PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #21: Conservation of Biodiversity: Human landscapes, reserve design. Presiding: C. Meine.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001. 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Madison Ballroom D.
Presenting pluralism: ecological and social assessments of ecosystem health in south-eastern Australia.
DE CHAZAL, JACQUELINE1, NOBLE, IAN1, ASH, JULIAN1, 1
ABSTRACT- I present a conceptual model together with results drawn from a postal survey of community perceptions of 'bushland health' and an ecological field study of remnant forest patches in the Canberra region, south-eastern Australia, to describe how people arrive at different assessments of ecosystem 'health'. The survey was sent to rural residents, members of community based environment groups, researchers and policy makers and military personnel. Participants were asked about the type and degree of importance they place on bushland, and rated photographs of local bushland in terms of their own view of 'health'. I address the following questions in relation to this model and data: Do all ecological assessments of ecosystem health necessarily require a social context? Is ecosystem health assessment only concerned with rating biophysical attributes, or does it also involve a spiritual dimension? How differently do people see the landscape they are assessing? Results show that the four community groups perceive bushland health differently. Rural residents tend to see bushland health in terms of a primary producer landscape, placing greater importance on agricultural uses and utilitarian values, and attributing greater health to modified landscapes and exotic species. In contrast, researchers and policy makers tend to see bushland health in terms of a conservation landscape, placing greater importance on non-production uses and cultural values, and attributing greater health to lesser modified landscapes, native species and 'natural' ecological processes.
KEY WORDS: ecosystem health, landscape assessment, social values