The Role of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in the Life of the Community
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The Role of the WTWHA in Life Community BEST PRACTICE MANUAL The Role of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in the Life of the Community A Survey of the North Queensland Community Bentrupperbäumer and Reser Revised Edition Edited by J. M. Bentrupperbäumer and J. P. Reser Rainforest CRC Headquarters at James Cook University, Smithfield, Cairns Postal address: PO Box 6811, Cairns, QLD 4870, AUSTRALIA Phone: (07) 4042 1246 Fax: (07) 4042 1247 Email: [email protected] http://www.rainforest-crc.jcu.edu.au The Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management (Rainforest CRC) is a research partnership involving the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management Commonwealth and Queensland State Governments, the Wet Tropics Management Authority, the tourism industry, Aboriginal groups, the CSIRO, James Cook University, Griffith University and The University of Queensland. THE ROLE OF THE WET TROPICS WORLD HERITAGE AREA IN THE LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY A SURVEY OF THE NORTH QUEENSLAND COMMUNITY REVISED EDITION Joan M. Bentrupperbäumber1,2 and Joseph P. Reser1,3 1 Rainforest CRC 2 School of Tropical Environment Studies and Geography, James Cook University 3 School of Psychology, Griffith University Established and Supported under the Australian Cooperative Research Centres Program © Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management. ISBN 0 86443 775 7 This work is copyright. The Copyright Act 1968 permits fair dealing for study, research, news reporting, criticism or review. Selected passages, tables or diagrams may be reproduced for such purposes provided acknowledgment of the source is included. Major extracts of the entire document may not be reproduced by any process without written permission of the Chief Executive Officer, Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management. Published by the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management. Further copies may be requested from the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management, James Cook University, PO Box 6811, Cairns QLD 4870, Australia. This publication should be cited as: Bentrupperbäumber, J. M. and Reser, J. P. (2006) The Role of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in the Life of the Community. A Survey of the North Queensland Community. Revised Edition. Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management. Rainforest CRC, Cairns (182pp.). Published in September 2006. Layout by S. Hogan and A. Bryan For copies of this document, visit www.rainforest-crc.jcu.edu.au Contact the Authors: Dr Joan M. Bentrupperbäumer James Cook University PO Box 6811, Cairns QLD 4870, Australia Tel: +61 (7) 4042 1357 Email: [email protected] Dr Joseph P. Reser Griffith University PO Box 1431, Mudgeeraba QLD 4213, Australia Tel: +61 (7) 5533 2156 Email: [email protected] For this research: James Cook University Ethics Approval No. H1433 Wet Tropics Management Authority Contract No. 654 Prefatory Note to Revised Edition: This report was initially published in 2003, in part to meet the then pressing requirements and deadline of the consultancy brief. Since the initial date of publication, and the limited circulation of the report that followed, the authors have incorporated more comprehensive data analyses and address a number of considerations and stakeholder requests for further information and analyses. The report has also been more fairly situated within the context of community and catchment surveys in general, and protected area focussed natural resource management surveys over the three-year period from 2001 to 2003. This revised edition will hopefully serve as a more complete and final report of the community survey and related site-level surveys undertaken by the authors. The Role of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in the Life of the Community CONTENTS Acronyms Used in This Report................................................................................................. ii Terms of Reference..................................................................................................................iii Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ iv About The Authors .................................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. x 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................1 1.1 Community and Site-level Surveys............................................................................1 1.2 Addressing ‘Community’............................................................................................2 1.3 Visitor Monitoring Systems ........................................................................................2 1.4 Situating The Research .............................................................................................3 1.5 Distinguishing Social Surveys ...................................................................................5 2. Methods.............................................................................................................................7 2.1 Study Location...........................................................................................................7 2.2 Instrument and Measures..........................................................................................7 3. Results ............................................................................................................................11 3.1 Profile of Respondents ............................................................................................11 3.2 Awareness and Knowledge of the World Heritage Area..........................................15 3.3 Support for World Heritage Listing and Protection of the Wet Tropics Rainforests ..........................................................................................22 3.4 Perceived Advantages of the World Heritage Area .................................................24 3.5 Perceived Disadvantages of the World Heritage Area ............................................27 3.6 Support for Cultural Heritage Listing and Aboriginal Co-management....................31 3.7 Threats to the World Heritage Area.........................................................................32 3.8 Visitation and Use....................................................................................................34 3.9 Information Access and Use....................................................................................41 3.10 Management of the World Heritage Area ................................................................45 4. Discussion ......................................................................................................................53 4.1 Role of the World Heritage Area in the Life of the Community................................53 4.2 Community Perceptions, Appraisals and Issues .....................................................61 4.3 Research Perspectives............................................................................................66 4.4 Site-level Surveys, Community Surveys and Visitor Monitoring Systems ...............72 4.5 Summary Statement................................................................................................75 5. Glossary ..........................................................................................................................77 6. References ......................................................................................................................89 Appendix 1: Community Survey Methodologies............................................................103 Data Analyses ................................................................................................................103 Drop-off / Pick-up / Mail-back Procedure........................................................................103 Postal Procedure............................................................................................................107 Site-level Survey ............................................................................................................107 Appendix 2: Occupation Profile.......................................................................................109 i Bentupperbäumber and Reser Appendix 3: Personal Disadvantages .............................................................................111 Appendix 4: Community Disadvantages.........................................................................113 Appendix 5: Expectations of Management Agencies ....................................................115 Appendix 6: Additional Comments..................................................................................117 Comments in Response to Particular Questions............................................................117 General Comments ........................................................................................................119 Appendix 7: Recommended Reading..............................................................................125 Appendix 8: Survey Procedure ........................................................................................157