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Grass-roots and green-tape : community-based environmental management in Australia
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Carr, Anna |
| Copyright Year | 1994 |
| Abstract | This thesis examines the role of community groups in environmental management. It is recognised that governments have a responsibility to intervene at the local scale to ensure sustainable management of the environment. Increasingly, there are also community groups wishing to manage local environments. This study argues that neither approach — top-down or bottom-up — is sufficient, but that they must combine to create middle-ground approaches which encourage a plurality of stakeholders to take environmental responsibility. In Australia there is widespread agreement on the serious nature of environmental degradation. Rural Australia now comprehends the damage done to the land by erosion, vegetation decline, salinity and invasion by exotic species. Now that the effects of these problems on biophysical and socioeconomic systems are at least partially understood, people want action. This call for action has led to the formation of local community organisations to act on water quality, weed control, vertebrate pest management, dryland salinity, heritage conservation, forest protection and many other environmental issues. Proponents of community-based environmental management believe that bottom-up approaches will change the face of Australian environments through participatory processes and bioregional principles. On the other hand, critics of this approach believe that community-based environmental management is a naive tool of the state. This study concludes that community-based environmental management can occur along any point of the community-government continuum and is presented as an heuristic model. While the extremes are useful, there is an emerging consensus that middle-ground approaches require cooperative environmental management. Substantive findings of this research support both ends and the middle of the continuum. Principles underlying government involvement in community-based environmental management include a range of policy options, such as providing seeding finance or in kind resources; providing opportunities for group facilitation or |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.25911/5d74e3d8c90f0 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/114568/4/b18874630_Carr_Anna_q.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.25911/5d74e3d8c90f0 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
