Journal article
Re-framing values for a World Heritage future: what type of icon will K'gari-Fraser Island become?
Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, Vol.22(2), pp.124-148
2015
Abstract
K'gari-Fraser Island, the world's largest barrier sand island, is at the crossroads of World Heritage status, due to destructive environmental use in concert with climate change. Will K'gari-Fraser Island exemplify innovative, adaptive management or become just another degraded recreational facility? We synthesize the likely impact of human pressures and predicted consequences on the values of this island. World-renown natural beauty and ongoing biological and geological processes in coastal, wetland, heathland and rainforest environments, all contribute to its World Heritage status. The impact of hundreds of thousands of annual visitors is increasing on the island's biodiversity, cultural connections, ecological functions and environmental values. Maintaining World Heritage values will necessitate the re-framing of values to integrate socioeconomic factors in management and reduce extractive forms of tourism. Environmentally sound, systematic conservation planning that achieves social equity is urgently needed to rectify historical mistakes and update current management practices. Characterizing and sustaining biological refugia will be important to retain biodiversity in areas that are less visited. The development of a coherent approach to interpretation concerning history, access and values is required to encourage a more sympathetic use of this World Heritage environment. Alternatively, ongoing attrition of the islands values by increased levels of destructive use is inevitable.
Details
- Title
- Re-framing values for a World Heritage future: what type of icon will K'gari-Fraser Island become?
- Authors
- G Wardell-Johnson (Author) - Curtin UniversityDavid S Schoeman (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringThomas Schlacher (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringAngela Wardell-Johnson (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and BusinessM A Weston (Author) - Deakin UniversityYoko Shimizu (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringGabriel Conroy (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and Business
- Publication details
- Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, Vol.22(2), pp.124-148
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis Ltd.
- Date published
- 2015
- DOI
- 10.1080/14486563.2014.985267
- ISSN
- 1448-6563
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449190302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
22 File views/ downloads
1212 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Environmental Studies
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites