Presentation
The Shoalhaven Foreshore Education Project: promoting good practices in dune management by foreshore residents
Australian Association for Environmental Education Biennial Conference 2023
(2023)
Abstract
Global research has found that environmental education provides a catalyst for genuine collaborative efforts between different organisations and local communities. Environmental adult education strategies can empower community members to critically evaluate environmental issues, which can result in a commitment to enhancing environmental outcomes.
The Shoalhaven local government area (LGA) has 165 kilometres of coastline, one of the largest coastal extents in NSW. Residents in foreshore areas regularly interact with the beach landscape, including dunes and estuary environments. In many cases, these interactions are in concert with good coastal management and include active volunteer groups e.g. Dunecare. However, there are other behaviours and actions that degrade these environmentally sensitive areas. These include constructing informal beach access tracks, cutting down or removing dune vegetation to improve visual amenity, weed incursions from garden escapes and predation on locally endemic wildlife by free-ranging companion animals.
Acknowledging the importance of engaging with local communities to promote positive and collaborative coastal management, the Shoalhaven Coastal Zone Management Plan 2018 set out actions to engage with foreshore residents on the value of dune ecosystems. From this, Shoalhaven City Council obtained funding from the NSW Government to engage Water Technology Pty Ltd to assist in developing, implementing and evaluating the Foreshore Education Project.
The project involved an interactive and experiential workshop format and the development of eleven educational factsheets. The workshops were targeted to residents from three high-risk beaches in the LGA where there is a high incidence of informal access tracks, dune vegetation vandalism and property ownership on the coastal margin. The workshops were received with varying degrees of success. This paper will discuss key lessons learnt when delivering education programs to foreshore residents. It will highlight challenges in promoting best practice coastal management where there are strong private interests and opinions, in order to achieve balanced outcomes.
Keywords
- coasts,
- dunes,
- beach,
- education,
- environment
Disciplines
Publication Date
September 26, 2023
Location
Wollongong
Citation Information
Neil Dufty. "The Shoalhaven Foreshore Education Project: promoting good practices in dune management by foreshore residents" Australian Association for Environmental Education Biennial Conference 2023 (2023) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/neil_dufty/82/