threatened.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Bowman receives funding the Tasmanian Fire Service, the Bushfire and Natural Hazard CRC, Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network and the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Bushfires are threatening Tasmania’s World Heritage area and ancient plants, warning us of a possible future under climate change.David Bowman, Professor, Environmental Change Biology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/365912015-01-29T03:44:47Z2015-01-29T03:44:47ZExplainer: wilderness, and why it matters<p>The Tasmanian government this month released a draft of the <a href="http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/conservation/tasmanian-wilderness-world-heritage-area/new-tasmanian-wilderness-world-heritage-area-management-plan">revised management plan</a> for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, which proposes rezoning certain areas from “wilderness zones” to “remote recreation zones”. </p>
<p>The changes would enable greater private tourism investment in the World Heritage Area and allow for logging of speciality timbers. </p>
<p>At the centre of the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/22/-sp-plan-to-put-tasmanias-south-west-on-tourist-map-fires-up-debate">debate</a> is how we define wilderness – and what people can use it for. </p>
<h2>For wildlife or people?</h2>
<p>“Wilderness quality” is a measure of the extent to which a landscape (or seascape) is remote from, and undisturbed by, modern technological society. High wilderness quality means a landscape is relative remote from settlement and infrastructure and largely ecologically intact. Wilderness areas are those that meet particular thresholds for these criteria.</p>
<p>The word’s largest wilderness areas include Amazonia, the Congo forests, the Northern Australian tropical savannas, the Llanos wetlands of Venezuela, the Patagonian Steppe, Australian deserts and the Arctic Tundra. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70369/original/image-20150129-22314-1auvmcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70369/original/image-20150129-22314-1auvmcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70369/original/image-20150129-22314-1auvmcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70369/original/image-20150129-22314-1auvmcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70369/original/image-20150129-22314-1auvmcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70369/original/image-20150129-22314-1auvmcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70369/original/image-20150129-22314-1auvmcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Amazon rainforest is one of the largest areas of wilderness in the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cifor/6285638028">CIFOR/AAP</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Globally, there are 24 large intact landscapes of at least 10,000 square kilometres (1,000,000 hectares). Wilderness as a scientific concept was developed for land areas, but is also increasingly being applied to the sea. </p>
<p>Legal definitions of wilderness usually include these remote and intact criteria – but the goals range from human-centred to protecting the intrinsic value of wilderness. Intrinsic value recognises that things have value regardless of their worth or utility to human beings, and is recognised in the <a href="http://www.cbd.int/">Convention on Biological Diversity</a> to which Australia is a signatory.</p>
<p>In the NSW Wilderness Act 1987, for instance, one of the three objects of the Act is cast in terms of benefits to the human community: “to promote the education of the public in the appreciation, protection and management of wilderness”. The Act also states that wilderness shall be managed so as “to permit opportunities for solitude and appropriate self-reliant recreation.” Examples of formally declared wilderness areas in New South Wales are the Lost World Wilderness Area and <a href="http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/wollemi-national-park">Wollemi National Park</a>.</p>
<p>Intrinsic value is evident in the the South Australia <a href="http://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/WILDERNESS%20PROTECTION%20ACT%201992.aspx">Wilderness Protection Act</a> 1992 which sets out to, among other things, preserve wildlife and ecosystems, and protect the land and its ecosystems from the effects of modern technology – and restoring land to its condition prior to European settlement.</p>
<p>South Australia wilderness areas include the <a href="http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/Find_a_Park/Browse_by_region/Eyre_Peninsula/Yellabinna_Regional_Reserve">Yellabinna Wilderness Protected Area</a>.</p>
<h2>Indigenous custodians</h2>
<p>Our understanding of wilderness and its usefulness has changed over the last century as science has revealed its significance for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. We have also accepted the ecological and legal realities of Indigenous land stewardship. </p>
<p>The world’s rapidly shrinking areas of high wilderness quality, including formally declared wilderness areas, are largely the customary land of Indigenous peoples, whether or not this is legally recognised. </p>
<p>Significant bio-cultural values, such as Indigenous peoples’ knowledge of biodiversity (recognised in Australia’s federal <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc">Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act</a>), are dependent on these traditional relationships between people and country.</p>
<p>In many cases around the world, wilderness areas only remain intact because they are under Indigenous stewardship. In Australia, these facts were regrettably ignored in the past and were the source of much loss and harm to Traditional Owners when protected areas were declared without their consent.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70411/original/image-20150129-22302-1mlk51u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70411/original/image-20150129-22302-1mlk51u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70411/original/image-20150129-22302-1mlk51u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70411/original/image-20150129-22302-1mlk51u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70411/original/image-20150129-22302-1mlk51u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70411/original/image-20150129-22302-1mlk51u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70411/original/image-20150129-22302-1mlk51u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70411/original/image-20150129-22302-1mlk51u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Australian deserts are among the world’s largest wilderness areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yewenyi/4375884128">Brian Yap (葉)/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Lessons have been learnt, some progress is being made, and the essential role of local and Indigenous communities in the conservation of wilderness areas is now being recognised and reflected in Australian national and state conservation and heritage policy and law. </p>
<p>For example, in 2003 the Northern Territory government agreed to joint management with the Traditional Owners of the Territory’s national parks.</p>
<h2>What is wilderness good for?</h2>
<p>By definition, wilderness areas exclude modern industrial land uses and intrusive infrastructure. </p>
<p>Commercial logging and mining are typically not compatible because they have negative environmental impacts on wilderness quality, reducing an area’s remoteness and ecological intactness.</p>
<p>Nature and culture-based tourism and education can be broadly compatible with wilderness. This, however, depends on what type of supporting infrastructure they need which can range from simple walking trails through to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway in the Wet Tropics of Queensland’s World Heritage Area. </p>
<p>Encouraging more people to visit a wilderness area – even for the best of reasons – can ultimately detract from its wilderness quality as this can lead to, among other things, increased demand for roads, accommodation and other facilities.</p>
<p>Consequently there is some tension between the competing management objectives of presentation and protection and conservation of World Heritage areas, as required under Article 5 of the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, when such areas have high wilderness quality. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70384/original/image-20150129-22308-18d4v26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70384/original/image-20150129-22308-18d4v26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70384/original/image-20150129-22308-18d4v26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70384/original/image-20150129-22308-18d4v26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70384/original/image-20150129-22308-18d4v26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70384/original/image-20150129-22308-18d4v26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70384/original/image-20150129-22308-18d4v26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/70384/original/image-20150129-22308-18d4v26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Queensland’s Wet Tropics Skyrail is one way to see wilderness areas but at a cost to wilderness quality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/morberg/5896261377">Niklas Morberg/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Why do we need wilderness?</h2>
<p>Wilderness areas support important biological, cultural, scientific and recreational values.</p>
<p>Biologically, wilderness areas provide refuge for species and ecosystems from many threatening processes including habitat degradation and the spread of disease and weeds. Large, intact landscapes provide the best chance for species and ecosystems to persist in the face of rapid climate change. </p>
<p>Ideally, protected areas should be large enough to absorb the impacts of large scale disturbances, including fire and the changes to fire regimes resulting from global warming. </p>
<p>Large, intact areas have greater resilience to external stressors, provide more options for species in space and time, sustain critical ecological processes such as long-distance biological movement, and maximise the adaptive capacity of species. </p>
<p>Wilderness areas are also important for climate change mitigation as, for example, protecting the dense carbon stored in primary forest ecosystems avoids significant carbon dioxide emissions.</p>
<p>The human population, now at 6 billion, is projected to rise this century to over 9 billion, and with it ongoing industrialisation to meet growing demand for food, water, fibre, energy and habitation. Given this reality, we can be sure that large, intact landscapes and seascapes of high wilderness quality will become an increasingly scarce asset. </p>
<p>Whether we conceive of wilderness protection in terms of its intrinsic value or, within the framework of inter-generational equity, in terms of its value for future generations, there is a strong imperative for today’s generation to protect wilderness areas from incompatible activities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36591/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Mackey has served on expert committees which have provided advice to the Australian, Tasmanian and Queensland governments on matters of natural heritage and conservation policy. He serves on the Council of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Rogers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Tasmanian government this month released a draft of the revised management plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, which proposes rezoning certain areas from “wilderness zones” to “remote…Brendan Mackey, Director of the Griffith Climate Change Response Program, Griffith UniversityNicole Rogers, Senior lecturer, School of Law & Justice, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/363012015-01-16T05:03:26Z2015-01-16T05:03:26ZParadise gained – how tourism could help Tasmania’s wilderness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69100/original/image-20150115-3001-1vp7fv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lake Pedder is within Tasmania's World Heritage Area. Could it benefit from greater tourism development?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/romaindigorgonzola/12303153886">Romain</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/wilderness-lost-as-tasmania-opens-world-heritage-area-for-new-growth/story-e6frgczx-1227185171221">recent leaking</a> of a new draft management plan for the <a href="http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=391">Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area</a> (TWWHA) has prompted vigorous debate over the merits of tourism development in protected areas.</p>
<p>Specifically, the plan proposes to reclassify many “wilderness zones”, which were defined in the <a href="http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/?base=6158">1999 TWWHA Management Plan</a>, into four “recreation zones” – effectively giving a potential green light to new tourism accommodation development to occur anywhere in the Tasmanian wilderness. </p>
<p>This is sacrilege to many conservationists, who believe that wilderness such as Tasmania’s forests should be left untouched and locked away from the masses, in order to preserve its qualities.</p>
<h2>Is ‘locking it up’ really the solution?</h2>
<p>Interestingly, the <a href="http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/conservation/tasmanian-wilderness-world-heritage-area/new-tasmanian-wilderness-world-heritage-area-management-plan">draft management plan</a> proposes to scrap the word “wilderness” from the title of the TWWHA, as it is considered to be problematic for the Tasmanian Aboriginal people who have inhabited the region for millennia and regard the concept of wilderness as not compatible with “country” and their heritage within the World Heritage Area.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69101/original/image-20150115-3021-wa51t0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69101/original/image-20150115-3021-wa51t0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69101/original/image-20150115-3021-wa51t0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69101/original/image-20150115-3021-wa51t0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69101/original/image-20150115-3021-wa51t0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69101/original/image-20150115-3021-wa51t0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69101/original/image-20150115-3021-wa51t0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69101/original/image-20150115-3021-wa51t0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1069&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Wilderness World Heritage Area in Tasmania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/edd60041-c737-40eb-b41d-3fcf8df9094d/files/map-boundary-2013.pdf">Screen shot from the Department of Environment</a></span>
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<p>Why are we so frightened of non-Aboriginal people inhabiting the region in this modern age, particularly if they do it in a way that is sustainable? Could sustainable tourism act as an educational tool to create an even larger army of conservationists?</p>
<p>This begs the underlying question of whether sustainable tourism is a realistic possibility in a wilderness like Tasmania’s. Truly sustainable tourism development has to do lots of things at once: turn a profit, foster environmental protection, preserve the local cultures, and keep visitors satisfied. In a region such as the TWWHA, the preservation of natural values can be highly problematic, particularly as the environment is sensitive to issues such as erosion, denigration and the introduction of alien species and diseases such as dieback.</p>
<h2>An opportunity to promote conservation</h2>
<p>One of the requirements of the World Heritage Convention is that signatory countries have to increase knowledge of the unique values of the heritage region. One way to do this would be through sustainable tourism development. This, in turn, could create a new generation of conservationists and protectors, drawn from the ranks of tourists who might never previously have considered themselves environmentalists.</p>
<p>The method by which this could be achieved is called interpretation, in which guides teach visitors about the values of conserving the natural and cultural resources that they are visiting. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517713002070">Research suggests</a> that at the very least, profound and meaningful environmental encounters can cause visitors to enhance their intentions and attitudes towards the environment. Whether these intentions turn into actual behavioural changes is less clear, but <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13504622.2010.530645#.VLiTFkvKATE">ongoing preliminary research</a> suggests it is possible. </p>
<p>As well as changing tourists’ attitudes, another significant outcome of sustainable tourism development is revenue, which can be gained from permits and visitation. Currently, many protected areas around the world such as in Canada and the United States are under increasing pressure to cover running costs and generate a positive impact on regional and national economies. Increased tourism expenditure is a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669582.2013.873445#.VLiSQkvKATE">clear way to ensure viable protected areas</a>.</p>
<h2>How to do it properly</h2>
<p>Although there is great potential for positive outcomes from tourism development in the TWWHA, it needs to be “fit for purpose”. <a href="http://www.nerplandscapes.edu.au/publication/sustainable-tourism-development">Recent research</a> shows that in some locations, stakeholders such as regulators, community groups, local residents and in some cases even tourism operators, are wary of future tourism development. </p>
<p>The research also suggests that large-scale tourism developments such as ecolodges are generally not widely supported within the southwest region of the TWWHA, including by existing tourists to the region. Moreover, many respondents believe that a one-size-fits-all approach to development is not appropriate. This means that different types of development will be needed at different locations – and in some areas it may not be appropriate at all.</p>
<p>Tasmania is a fragile, unique and increasingly well-known tourism destination. As a result of recent declines in the state’s economy and industries such as mining and forestry, tourism is now heralded as one of Tasmania’s great hopes to generate revenue and create jobs, as well as preserving the region’s natural beauty and culture. </p>
<p>But making sustainable tourism in the TWWHA a success will depend on non-tokenistic consultation of relevant before, during and after the tourism development takes place. The challenge for the state government lies in protecting the interests of this sensitive region, while facilitating a new breed of conservationists with a passion for enhancing this unique World Heritage Area.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Hardy has received funding from the National Environmental Research Program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leonie Pearson has received funding from the National Environmental Research Program. </span></em></p>The recent leaking of a new draft management plan for the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) has prompted vigorous debate over the merits of tourism development in protected areas. Specifically…Anne Hardy, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Tourism, University of TasmaniaLeonie Pearson, Senior Research Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/307962014-08-29T04:32:05Z2014-08-29T04:32:05ZAbbott’s environment agenda is even harsher than he promised<p>Before the 2013 election, Tony Abbott gave us fair warning that he would turn the clock back on the environment. As promised, his government has devoted itself to short-term economics and the sort of hardline ideas peddled by the <a href="http://ipa.org.au">Institute of Public Affairs</a>. The result is that environmental protection is being given a lower priority than it has by any federal government since the first environmental legislation was introduced some 40 years ago. </p>
<p>Abbott made explicit commitments to reverse moves by the Rudd and Gillard governments, <a href="http://lpa.webcontent.s3.amazonaws.com/realsolutions/LPA%20Policy%20Booklet%20210x210_pages.pdf">pledging to remove the price on greenhouse emissions</a> as a first order of business. He also made clear his ideological opposition to the historic <a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmanian-forests-agreement-deeply-flawed-worth-backing-14035">forestry “peace deal in Tasmania</a> and his enthusiasm for an old-fashioned approach to developing northern Australia. </p>
<p>Yet beside the election commitments there have been nasty surprises too. As in other fields like health and education, the Abbott government has turned the clock back much further in ways that it didn’t warn voters about. While all governments are tempted to dismiss environmental problems that stand in the way of economic development, the past year has seen a dramatic increase in that trend.</p>
<h2>Sceptics and economics</h2>
<p>The issue which has captured most public attention is climate change. The government does not just have backbenchers who are still in denial about the science; it has climate-sceptic ministers, like Senate leader <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2009/s2755120.htm">Eric Abetz</a>, and senior advisers, like <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/were-illprepared-if-the-iceman-cometh/story-e6frg6zo-1227023489894">Maurice Newman</a>, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council, and Dick Warburton, who has just handed down the controversial <a href="https://retreview.dpmc.gov.au/ret-review-report-0">review of the Renewable Energy Target</a>.</p>
<p>The government dressed up its attack on the carbon price as an economic move, framing it as "taking the handbrake off the economy”. Yet there was no evidence at all that the price was slowing the economy. In fact, the package of measures inherited from the previous government, including the Renewable Energy Target and the <a href="http://www.cleanenergyfinancecorp.com.au/">Clean Energy Finance Corporation</a>, have catalysed billions of dollars of investment and created thousands of jobs. </p>
<p>Future investment and job opportunities have been put at risk by the government’s approach. It is almost impossible to find an economist who takes seriously the claim that the so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/direct-action-plan">Direct Action</a> policy will achieve even the basic promised 5% reduction in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. </p>
<p>The situation would have been far worse if the government had been able to control the Senate, where the unpredictable Palmer United Party members have not supported most of the proposed changes.</p>
<h2>Delays and dissent</h2>
<p>While the <a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-tax-axed-how-it-affects-you-australia-and-our-emissions-28895">scrapping of the carbon price</a> was meant to be the first priority of the new government, it actually took 10 months to get it through the Senate. </p>
<p>The focus now turns to the Renewable Energy Target, a previously bipartisan policy to encourage clean energy technologies. Warburton’s review has recommended that it be <a href="https://theconversation.com/review-calls-for-renewable-energy-target-cuts-what-it-means-29787">drastically downgraded and parts of it scrapped</a>. Again, it is not obvious that Senate cross-benchers will endorse this act of environmental vandalism.</p>
<p>The Abbott government has also supported moves by the incoming Tasmanian Liberal state government to undo the <a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmanian-forests-agreement-deeply-flawed-worth-backing-14035">Tasmanian Forests Agreement</a>, the result of long negotiations between industry, the union representing timber workers, the former Labor government, and environmental groups. </p>
<p>It even made <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-danger-for-australian-world-heritage-wilderness-18077">an unprecedented approach to the United Nations</a> to try and excise an area accepted for World Heritage listing, a proposal that was <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/unesco-rejects-feeble-abbott-government-bid-to-wind-back-protection-of-tasmanian-forests-20140624-zsjhz.html">dismissed as “feeble”</a> by the international body.</p>
<h2>Beef over the Reef</h2>
<p>The other decision which has attracted public attention was the approval of the proposed expansion of the Abbot Point coal port, requiring extensive dredging and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-courting-danger-with-the-great-barrier-reef-20411">dumping of millions of cubic metres of spoil</a> within the boundaries of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The level of outrage in the marine science community led to an <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2014/08/18/4067593.htm">ABC Four Corners</a> documentary on the subject.</p>
<p>Given less attention by the media, but probably at least as significant in the long term, was the government’s approach of abandoning its environmental responsibility under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Protection Act, passed by the Howard government. Claiming that “green tape” and duplication of effort is holding back economic development, the government has proposed handing over its powers to State and Territory governments. For several decades, dating back to the Whitlam and Fraser governments, the Commonwealth has acted as a brake on the enthusiasm of growth-oriented States to approve irresponsible proposals. </p>
<p>Here again, the government has a problem in the Senate, which seems unlikely to pass this proposal in its entirety, and the entire policy <a href="https://theconversation.com/coalitions-environmental-one-stop-shop-is-falling-apart-30965">may now be coming unstuck</a>. PUP senators have said they will join Labor and the Greens in voting to retain the “water trigger” added to the law by former independent MP Tony Windsor, meaning that the Commonwealth will still be responsible for assessing the cumulative impact of proposed developments on both surface water bodies and groundwater.</p>
<h2>More pain in the pipeline</h2>
<p>There are plenty more environmentally damaging policies which the government did not flag before the election. It has sneakily undone the legislated network of marine protected areas by <a href="https://theconversation.com/without-management-plans-marine-parks-will-not-provide-environmental-benefits-21503">abolishing the management plans</a> that gave the agreement legal teeth. </p>
<p>It has shifted transport funding away from public transport projects, <a href="http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/no-money-for-perth-airport-rail-link-in-liberals-plans/story-fnhocxo3-1226712380359">even those proposed by Liberal state governments</a>, in favour of the sort of urban road schemes that Infrastructure Australia had decided are <a href="http://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/priority_list/files/IPL_Web_update-2013.pdf">a waste of public money</a>. It has <a href="https://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/statistical-info/visa-grants/index.htm">increased immigration</a>, adding to the environmental pressure of human demands.</p>
<p>The government has fulfilled its pre-election promise of a great leap backwards on environmental protection, under the guise of economic advancement. While restrained by the Senate in some areas, it has exceeded expectations in others. There may well be plenty more surprises to come.</p>
<p><em>This is the final piece in The Conversation’s Remaking Australia series. You can catch up on the rest of the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/remaking-australia">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30796/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Lowe was president of the Australian Conservation Foundation until April 2014.</span></em></p>Before the 2013 election, Tony Abbott gave us fair warning that he would turn the clock back on the environment. As promised, his government has devoted itself to short-term economics and the sort of hardline…Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor, School of Science, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/280532014-06-23T21:55:52Z2014-06-23T21:55:52ZTasmania’s forests to remain under World Heritage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51754/original/cs35qqs5-1403246527.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Parts of Tasmania's World Heritage area will not be delisted – but the forests will still need management and protection.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ngaur/531352477">ngaur/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 74,000 hectares of Tasmania’s controversial World Heritage extension <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-24/unesco-rejects-bid-to-delist-world-heritage-forest/5538946">will not be delisted as requested by the Tasmanian and federal governments.</a> </p>
<p>At the meeting of the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/38COM">UNESCO World Heritage Committee</a> in Doha, the decision to reject the proposal was made in under ten minutes late on Monday (overnight Australian time), with reportedly <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/unesco-rejects-feeble-abbott-government-bid-to-wind-back-protection-of-tasmanian-forests-20140624-zsjhz.html">no objections</a> from any members of the Committee to retain the areas in World Heritage. In rejecting the move, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/23/un-rejects-australia-tasmanian-forest-heritage">Portugal</a> condemned Australia’s request as “feeble”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51740/original/9rxmbkvp-1403242622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51740/original/9rxmbkvp-1403242622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51740/original/9rxmbkvp-1403242622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51740/original/9rxmbkvp-1403242622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51740/original/9rxmbkvp-1403242622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=856&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51740/original/9rxmbkvp-1403242622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51740/original/9rxmbkvp-1403242622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51740/original/9rxmbkvp-1403242622.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1075&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tasmania’s World Heritage Area and extension.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/f99dbb51-03c2-4eb2-a66e-87c4044117b4/files/twwha-2014-proposal-map4.pdf">Screenshot from Department of Environment</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The story so far</h2>
<p>Under the previous state and federal Labor governments, 172,000 hectares were added to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area as a “minor boundary modification” under the Tasmanian forest peace deal. The extension was accepted into <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/5174/">World Heritage at a meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in June last year</a>. The decision included a request that Australia undertake more study of cultural heritage values, in consultation with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. </p>
<p>There was some concern in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature that the size of the extension (more than a 10% increase in the area) was not “minor” and required more time and resources for a complete assessment.</p>
<p>In the lead-up to the 2013 election, the current federal government sought to have 74,000 hectares of the area delisted, on grounds that it includes <a href="https://theconversation.com/degraded-tasmanian-forests-can-still-be-world-heritage-24540">degraded forests</a> unworthy of World Heritage. </p>
<p>While debate has centred on forests, the extension may also satisfy a suite of <a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmanias-world-heritage-debate-needs-to-look-beyond-the-trees-28183">other criteria</a> for inclusion in World Heritage, including unique geology and important indigenous cultural sites.</p>
<h2>New information on degraded forests</h2>
<p>Previously on The Conversation, <a href="https://theconversation.com/degraded-tasmanian-forests-can-still-be-world-heritage-24540">Tom Fairman</a> examined just how much of the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/f99dbb51-03c2-4eb2-a66e-87c4044117b4/files/twwha-2014-proposal-dossier.pdf">area to be delisted</a> contained “degraded”, previously logged, or plantation forest. At the time we only had so much information — primarily the amount of eucalyptus and pine plantation in the World Heritage area, which turned out to be less than 1% of the area proposed to be excised. </p>
<p>Since then a <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Tasmanian_Wilderness_World_Heritage_Area/Report/index">Senate Inquiry</a>, headed up by Labor and the Greens, allowed some numbers to be put on the extent of forest resulting from former logging and other activities. The data was drawn from environmental groups, state and federal authorities. </p>
<p>This information was relayed in the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/archive/2014/whc14-38com-inf8B2-Add-en.pdf">International Union for Conservation of Nature brief</a> to the World Heritage Committee. </p>
<p>IUCN advised against delisting, indicating that of the 74,000 hectares, <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Tasmanian_Wilderness_World_Heritage_Area/Report/c02">approximately 10%</a> had been logged since the 1960s (when reliable records began). However, 44% of the area is considered to be <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/11263504.2011.650726#.U6PP_fmSx8F">old-growth forest</a> – that is, ecologically mature forest where the effects of disturbances are now negligible. </p>
<p>The remainder of the 74,000 hectares is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-26/tony-abbott-tasmanian-wilderness-claim-does-not-check-out/5345072">a mix</a> of:</p>
<ul>
<li>unlogged, but not old-growth, native forest - like <a href="http://www.forestrytas.com.au/international-desk/old-growth-regrowth-high-conservation-value-what-do-they-all-mean">regrowth from bushfires</a> (15%);</li>
<li>forest potentially logged more than 50 years ago (6%);</li>
<li>rainforest (8%); and</li>
<li>grasslands and non-forest (17%).</li>
</ul>
<p>The International Council on Monuments and Sites advises the World Heritage Committee on cultural properties, landscapes and archaeological values. They advised against the listing until assessment of cultural values in the proposed extension. This led to the World Heritage Committee to <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/archive/2014/whc14-38com-8B-Add-en.pdf">release a draft decision in May rejecting the proposed boundary modification</a>, and it was this decision the Committee adhered to.</p>
<h2>What does the decision mean for Tasmania and its forests?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51755/original/gfq748xw-1403246873.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51755/original/gfq748xw-1403246873.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51755/original/gfq748xw-1403246873.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51755/original/gfq748xw-1403246873.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51755/original/gfq748xw-1403246873.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51755/original/gfq748xw-1403246873.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51755/original/gfq748xw-1403246873.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51755/original/gfq748xw-1403246873.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Forests in Tasmania’s Florentine Valley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_smileyfish/6444648851/in/set-72157622449306371">ToniFish/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The decision to support retention of the World Heritage extension will come as relief to the conservation groups that have campaigned for the area to be protected for many decades. </p>
<p>It is expected that the additions will remain as “Future Reserve Land” tenure until they are formally reserved, as was the case with the extension in 2013. However, the creation of new reserves is pending management plans and consultation with communities.</p>
<p>But here are other considerations now that these areas remain World Heritage. For instance, World Heritage protection does not necessarily guarantee the forests are “locked up” from all forms of development. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/154">Great Barrier Reef was recognised as World Heritage over three decades ago</a>, and is <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/marine/great-barrier-reef">managed for commercial activities</a> such as fishing, tourism and shipping under regulated conditions that should maintain its World Heritage values. At the meeting in Doha, a decision over whether to list the Reef as <a href="http://theconversation.com/australia-courting-danger-with-the-great-barrier-reef-20411">World Heritage “In Danger”</a> due to port developments was delayed until 2015. </p>
<p>It has not been done in the past, but in Tasmania, timber harvesting could occur in these areas if undertaken in a manner which maintains their World Heritage values. This will be an area to watch in coming years, though statements from the federal and Tasmanian governments indicate that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/23/tasmanian-forest-world-heritage-decision-will-be-accepted">they will respect the World Heritage decision</a> despite the <a href="http://www.dier.tas.gov.au/forests/forestry_rebuilding_the_forest_industry_bill">forest policy landscape having shifted</a> substantially since the last Tasmanian election.</p>
<p>It is also important to remember that placing forests in a certain conservation land tenure does not necessarily <a href="http://theconversation.com/we-need-to-think-about-fire-in-tasmanias-forests-12349">protect them from catastrophic wildfires</a>, <a href="http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/indeX.aspX?base=667">invasive pests or diseases</a> which <a href="http://theconversation.com/are-the-nsw-bushfires-linked-to-climate-change-19480">may be made worse by climate change</a>. For example, in other parts of Australia, we have seen <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-19/australian-species-facing-extinction-living-dead-triage/5331908">some of our most treasured National Parks suffer serious biodiversity loss</a> and <a href="http://theconversation.com/ash-to-ashes-what-could-the-2013-fires-mean-for-the-future-of-our-forests-12346">repeated bushfire damage</a>.</p>
<p>Therefore, even without timber extraction, these forests will need active management to ensure their resilience to a changing future. This does not always come cheap – the cost of management tends to be overlooked in decisions to change conservation status. In fact, park management agencies are having to manage larger areas with fewer resources, <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/%7E/media/wopapub/senate/committee/ecita_ctte/completed_inquiries/2004-07/nationalparks/report/report.ashx">an alarming trend that has been identified for some time</a>.</p>
<p>So while the battle to protect these forests in World Heritage may be won <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/from-oscar-to-logie-winners-aussie-celebrities-are-throwing-their-support-behind-tasmanian-forests/story-fni0cvc9-1226962919206">to the relief of many</a>, it is by no means the end of ensuring the protection and future security, in perpetuity, of these forests.</p>
<p><em>The authors would like to thank environment and heritage consultant <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-hitchcock-120495/profile_bio">Peter Hitchcock AM</a> for providing updates on the proceedings and decisions from the World Heritage meeting at Doha.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28053/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Fairman receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Postgraduate Award.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rod Keenan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 74,000 hectares of Tasmania’s controversial World Heritage extension will not be delisted as requested by the Tasmanian and federal governments. At the meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee…Tom Fairman, PhD Student, The University of MelbourneRod Keenan, Professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/281832014-06-19T04:57:36Z2014-06-19T04:57:36ZTasmania’s World Heritage debate needs to look beyond the trees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51616/original/zfbk7mf9-1403150781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Much of Tasmania's World Heritage has been sculpted by ice. The extension to the area (currently under debate) adds to all these values. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/slieschke/4300014636">Simon Lieschke/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The debate around Tasmania’s controversial World Heritage extension, under review this week at <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-sends-mixed-messages-on-iconic-world-heritage-areas-27860">international talks</a> in Doha, has centred on forests. But the area includes far more than “just” trees — including unique geology and landforms and indigenous culture. </p>
<p>There is nothing to suggest these values have been recognised in the current political squabbling over forests, but the results will determine the future of these important places. </p>
<p>Tasmania’s World Heritage area was extended by the previous federal and state Labor governments by 172,000 hectares, partly to satisfy environmental groups as part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmanian-forests-agreement-deeply-flawed-worth-backing-14035">Tasmanian forest peace deal</a>. </p>
<p>The current state and federal governments are <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-going-backwards-on-world-heritage-listed-forests-21423">seeking to delist</a> 74,000 hectares of the extension, on grounds that the area includes <a href="https://theconversation.com/degraded-tasmanian-forests-can-still-be-world-heritage-24540">degraded forests</a>, and to open the forests for harvesting.</p>
<h2>The “other” World Heritage criteria</h2>
<p>Each of the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/">981 sites</a> around the world that have received World Heritage designation have had to qualify under one of ten possible criteria. Six of these relate to cultural heritage, and four to natural heritage.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51594/original/pjg7xqnt-1403144528.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51594/original/pjg7xqnt-1403144528.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51594/original/pjg7xqnt-1403144528.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51594/original/pjg7xqnt-1403144528.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51594/original/pjg7xqnt-1403144528.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51594/original/pjg7xqnt-1403144528.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51594/original/pjg7xqnt-1403144528.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51594/original/pjg7xqnt-1403144528.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The area added the Tasmania’s Wold Heritage (dark green) and the area to be delisted (yellow)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/f99dbb51-03c2-4eb2-a66e-87c4044117b4/files/twwha-2014-proposal-map4.pdf">Screenshot from Department of Environment </a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tasmania is one of only 29 sites that satisfy both cultural and natural heritage values. But even more impressively, the area satisfies seven of the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/">ten criteria</a>, including unique human culture and history, wilderness, plants and wildlife, and geology. Only one other site in the world (<a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/437">in China</a>) equals this number and none exceed it.</p>
<p>The World Heritage extension under debate very strongly reinforces the values for which the area was established. It brings under protection some critical areas that were previously neglected. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines/">World Heritage guidelines</a> require that in addition to meeting the criteria, the nominated sites should also satisfy the conditions of integrity — a measure of the wholeness and intactness of natural and/or cultural heritage.</p>
<p>The guidelines specify, for example, that if a World Heritage Area is nominated under criterion viii as an “ice age” area, it should include snow fields, glaciers, and the set of key landforms formed by glaciation. </p>
<h2>The ground beneath our feet</h2>
<p>Apart from forests, the Tasmanian World Heritage Area contains globally unique geology and landforms (geodiversity), including some that give us a unique perspective on the most recent ice ages. </p>
<p>Much of our knowledge of the Earth’s ice age history has been obtained from the northern hemisphere. Tasmania, New Zealand and southernmost South America are the only land at temperate southern latitudes where we can study these ice ages, but geological instability in South America and New Zealand has confused much of the evidence for the earliest glaciations. </p>
<p>In contrast, Tasmania is a stable platform that offers an astonishingly long glacial record that reflects regional climate trends. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51618/original/hnkx4p8g-1403150967.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51618/original/hnkx4p8g-1403150967.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51618/original/hnkx4p8g-1403150967.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51618/original/hnkx4p8g-1403150967.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51618/original/hnkx4p8g-1403150967.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51618/original/hnkx4p8g-1403150967.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51618/original/hnkx4p8g-1403150967.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51618/original/hnkx4p8g-1403150967.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Navarre Plains are one of the areas under debate, and are an important site of glacial geology.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Kiernan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Geology and landforms are also fundamental to the operation of many environmental processes, including the <a href="http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470742151.html">functioning of ecosystems</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed the world’s first national park, at Yellowstone in the USA, was established not to protect biodiversity but instead to safeguard physical landscape features, namely hot springs and geysers.</p>
<p>The extension solved one previous problem with the integrity of the World Heritage Area. The previous boundaries mostly covered only mountains where ice age glaciers came from, but left the resulting “moraines” (ridges of rock debris left where the glaciers terminated) unprotected. Delisting parts of the extension would undo this advance. </p>
<h2>Past and living culture</h2>
<p>The geology and landforms are also intimately tied to cultural values represented in the World Heritage Area. Glaciers responsible for fashioning the globally significant glacial landscapes of the Tasmanian wilderness also conveyed particular types of rocks that were ideal materials for manufacturing stone tools to the accessible lowlands. </p>
<p>The sites where stone tools were subsequently fashioned and the rich legacy of Aboriginal occupation and culture contained in the limestone caves of the area represent just part of the cultural heritage value of the Tasmanian wilderness. They provide a link to the past for indigenous Tasmanians who are committed to maintaining their connections with the country from which they arose. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-19/tasmania-indigenous-world-heritage-delisting/5461200">Tasmanian Aboriginal community</a>, the World Heritage extension has not been properly assessed for indigenous heritage sites, and they have not been consulted by the federal government on the proposed delisting. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51619/original/c82jft27-1403151984.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51619/original/c82jft27-1403151984.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51619/original/c82jft27-1403151984.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51619/original/c82jft27-1403151984.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51619/original/c82jft27-1403151984.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51619/original/c82jft27-1403151984.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51619/original/c82jft27-1403151984.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51619/original/c82jft27-1403151984.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Exit Caves quarry in south west Tasmania, included in the World Heritage area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Kiernan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51620/original/gzmqwgps-1403152872.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51620/original/gzmqwgps-1403152872.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51620/original/gzmqwgps-1403152872.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51620/original/gzmqwgps-1403152872.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51620/original/gzmqwgps-1403152872.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51620/original/gzmqwgps-1403152872.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51620/original/gzmqwgps-1403152872.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51620/original/gzmqwgps-1403152872.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rehabilitation progressing at the Exit Caves site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Kiernan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not knowing and disregarding this heritage carries the real risk of repeating past mistakes, such as the recent construction of a highway across a <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=106168">40,000 year old site</a> because the state government and its agencies simply could not be bothered looking properly at the outset of the planning process. </p>
<h2>Degraded heritage?</h2>
<p>The question of whether the World Heritage extension contains “degraded” forests has been a key point in the debate.</p>
<p>But the World Heritage system explicitly recognises the worth of including areas that require rehabilitation. </p>
<p>Australia has already set an important precedent for this, with the 1990s rehabilitation of <a href="http://ecite.utas.edu.au/33298">Exit Cave system</a> in south west Tasmania. After quarrying for limestone, the cave system was affected by acid and silt runoff, which was dissolving cave formations and killing unique aquatic cave life. Federally-funded rehabilitation work at the quarry successfully stemmed the water pollution allowing progressive recovery of the cave fauna. </p>
<p>Rehabilitating logged areas is far less complicated — after all, forestry interests have long been telling us not to worry about logging, because the trees will grow back again just fine. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28183/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Kiernan worked for various environmental NGOs during the 1970s-80s and later as a national park planner before spending 15 years in the employment of Tasmanian state government’s forestry agencies until 2002.</span></em></p>The debate around Tasmania’s controversial World Heritage extension, under review this week at international talks in Doha, has centred on forests. But the area includes far more than “just” trees — including…Kevin Kiernan, Lecturer in Conservation Geomorphology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/278602014-06-15T20:34:43Z2014-06-15T20:34:43ZAustralia sends mixed messages on iconic World Heritage areas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50987/original/f9q2xghw-1402613293.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">About 5% of the Tasmanian Wilderness could delisted as a World Heritage area, if an Australian government request wins international approval.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/taann/6955008169/in/photolist-bAAeBX-bxPFpU-bxPBCG-bLJg3g-bxPza7-bxPCAS-bLJfGZ-bxPBgd-bxPC4U-bLJhXi-bxPyKj-bxPwuy-bxPD2A-bxPGn7-bLJiER-bLJmje-bLJikD-bLJezP-bxPFQQ-bLJhCk-bxPzvo-bxPEQQ-bxPDZw-bLJeYx-bLJfmk-ESA1X-bwkvbB-bwkiNT-bwjWee-bwkdrD-bwjG2t-bwk5Qx-bwk9K8-bwktSa-bwkmmT-bwjzpT-bwjPNx-bwksw6-bwkpxH-ESzRk-ESzVP-ESADf-ESA6T-b3V2QZ-b3UQkB">Ta Ann Truths/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, experts will debate the future of two of Australia’s World Heritage areas, <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/181/">the Tasmanian Wilderness</a> and <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/154">the Great Barrier Reef</a>, at a meeting in Doha, Qatar.</p>
<p>The world will be watching, as it will be again later in the year when Australia hosts only the sixth-ever <a href="http://worldparkscongress.org/">international congress on national parks</a>. </p>
<p>From <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/38com">June 15 to 25, the United Nations’ World Heritage Committee</a> will meet to revise the global list of World Heritage properties. On the list is the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/node/34177">Australian government’s request to delist 74,000 hectares</a> recently added to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area, on grounds that the area includes some “degraded” forests. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39848/original/nhdz82w7-1390541212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39848/original/nhdz82w7-1390541212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39848/original/nhdz82w7-1390541212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39848/original/nhdz82w7-1390541212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39848/original/nhdz82w7-1390541212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39848/original/nhdz82w7-1390541212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39848/original/nhdz82w7-1390541212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39848/original/nhdz82w7-1390541212.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">World Heritage sites currently listed “in danger”.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNESCO</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Last month, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-17/world-heritage-advised-to-reject-delisting-of-tasmanian-forest/5459444">a draft decision was released</a> recommending that the World Heritage Committee leave the current boundaries unchanged, based on two reports by conservation bodies.</p>
<p>Also on the table this week is whether the Great Barrier Reef will be listed as <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/danger/">“World Heritage in Danger”</a> due to development on the Reef. However, a final decision is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-01/unesco-decision-dredge-spoil-near-great-barrier-reef-condemned/5422802">now not expected until next year</a>.</p>
<h2>Open for business – but what kind?</h2>
<p>Australia signed the World Heritage Convention in August 1974, vowing to ensure “the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of its natural and cultural heritage” and undertook to do this “to the utmost of its resources”. If Australia now decides to renege on this commitment it would be a serious breach of its duties under the Convention.</p>
<p>We do not know how exactly how serious the Abbott Government is about these historic responsibilities, but the signs so far are not good. </p>
<p>In March this year <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-05/abbott-timber-industry-dinner-forestry-council-forest-locked-up/5299046">at a timber industry dinner in Canberra</a>, Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke about the Tasmania’s World Heritage area <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2014-03-04/address-2014-forestworks-dinner-canberra">and said that</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have quite enough National Parks, we have quite enough locked up forests already. In fact, in an important respect, we have too much locked up forest.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The government is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-15/senate-world-heritage-forests-tasmania/5456214">persisting with its attempt to delist some of the current Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area</a> against the recommendations of a Senate Committee, and the draft advice to the World Heritage Committee. </p>
<p>The approval of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/05/five-queensland-mega-ports-win-approval">major port expansions on the Queensland coast</a> is also sending the message that Australia is not serious about World Heritage. </p>
<p>The Great Barrier Reef was added to the World Heritage list in 1982, with the support of the federal and Queensland governments. Its future seemed secure — with an expansion of marine parks, and a ban on oil exploration. </p>
<p>If the reef is placed on the World Heritage in Danger list, it would not just be a serious blow to Australia’s international conservation status. It also has the potential to harm reef tourism, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-courting-danger-with-the-great-barrier-reef-20411">Barbara Norman explains here</a>, which is estimated to be worth A$6.4 billion a year and 64,000 jobs for Australia.</p>
<p>The federal government has also approved alpine grazing trials in Alpine National Park, long proposed for World Heritage nomination. The trials are in fact one of the reasons that this year’s <a href="http://worldparkscongress.org/">World National Parks Congress</a> will be hosted in Sydney, rather than the initially proposed host city of Melbourne. </p>
<h2>Mixed messages</h2>
<p>Meanwhile the federal government has committed itself to placing <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHome.aspx?id=N0030">Royal National Park</a> on Australia’s <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/">Tentative World Heritage List</a>, an inventory of the areas a country considers to be worthy of world heritage nomination. </p>
<p>Royal National Park has been reserved as a formal national park since April 1879, which makes it the oldest in the world to be set aside for the purpose of a “national park”. Originally created as “lungs of the city” for a rapidly growing Sydney with similarly increasing health problems, Royal National Park acted as the seed for the spread of national parks and protected areas in Australia.</p>
<p>Australia currently has two other sites on its <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/state=au">Tentative List</a> — an extension to the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/630">Fraser Island World Heritage area</a>, and to the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/368">Gondwanan Rainforests</a> on the Queensland-New South Wales border. </p>
<p>Cape York Peninsula has been proposed as another site for World Heritage nomination, but has been held up for years by the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/hunt-drops-cape-york-proposal/story-fn59niix-1226809003375">failure of successive federal governments</a> to win the support of the Queensland Government and some of the region’s Aboriginal groups.</p>
<p>In contrast, countries such as <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/state=us">the USA</a> and <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/state=gb">the UK</a> have 13 sites each on the Tentative Lists. </p>
<p>Australia has 12 other sites that have been proposed for World Heritage nomination but which are not on its Tentative List, including The Kimberley and the Alps and Eucalypt Forests of South East Australia.</p>
<p>There is another obstacle in further developing Australia’s Tentative List. Since the abolition of the Standing Council on Environment and Water in December 2013, there is no Australian inter-governmental body with a responsibility for ministerial liaison and cooperation on World Heritage. </p>
<h2>Australia on the global stage</h2>
<p>In November, Australia will host the <a href="http://worldparkscongress.org/">2014 World National Parks Congress</a>, organised by the <a href="http://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a>. </p>
<p>Australia’s past achievements, and the performance of the present Australian government, will be on display in Sydney for 3,000 delegates from 160 countries. In particular, attention will be on our World Heritage performance. </p>
<p>In 1962, US President John F. Kennedy wrote a letter to the delegates to the First World Conference on National Parks, declaring:</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51015/original/s27zddt6-1402627161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51015/original/s27zddt6-1402627161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51015/original/s27zddt6-1402627161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51015/original/s27zddt6-1402627161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51015/original/s27zddt6-1402627161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51015/original/s27zddt6-1402627161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51015/original/s27zddt6-1402627161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51015/original/s27zddt6-1402627161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A letter from then US President John F. Kennedy to the First World Conference on National Parks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://archive.org/stream/firstworldconfer00adam/firstworldconfer00adam_djvu.txt">The Internet Archive</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p>It is the course of wisdom to set aside an ample portion of our national resources as national parks and reserves, thus ensuring that future generations may know the majesty of the earth as we know it today. </p>
<p>Throughout history, much of the most productive human thought,
many of our cultural concepts, have been shaped in the out-of-doors.</p>
<p>As rising population pressures tend to emphasise conversion of resources into commodities, we must be careful to safeguard adequate and representative examples of the natural environment, where people may reflect, study, and enjoy the benefits of the earth. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Kennedy recognised the value of land owned in common for long-term, non-resource use. This sits uncomfortably with the mindset of the present Australian government, which sees national parks as “locked up”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27860/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Mosley runs his own consulting firm, specialising in World Heritage matters. In the past, he has consulted for federal, state and territory governments in Australia, as well as for non-government organisations including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He is not currently doing any consulting on World Heritage matters. Since 1987, he has been a member of the Australian Conservation Foundation's Council. </span></em></p>This week, experts will debate the future of two of Australia’s World Heritage areas, the Tasmanian Wilderness and the Great Barrier Reef, at a meeting in Doha, Qatar. The world will be watching, as it…Geoff Mosley, Heritage consultant and lecturer, SIT Study AbroadLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/266362014-05-15T20:15:02Z2014-05-15T20:15:02ZTasmanian forestry plans a revival beyond World Heritage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48470/original/j6qk4ncd-1400048650.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Clear-felling and burning is not the future for Tasmania's forests, no matter what happens with a looming World Heritage wilderness decision.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/taann/6900742490/">Ta Ann Truths/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Tasmanian forestry industry is already thinking beyond the federal and state governments’ plans to abolish the Tasmanian Forestry Agreement, which include <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-26/tony-abbott-tasmanian-wilderness-claim-does-not-check-out/5345072">trying to remove 74,000 hectares of forest</a> that currently falls under World Heritage listing and protection.</p>
<p>Later today (Australian time), the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2014/s4002939.htm">World Heritage Committee is expected to publish</a> its draft recommendation about whether it would take the unusual step of delisting part of the Tasmanian Wilderness as a World Heritage Area. That draft decision is likely to shape the final decision made next month at a meeting in Doha, so will be closely watched by foresters and environmentalists alike.</p>
<p>(You can view <a href="http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1096932/tasmanian-wilderness-world-heritage-area.pdf">a map here</a> of the areas the Australian government has proposed removing here, or an <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-26/tony-abbott-tasmanian-wilderness-claim-does-not-check-out/5345072">interactive ABC version here</a>.)</p>
<p>But even before the World Heritage Committee makes its call, many in Tasmania are already looking ahead. </p>
<p>Rather than returning to old, clear-fell harvesting methods, the industry is looking forward to new strategies that could benefit biodiversity, industry and our response to climate change.</p>
<h2>Is the age of clear-felling, burn and sow ending?</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.forestrytas.com.au/">Forestry Tasmania</a> is currently managing some 742,000 hectares of forest, for which it is seeking <a href="http://au.fsc.org/">Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)</a> certification. These forests are outside the World Heritage wilderness area.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.forestrytas.com.au/topics/2014/05/high-conservation-values-assessment-and-management-plan">draft plan</a> for production forests managed by Forestry Tasmania deemed “High Conservation Value”, it proposes to use different harvesting methods, rather than clear-felling trees. The plan is currently open to comment.</p>
<p>The draft report states that there are 10 areas covering a total of 12,800 hectares with high conservation value in the Forestry Tasmanian management zone that should be logged using alternatives to clear-felling.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48559/original/3ztf9ts8-1400119322.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48559/original/3ztf9ts8-1400119322.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48559/original/3ztf9ts8-1400119322.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48559/original/3ztf9ts8-1400119322.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48559/original/3ztf9ts8-1400119322.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48559/original/3ztf9ts8-1400119322.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48559/original/3ztf9ts8-1400119322.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48559/original/3ztf9ts8-1400119322.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 3 metre tall Celery-top pine along the Overland Track, Cradle Mountain - Lake St Claire National Park, Tasmania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougbeckers/8710439029/in/photolist-bpjdjM-bpjghp-bpje8P-bpjmt8-bpjjVt-bpjikM-bpjhfa-bpjf2P-ivrnbn-6QXdM8-bphvE4-bphwkz-bphvZZ-eeij2D-apqhwY-ah5uzh-dLjyHv-egP3rh-7nSCUX-egHh4g-77Rqit-5QMaTP-awcRHL-5J9eaF">Doug Beckers/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Specialty timber industries representatives, such as respected Tasmanian boat-builder <a href="http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/timber-resource-at-risk-if-tasmanian-forest-agreement-is-ripped-up/story-fnj4f7k1-1226912333391">John Young</a>, are also calling for an end to clear-felling if forests in the World Heritage area are made available to logging. </p>
<p>Clear-felling is the first part of a three-step harvesting method, followed by burning and then sowing. Young is concerned that the method is <a href="http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/storey-needs-a-happy-ending/story-fnj4f64i-1226912229617">unnecessarily destructive</a> of renowned Tasmanian specialty timbers such as celery-top pine, which occur in temperate rainforest and in the understoreys of old-growth eucalypt forests.</p>
<h2>High intensity fire is the real problem</h2>
<p>High intensity fires used to create the perfect conditions for eucalypt seedlings to thrive come with costs to biodiversity, specialty timbers and carbon storage. </p>
<p>There’s no question that this regeneration burning results in thriving regrowth. But it is surprising that we still don’t fully understand why this is the case. </p>
<p>Boiled down to basics, research shows that high intensity burning does two things. First, it provides a pulse of nutrients, particularly phosphorus, that encourages rapid growth of eucalypt regeneration. Second, fire is a form of “clearing”, removing both plants and soil organisms that can hold back eucalypt seedlings through above-and-below ground competition.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, high severity fires are a “cheap” and efficient herbicide, fungicide, and fertiliser. Burning also reduces the fire hazard posed by logging debris in the years immediately following logging, although some ecologists assert that large tracts of regenerating forest in a landscape increase fire risk.</p>
<p>But burning also destroys fire-sensitive trees that the specialty timber industry relies on, reduces <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-12/smoke-rises-from-forestry-burn-offs/4622116">air quality (and hence human health)</a>, and releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Rethinking high intensity burning is long overdue. </p>
<h2>Burning the carbon budget</h2>
<p>Clear-felling and burning of mature eucalypt forests releases about 200 tonnes of carbon per hectare, or <a href="http://www.warra.com/index.php/2012-05-15-18-01-25/item/237-loss-of-carbon-during-controlled-regeneration-burns-in-eucalyptus-obliqua-forest">around 60% of the post-logging above ground biomass</a> due to the combustion of coarse materials (branches of more than 7 cm diameter). Subsequent regrowth that would remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in timber is unlikely to reabsorb all the released carbon because the planned forest rotations are too short to allow trees to return to the large, old-growth stage. </p>
<p>From a strictly emissions-based perspective, it would be best to leave the coarse debris unburnt. A second best alternative would be removing logging debris and <a href="https://theconversation.com/bioenergy-a-burning-question-for-tasmanias-forests-15623">burning it in furnaces</a> to produce electricity, as this would at least offset the use of polluting fossil fuels to make electricity. </p>
<p>But removing logging debris wholesale would diminish soil fertility and would have an adverse impact on the biodiversity that depends on logs and other forest debris. </p>
<p>Given the climate cost of carbon emissions, clear-felling and burning cannot be considered “cheap”, and is inconsistent with <a href="http://www.climatechange.gov.au/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-measurement-and-reporting/australias-emissions-projections/national">Australia’s ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions</a>. </p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>Currently there are Australian schemes that reward initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in forestry and land management, such as the <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/climatechange/cfi">Carbon Farming Initiative</a>. This includes reducing the intensity of fires in tropical savannas, and restoring forest cover to landscapes that have been cleared. </p>
<p>The federal government’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-20/coalition-climate-change-direct-action-policy-explained/5067188">Direct Action policy</a> is likely to be based on similar principles, and could theoretically reward moves away from clear-felling and burning in Tasmania.</p>
<p>The research challenge now is to find alternative ways to create the conditions needed to regenerate logged eucalypt forests. This may involve mechanical disturbance to create a seedbed, lower intensity fires to reduce fire hazard from fine fuels, fertiliser to stimulate rapid growth, inoculating seedlings with beneficial fungi, and controlling soil pathogens.</p>
<p>These alternatives can open up new and more productive ways of logging eucalypt forests, which will be more socially acceptable and ecologically sustainable. </p>
<p>If we don’t need high intensity burning, smaller areas can logged, and dispersed across landscapes. This would reduce the visual impact of logging, and increase carbon storage, habitat diversity and biodiversity values. </p>
<p>Supported by adequate research, the old-fashioned clear-fell and burn approach could be supplanted by selective, low-impact logging, and a renaissance of the Tasmanian forestry industry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Bowman receives research funding through the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, National Environmental Research Program, and the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Janos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Tasmanian forestry industry is already thinking beyond the federal and state governments’ plans to abolish the Tasmanian Forestry Agreement, which include trying to remove 74,000 hectares of forest…David Bowman, Professor, Environmental Change Biology, University of TasmaniaDavid Janos, Professor of Biology (Plant Ecology), University of MiamiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.