Elery hamilton-smith biography

We now recognise that the protected area concept goes back for probably several thousand years and that the so-called "Yellowstone model" as the dominant paradigm for protected areas was very seriously flawed. Land resource protection and management has undergone immense change in recent years. A diversity of models have evolved in different cultural settings, many of which are producing much more effective outcomes.

Bureaucrats known as park managers or park rangers are no longer kings of their own little kingdoms. Parks are now much more democratic and serve a diversity of values and interests. Interestingly, many other countries have changed much more quickly than Australia, although Australians play a major role in international action for conservation.

One of my colleagues says that " There is enough truth in this joking comment that it does pose a challenge to our governments. For some years, the conservation movement saw the establishment of the Yellowstone National Park in the United States as a flagship for the conservation movement.

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It was widely believed to be the first national park, and it was widely held up as a model for the world. It may have been the first site to be designated as a "national park", although if we translated all the names assigned to protected areas throughout the world, others may have preceded it. What is certain is that there were certainly many areas with an equivalent status and character established long before the 19th century, and many of these exist to this day.

The Buskett Gardens of Malta are probably the first such site. The associated archaeological evidence suggests that this wonderful place was a major gathering place back to some 7, years ago Trump ; Rudgley Havalu Forest in Niue is particularly interesting; The Niue people claim that when the first people arrived about 1, years ago and settled on the island, they decided that the forest was so beautiful that it would not be utilised or inhabited but kept intact for all time.

But the phenomenon of the Sacred Grove is widespread. Similarly, mountains have often been dedicated as sacred places throughout a very long history - we need look no further than Tongariro, which has survived the transition from sacred place to national park Potton There are a remarkable number of public gardens throughout the world that can be tracked far back in history Thatcher Of course, many of the great painted caves and other caves or karst springs were certainly sacred sites long before the onset of speleology Rudgley Finally, Australia had many sacred sites, and even the early white-fella parks such as Wombeyan and Jenolan were established before Yellowstone.

Turning to the US National Parks as a model for management of public places reveals even greater problems. Although it was his disgust with the quality of management that drove Mather to accept the leadership of the new service, the very establishment of the Service was inextricably linked with the rise of the tourism industry and partnership with the growing railway system Runte, The first set of publications to be produced by the Service to inform the people about the parks Yard was unashamedly based in tourism promotion.

Many people soon realised that such a whole-hearted gift to the tourism industry was not in the best interests of the claimed mandate for conservation. Amongst others, the Sierra Club that had fought for the initial establishment eventually became a major lobby group for change. The other problem that arose from the process of establishment is that the Park Ranger training program that developed at the Albright Training Academy inherited the military philosophy.

Rangers elery hamilton-smith biography trained to be authoritarian, to focus on law enforcement and to always carry handguns. The first major, comprehensive and clearly enunciated attack on the park service as a whole came from a long-standing friend of the parks, Alston Chase In particular, it attacked the lack of competence and appalling track record in conservation management.

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It attracted widespread attention, and provoked a somewhat frantic defensiveness from the park service. One of those who supported Chase as a leading public advocate for change was the well-known Bill Austin of Mammoth Onyx Cave and Buffalo elery hamilton-smith biography. Bill targeted not only the failure of conservation, particularly in relation to his beloved Buffalos, but the continuing authoritarianism of the rangers and the short tenure of ambitious park superintendents.

In brief, he argued that the parks were "being managed by a batch of temporary cops". He deals with the exclusion from the parks of the former residents, often Indians or poor white farmers, and the systematic criminalisation of their subsistence level hunting and even grazing. This was based in the simplistic assumption that their continuing hunting and other activities would seriously threaten conservation.

Nothing was done to provide for continuing and genuine involvement in the responsibility for the park. This has regrettably influenced park management thinking throughout the world, and indigenous people often from ethnic minorities have been forcibly removed from protected areas and from their own continuing subsistence. One often hears the charge that conservation serves mainly to disenfranchise and starve minority peoples rather than to ensure their continuing good management.

I am involved in one such battle at this very moment in a park where the management has systematically destroyed far more of the environment in the last five years than the many centuries of indigenous occupancy - and yet are arguing that the inhabitants must be re-located! So, although most Park Service officers in the United States were extremely conscientious and well-intentioned individuals and I am not criticising them!

Let me turn now to the positive changes we are now seeing. The change has been a slow and very complex one, occurring in stages. Adrian Phillips of IUCN did us all a great service by providing a greatly condensed summary in a paper prepared as background to the Durban Congress. It is thus timely to provide some overview of current issues across the world.

Commencing with the international and then looking at some of the national implications. The role of these has gradually evolved and today the Biosphere Reserve is used widely as the basis for negotiating sustainable programs of land management. In many cases, the core of the Biosphere Reserve will be a protected area often a national park and sometimes a World Heritage area.

In these situations the Biosphere Reserve provides an invaluable form and process for buffer zone management. At about the same time, considerable discussion came to be focused on wetlands and at a meeting at the city of Ramsar Iran established the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Initially, this gave particular attention to the protection of birds particularly those who were migratory.

Again Australia played a significant role because of our remarkable migratory birds who follow an enormous figure of eight migratory route between Siberia and Southern Australia. However, the Convention is now very widely focused on wetlands as a whole and is one of the important forums for examining the effects of climate change.

Also, as a result of a paper prepared by Andy Spate and Elery Hamilton-Smith for the Ramsar Conference in Brisbane, a new category of subterranean wetlands was recognised. The first site registered internationally under this provision was Skocjanske Jama in Slovenia but a number of others have since been added. Meanwhile, and since the remarkable international effort to conserve great Nubian monuments in the Nile valley, discussions have been taking place for a considerable time on the recognition of sites of Outstanding Universal Value.

Elery hamilton-smith biography: Elery Hamilton-Smith AM (28

There are now some fifty cave and karst sites recognised as World Heritage and others are currently in the process of assessment and consideration. Membership Add photo. Awards Add photo. Other Photos Add photo. Connections Add photo. Add photo. View map. Born December 28, Harben Vale, Australia. June 27, aged Education "University of Adelaide".

The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, to recognise Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service.