The
Greater Blue Mountains Wilderness Network,
a group of wilderness stalwarts, convened a Wilderness Resurgence Seminar in
Blackheath, NSW on the 28th March 2004 to celebrate the enduring values of
wilderness.
A number
of important papers, a Position Statement and Seminar Resolutions were produced
(all downloadable files less than 200 kB, except for the Discussion Paper which
is 355 kB).
To read the Wilderness
Resurgence Position Statement from the seminar click here.
Download Wilderness
Resurgence Discussion Paper by Haydn Washington click here.
Download the Opening
Paper on Wilderness Resurgence by Peter Prineas click here.
Download Coming
Home to Wilderness by Geoff Mosley click here.
Download the Statement
on Wilderness by Penny Figgis click here.
Download Action
for Wilderness Conservation by Keith Muir click here.
Download unanimous
resolutions passed at the seminar.
Go to Take Action on
current NSW Wilderness Issues or click the red take action button.
Be part of the wilderness resurgence, email: keith@colongwilderness.org.au.
The
Wilderness Resurgence Statement,
Blackheath, 28 March 2004
We,
the undersigned participants of the ‘Wilderness Resurgence’ seminar at
Blackheath, 28th March, 2004 assert that:
Large,
natural, wild areas have a right to continued existence into the future. Such
areas are the remaining ‘original and best of Planet Earth’, the product of
millions of years of evolution, and are only slightly modified by modern
technological society. In many cases they have been (or are still) the lands of
indigenous people, who may have influenced these areas, but did so without
destroying their ecological integrity. The intrinsic, eco-centric values of
these areas need to be recognised as having critical importance.
‘Wilderness’
is a valid term to describe such large, natural areas. The term ‘wilderness’
refers to the ‘more-than-human’ natural world, and acknowledges its
independence and intrinsic value – its right to exist. The term wilderness
accepts that wild nature is not just a
resource for human use.
International
Union for the Conservation of Nature defines wilderness as:
‘A
large area of unmodified or slightly modified land, and/or sea, retaining its
natural character and influence, without permanent or significant habitation,
which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural condition’
(IUCN 1990). We acknowledge and support
this definition.
Wilderness
has disappeared in most regions of the world, and has been very substantially
reduced in Australia. In NSW, the NSW Wilderness Working Group in 1986 estimated
that only 4.4% of this state remained in a wilderness condition, and we note
that the wilderness values of the western division of NSW are still poorly
known.
The
remaining wilderness areas in Australia are a tribute to (and a celebration of)
the connection to the land of the Aborigines (the First Australians). The term
‘wilderness’ as we use it here today acknowledges the long-term history of
Aboriginal involvement in the land. Compared to the wholesale destruction and
fragmentation of native vegetation in the last 215 years (under European
‘management’) – traditional Aboriginal land practices have only
‘slightly modified’ (in reference to IUCN definition of wilderness) such
areas. It is thus appropriate to refer to large, natural areas of the bush in
Australia as ‘wilderness’.
Co-management
of wilderness areas with Traditional Owners can acknowledge the rights of
traditional custodians, while also protecting wilderness values (and recognising
how little of it remains in NSW). We urge all groups to work towards this goal.
We also support programs like the Indigenous Protected Area program that can
complement a wilderness protection system, and support other indigenous efforts
to conserve and protect their lands.
Greater
Blue Mountains wilderness is made up of the mostly declared (and hence
protected) wilderness areas of Wollemi, Kanangra-Boyd, Grose and Nattai, as well
as the yet to be declared Yengo and Murruin wilderness areas, which need urgent
declaration under the NSW Wilderness Act.
The threats to wilderness
everywhere continue to increase. The processes of clearing, fragmentation,
climate change, road-building, residential expansion, inappropriate tourism,
mining and forestry continue to undermine the ecological integrity of many
areas. The wilderness areas in the Greater Blue Mountains are especially
pressured by their closeness to Australia’s largest city, Sydney, while
paradoxically providing its residents with a valuable opportunity to experience
wilderness.
There have been a number of
attempts to exploit wilderness and to attack the very concept, both overseas and
in Australia. Such movements are given names such as ‘access for all’,
‘wise use’ or ‘multiple use’ and seek to justify mining and logging of
wilderness, or inappropriate recreational use by (for example) vehicles and
horses. These movements are grounded in a shallow view that says nothing has
value unless humans can directly consume or exploit it for profit. We oppose
multiple use and commercial activity in wilderness (aside from activities such
as photography), both from a philosophical point of view, and due to the
environmental impact they cause. We support human access to wilderness provided
it is low impact (e.g. walking, canoeing etc). There may need to be management
of even low-impact access at certain popular locations in wilderness.
Wilderness
is the wild end of a spectrum of land use that stretches from wilderness to the
city. It is misleading to assert (as some Postmodernist academics do) that to
speak of ‘wilderness’ is to create a ‘dualism’, which ignores other
areas that are not wilderness. There is a need for nature conservation action
right across the whole spectrum, and this is the aim (and practice) of the
conservation movement in Australia. However, wilderness as the least modified wild end of the spectrum deserves a special
focus to protect such areas before they disappear.
Criticisms
of the term ‘wilderness’ in our view simply play into the hands of those who
seek to exploit wilderness as just a resource, and threaten the continued
long-term existence of large natural areas in a future of increasing threats.
In
a world where extinction rates (due to human action) are up to 10,000 times the
natural level, and where experts estimate that half of the world’s species
could be extinct by the end of the 21st century – we believe that
wilderness remains of essential
importance. If we are to solve the global environmental crisis and live
harmoniously on Earth, then we need to identify, declare and protect our
wilderness. As human pressures on the wild increase, and natural places become
more and more scarce, the value and importance of wilderness grows as each year
goes by.
Wilderness is both a source
of hope and a teacher. It gives future generations the chance to see what the
world outside the urban and agricultural landscape was like. It gives us hope
that modern humans can learn to live in harmony with the wild.
It teaches us perspective and humility. Wilderness in the Greater Blue
Mountains and elsewhere needs our care and activism – perhaps now more than
ever.
It
is time for a resurgence of activism to protect wilderness, as well as to
connect such areas together in a ‘Wild Country’ network across the
landscape.
Therefore,
this seminar calls on the NSW Government
to:
re-establish
the Wilderness Unit in the newly formed Department of Environment and
Conservation
reserve
the remaining unprotected wilderness areas in NSW; including Murruin; Yengo;
Tabletop; Brindabella; the Deua headwaters and the central Deua Valley; the
Badja extension to the Tuross wilderness; the western side of the Shoalhaven
Gorge (West Ettrema addition); North Ettrema; Mummel Gulf; Tuggolo; Cataract;
Stockyard Creek; Chaelundi; Timbarra; Bald Rock; Pilliga; Mt. Kaputar additions
and Bebo.
The
seminar calls on the State and Federal
Governments to:
adequately fund management of
the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, including the voluntary
acquisition of private land located within the outer boundaries of the property,
especially those within wilderness areas through the Dunphy Wilderness Fund and
other means.
develop a
Strategic Plan for the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area that provides
the highest possible protection for the Area by:
(a)
effectively responding to the four categories of identified strategic
threats/ problems to the outstanding universal values of the World Heritage Area
-
uncontrolled or inappropriate use of fire;
-
inappropriate recreation and tourism activities;
-
invasion by pest species; and
-
loss of biodiversity at all levels;
(b)
including adequate protection and management of wilderness areas and
catchment areas that are fundamental to protecting the World Heritage Area;
(c)
developing a procedure to pursue the establishment of a broad buffer zone
around the World Heritage Area that would protect the property. This should
protect its integrity and outstanding universal value from inappropriate
development proposals, such as quarries and mines. It should also ensure that
adjoining lands are managed in sympathy with the World Heritage property;
(d)
including recognition of the likely severe environmental impacts of
human-induced climate change, and the development of measures to solve these.
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