by Wendy Russell
Dr Pamela Parker is the driving force behind the Bookmark Biosphere Reserve in South Australia. This remarkable reserve is one of a number of Biosphere Reserves, set up around the world as part of the UNESCO "Man and the Biosphere" programme. The Biosphere Reserves are aimed at integrating biology and sociology, conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. The Bookmark Reserve covers an area of 7000 square kilometres including areas of the Murray-Darling river system that are both fragile and severely degraded.
Dr Parker has a background in forestry and ecology. Interested for many years in conservation, she became concerned about the role of science, observing that science was being used to gain information about conservation issues, but that this information was not always used to address conservation problems. Inspired by George Rabb, a well known ecologist, she became interested in applying science to the definition of environmental problems, as well as to the long-term solution of these problems. Her involvement in the Bookmark reserve, which seeks to integrate conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources, recognises the need to address political and cultural, as well as technological obstacles to conservation and sustainable land use.
In 1992, Pamela lobbied the Federal Government and the MacKormack Foundation, a private US foundation, for money to acquire land which would form the basis of the Bookmark reserve, and for the construction of an Environment Centre. In arguing for such a reserve, she highlighted the fact that significant environmental problems, such as the problems of salinity and reductions in water quality in the Murray-Darling basin, are something that the community must eventually wear, especially when land uses are integrally connected, such as in a river system, and when funding for the technological solution of such problems is limited. She emphasised the need to involve the community at every level.
The Bookmark reserve is a unique conservation initiative in that it represents a mosaic of land tenures. In addition to land purchased by specific funding for the reserve, it incorporates land owned by private individuals, by corporations, and by local government. This matrix of land owners and users creates unique opportunities to promote conservation, sustainable land use, and self-management in the community. The Federal government has established a management contract with the local community for the management of a quarter of a million hectares. This contract not only allows available resources to be spread more thinly, by making use of volunteer labour, and encouraging the participation of land owners in the area, it also creates a unique opportunity for the community to shape its own destiny.
Community participation involves a Community Trust, set up under the National Parks and Wildlife Act, which is responsible for decisions relating to priority, policy and philosophy. Financial aspects of the reserve are presided over by the Australian Landscape Trust, which has brought together a number of charitable foundations, including the Potter foundation, the Myer foundation, the John P. Reid Charitable Trust, and the MacKormack foundation. These foundations continue to support the project, not only financially, but also by contributing to ventures designed to combine economic sustainability of community enterprises with conservation objectives. The project has also been supported by funding from State and Federal governments. The Australian Landscape Trust is also responsible for the employment of professional staff and scientists. In addition to consulting on environmental decisions made by the Community Trust, the staff also oversee operational aspects, including volunteer work, and continue to apply and lobby for funding to keep the project running. Pamela Parker continues to be central to this work.
Pamela has collaborated in setting up the reserve with Mike Harper, District Manager of Murraylands Parks, who has a strong commitment to community and conservation; and Kevin Smith, who is chairman of the citizen’s body responsible for management of the reserve, a retired deputy principal, and a strong educator. She also acknowledges the important contribution of Pat Feilman, who is the Executive Secretary of the Potter foundation, which has, as its mission, the promotion of sustainable conservation. Pat, rather than simply screening proposals which might contribute to the mission of the foundation, was active in developing a programme which specifically addressed this mission. Her contribution was important in shaping the Bookmark reserve.
WISENET offers its congratulations to Pamela for receiving this well-deserved honour. It is gratifying to see women not only making major contributions to science, but also using science to bring about positive social and environmental change.