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Abstract
In 1992, a National Forest Policy Statement created a political opportunity to protect wilderness across Australia. The following decade saw over a million hectares of wilderness reserved in the state of New South Wales (NSW) but, until recently, little progress was made elsewhere in Australia. The success in NSW, as opposed to other states, can largely be attributed to the activism of the NSW environment movement and its different relationship with both the political and executive arms of government. This relationship is structured through the NSW Wilderness Act, 1987, which was the first Australian statute to allow the community to formally nominate wilderness areas. Such community-based proposals can advocate the suitability of areas to be managed as wilderness by consideration of particular wilderness values and social and economic factors, as well as provide suggestions for management.
Parent Publication
Keywords
wilderness,
biodiversity,
protected areas,
economics,
subsistence,
tourism,
traditional knowledge,
community involvement,
policy,
stewardship,
education,
spiritual values
Citation
Muir, Keith. 2007. Action toward wilderness protection in Australia. In: Watson, Alan; Sproull, Janet; Dean, Liese, comps. Science and stewardship to protect and sustain wilderness values: Eighth World Wilderness Congress symposium; September 30-October 6, 2005; Anchorage, AK. Proceedings RMRS-P-49. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 232-238
