PROTECTED AREAS COLLABORATION FOR LEARNING & RESEARCH

An innovative joint venture to build capacity for more effective and inclusive protected and conserved areas across the Asia-Pacific

In late 2020, the Protected Areas Collaboration for Learning & Research (PAC) was established as a joint venture between the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy. In 2021, The Nature Conservancy also joined the venture through a Memorandum of Understanding. PAC’s inaugural strategic plan can be accessed here.

The Protected Areas Collaboration (PAC) aims to build a community of conservation practitioners with the skills, knowledge and understanding to become more effective and inclusive protected area managers. Inadequate and inaccessible education and capacity building for conservation practitioners is widely recognised as a key factor in protected and conserved areas failing to achieve optimal conservation outcomes.

PAC brings together conservation practitioners from across government, academia, non-government, Indigenous, community, and natural resource management (NRM) sectors to learn from each other and work together. Core partners in the collaboration include universities and environmental non-government organisations. In delivering courses, PAC serves variously as broker, convenor, and delivery agent.

PAC has an extensive network of expertise and conservation practitioners on its Executive Council, and Academic Programs Committee and Protected Areas Practitioners Committee.

Dr. Rosalie Chapple, the Institute’s Education program leader, facilitated the joint venture agreement for BMWHI: “The Protected Areas Collaboration advances the mission of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute to deliver strategic and responsive programs that build capacity and leadership in conservation. These programs will approach conservation challenges as problems to solve together, in respectful and inclusive ways, recognising the importance of different types of knowledge and learning approaches. Importantly, the Collaboration is based on partnerships that can broaden and deepen our collective understanding and help drive innovation in protected area conservation regionally.”

PAC INITIATIVES

Building awareness of Indigenous knowledge systems and protocols for knowledge sharing

The Protected Areas Collaboration (PAC) is working with various partners to create these learning opportunities:

  • Partnering with universities to design new short courses (blended learning - online and face-to-face), micro-credentialed for professional development, focusing on (i) building cross-cultural awareness and understanding (ii) appropriate knowledge sharing. 

  • An annual multi-day 2-way learning opportunity on country for Indigenous and non-Indigenous practitioners to share knowledge and learn from each other.

  • An on-demand online learning program based on readings, videos, podcasts and recorded webinars, arranged into modules addressing various aspects of Indigenous culture in Australia. Topics include: Connecting to Country; Principles of knowledge-sharing, cultural authority and safety; Knowledge partnerships in traditional and ‘western’ approaches to land management: two-way learning, right-way science and decolonising methodologies; Cultural fire; Legislation, treaties, principles & protocols. Live webinars presented by Traditional Owners will complement the online resources.

  • Ranger exchanges (Indigenous with non-Indigenous) in partnership with the International Ranger Federation

Cultural Burning at Rick Farley Reserve. Photo credit: Rosalie Chapple.

Building co-benefits of protected areas for communities in Melanesia

A training program has commenced with the Solomon Islands Ranger Association (SIRA) to meet their immediate and longer-term training needs in relation to protected and conserved areas in the Solomon Islands. This project is led by the SIRA rangers, with support through PAC and BMWHI.

The project follows a 2019 SIRA training program delivered by the Queensland Ranger Association (QRA). Roger James, a ranger with the Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service (QPWS) and involved in the 2019 program, is working with BMWHI and PAC as project manager of the 2022 program. We are grateful to the QPWS for their support in covering Roger’s time on this project.

This 2022 training will complement the basic entry-level 2019 QRA Rangers Training Rangers manual with a new manual that addresses further issues especially compliance and management capacity. The 2022 Rangers and Communities Implementing Management Plans training course will be tailored to the unique challenges and legal framework of the Solomons.

In conjunction with development of the SIRA training package, a ranger certification training program is being established using the new training manual, as a partnership between SIRA and the Solomon Islands National University (SINU). This will ensure the ongoing availability and delivery of the training for rangers.

A resource kit developed by BMWHI for protected areas in Papua New Guinea in 2020, will be adapted to suit the needs of SIRA, and to support the ongoing delivery of the SINU/SIRA training program. The resources will address topics such as: Protected area fundamentals – eg law and regulations, legal frameworks and rights; staff capacity; concepts and principles; governance (draw upon resource kit prepared for PNG); safeguarding community rights and interests.

The 2022 SIRA training will culminate in ranger participation in the inaugural Oceania Ranger Forum in New Zealand, October 2022, with the theme ‘Inclusive Conservation’. The forum is organised by the IRF’s Oceania regional body and the Council of Oceania Rangers (CORA) and supported by the Thin Green Line Foundation. A later exchange between SIRA and New Zealand rangers is anticipated.

REIMAGINING CONSERVATION FORUM

Developing effective Indigenous and non-Indigenous partnerships for healthy Country

When: October/November 2022, date and venue to be announced soon

Partners: Initiated by PAC in partnership with the Australian Committee for IUCN and NAILSMA.

This forum builds upon a 2019 symposium convened in Brisbane by the Australian Committee for IUCN called ‘Healthy People in a Healthy Environment’. The forum was significant for building understanding and relationships between conservation and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) communities.

The forum aims to progress a key direction from the 2019 forum: “approaching science and conservation with First Australians based on respect, sharing knowledge, listening and learning”. The forum also aligns with the new global IUCN ‘Reimagining Conservation’ initiative, with a focus on justice, challenging the status quo, and listening before we act.

Aims:

  • To take a cross-sectoral collective approach to creating good partnerships for land and sea management for shared environmental and cultural outcomes.

  • To effect change by bringing together leaders of the many conversations and initiatives underway across Australia, to share examples and catalyse action and awareness from a collective voice.

FURTHER PAC initiatives

  • PAC has formed a partnership with the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF) to deliver a 6-month part-time leadership program for conservation practitioners.

  • PAC partner courses are being mapped against the IUCN Global Register of Competences for Protected Area Practitioners. On the basis of this, we can show what competences are covered by each course, and develop new courses that fill in competence gaps.

  • New short courses being developed include (blended learning: face to face and online):

    • PAC’s Protected Areas Practitioners Committee is designing multi-day field-based courses where practitioners visit sites and meet other practitioners to explore the on-ground challenges of effective and inclusive conservation practice in the context of protected areas. These include multi-day field schools focusing on different aspects. eg management effectiveness and how to meet the Green List standards. The field trips can be blended with online learning and designed to focus on a range of topics or a specific topic, according to the organisation’s/participants’ interests and/or the features of the protected area being visited. PAC is working with government environment agencies and NGOs to design training according to specific staff needs.

    • A visitor experience design course.

    • Case studies of implementation of the Conservation Standards framework are being developed with facilitator Stuart Cowell.

  • PAC continues to offer scholarships each year for partner courses to make education and training more accessible.

  • Website resources and Community of Practice

    • A register of key resources is being prepared and maintained to support a community of practice. The pages will be publicly available on PAC’s website.

learn more

Please register for PAC’s mailing list to be updated on activities.

We would love to hear from you if you are interested in any of our activities including in co-design of new learning opportunities and/or as a training recipient. Contact: info@palrc.com