PROJECTS

Conservation Indicators

Selecting indicators of conservation success for nature and people in the Noosa Biosphere Reserve

Since 2007, Noosa Shire has held UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status in recognition of efforts to harmonise sustainable natural resource management with urban and economic development. Community participation is crucial to ensure the Noosa Biosphere Reserve conservation planning is driven by its best interest and knowledge. Through consultations we will select indicators to track progress and monitor success of conservation and community efforts across the Noosa Biosphere, and keep all stakeholders involved.

The project intends to consult the traditional custodians of the land within and surrounding the Noosa Biosphere – the Kabi Kabi and the Jinibara People, and multiple stakeholders, including governance, water, land, agriculture, and wildlife management authorities and organisations; sustainability, education, recreation/tourism, business, culture, and community groups and associations; academics; land managers; residents; tourists; and any other individuals, authorities or organisations with associations to the Noosa Biosphere.

Through participatory research and following international standard principles in monitoring and evaluation, we aim to:

  • Identify priorities for conservation, people and sustainable development; main threats, causes and potential solutions.
  • Select priority environmental, socio-economic and management indicators, using an innovative new holistic method for ranking their relative importance to one another.
  • Make an initial assessment of top-priority selected indicators as benchmarks for future progress.

Outcomes

The expected outcomes of this project are:

  • Improved community engagement in the Noosa Biosphere Reserve planning and management;
  • Improved conservation planning, monitoring, evaluation, reporting frameworks;
  • Better conservation practices, that include social and cultural priorities, and support sustainable economic growth;
  • More sustainable conservation policy and practice in the Noosa Biosphere, that also inspires similar initiatives across the world.

Timeline

This project commenced in January 2022 is due for completion in December 2024.

Reports

Nil to date

Proponent

UniSC / Forest Research Institute
Research team: PhD candidate Rodrigo Oliveira; Professor Andy Marshall; Dr Romane Cristescu; Dr. John Meadows; Prof. Claudia Baldwin; Mr Mark Annandale.

Project Value

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