1. Responding to Climate Change:
use of PPGIS to understand preferences of
Adelaide park visitors
Dr Delene Weber, University of South Australia
Assoc. Prof. Greg Brown, University of Queensland

4. The benefits of parks
 Protects biodiversity
 Promote healthy lifestyles
 Increase real estate value
 Temperature amelioration
 Storm water storage
 Can provide important pedestrian and cycling
links
 Community gardens can assist in food security

5. Climate change will affect parks
 It will affect the character of parks
 Eg. Less rain, longer and more frequent droughts,
heat waves and strong winds will result in
increased stress to plants and wildlife, loss of
biodiversity, more dieback, loss of shade trees,
more risk trees, greater fire risk
 It will affect visitation patterns
 Eg. Rising sea levels and storm surges will
increase beach erosion. “more beach weather,
less beaches”
 More crowding, more people visiting local parks
 Longer shoulder season

6. Value of parks and how that is
affected by climate change

7. Responding to climate change
requires a trans-disciplinary
approach
You mean the carbon
tax Are you suggesting
Doesn‟t just solve we have to do
everything?? things
differently?!!?

8. Benefits of a Collaborative
Approach
 Promotes improved understanding of different
perspectives
 Necessary to solve complex problems in a
meaningful way
 Replicates real world decision making that
needs to consider biophysical, economic and
social implications.
 Leads to better, more justifiable decisions

9. So what‟s the hold up??
Working
Together:
It won‟t
destroy us

10. You are kidding .. Please not an Let‟s be clear.
Social scientists!! economist!! I What we are
They are too airy- can‟t stand their doing is perfectly
fairy to work with!! reductionist correct. I (a)
perspectives of don‟t understand
the world what the heck
they are talking
about and (b)
couldn‟t care
less

11. Real Reason
 It is hard and takes more time.
 Requires open mind and respect of other
disciplines
 Some problems lend themselves to that
approach more readily than others
 Funding organisations often single disciplinary
focus
 You need a method to pull the data sets
together in a meaningful way

12. Can GIS help???

13. We hope so!!!
Most variables have a spatial
component
Readily available data layers Can be constructed
 Hydrology  Economic
 Biodiversity  Social
 Vegetation,
endangered species
habitat, wilderness
 Soils
 Management
 Infrastructure,
management zones,

14. Are we ready yet??
Merge the Data sets
Create meaningful outcomes

15. Previous knowledge
Over 17 PPGIS surveys

16. Visitor support for proposed
changes
Changes Means
 Improve public transport  6.18
 Increase water sensitive grass use  6.16
 Add urban forests  6.14
 Increase connecting trails  6.02
 Establish community gardens  5.45
 Increase use of non-native plants  5.41
 Add sustainable water features  5.06
 Allow natural water features to dry up  4.09
 Increase paved areas  3.67
 Seasonal closures of some parks  3.14

20. PPGIS Website: Allowed spatial mapping of 47 possible park
experiences, values, and development preferences
Regional Zoom control to
Marker Drag and
study area enforce map scale
descriptions drop markers Map type
Start survey
questions
http://www.landscapemap2.org/swparks3

21. Hotspots of Aesthetic/scenic experiences

22. Snowy River National Park Alpine National Park
Aesthetic/scenic Aesthetic/scenic
20 Crowding/congestio 20 Crowding/congesti
n on
15 15
10 Solitude/escape 10 Solitude/escape
5 5
0 Social interaction 0 Social interaction
Wildlife viewing Trail activity Wildlife viewing Trail activity
Other physical Learning/discover Other physical
Learning/discovery
activity y activity
Overnight Overnight
Avon Wilderness Park Howqua Hills H.A
Aesthetic/scenic Aesthetic/scenic
20 Crowding/congesti 20 Crowding/conges
on tion
15 15
10 Solitude/escape 10 Solitude/escape
5 5
0 Social interaction 0 Social interaction
Wildlife viewing Trail activity Wildlife viewing Trail activity
Other physical Learning/discover Other physical
Learning/discovery y activity
activity
Overnight Overnight

23. In summary
 Complex issues such as climate change
require a transdisciplinary approach.
 PPGIS can provide us with a meaningful social
layer which is often the “missing puzzle piece”
in terms of GIS data
 Collecting data in the same format makes
integrating data easier

24. Thanks for listening!!
Delene.weber@unisa.edu.au
Greg.Brown@uq.edu.au

25. We need someone to
help with managing the
footy club, Little
Athletics, and netball
We could do with
some help at the
school
JOIN THE QUEUE
The difficulty of engaging rural
Communities in park based
volunteerism
Dr. Barb Koth and Dr. Delene Weber, School of
Natural and Built Environments, University of South
Australia

26. The Opportunity
 Department for Environment and Natural
Resources interested in understanding how to
improve community relations with parks where
there is conflict
 Wanted to engage community and increase
volunteer base
 We do a lot of work with park visitors and less
with the communities surrounding the park

27. What we wanted….
 A park with conflict within 4 hours drive
from Adelaide with a moderate population
size and a clear demarcation of
community

28. Lameroo-Pinnaroo Region
Park is over 270,000
hectares of vegetated
sand dunes, mallee and
heath.
120 species of birds
200km North East of
Adelaide
Mean Max temp. 22.9°C
Mean Min temp 8.7°C
Population: 2,189
91% Born in Australia
36% of employment is in
Agricultural

29. Approach
 Content analysis of local
papers and council
minutes
 Focus group
representing
landowners, CFS, feral
animal control, 4x4 club,
nature enthusiasts and
teachers
 Survey at the Pinnaroo
show
 Ongoing online resident
feedback to encourage

30. Results
 Residents are satisfied with the
region as a place to live
 Most people believe people like
themselves can have „a lot‟ of
influence in taking action to
protect the environment
 Majority think the management of
the park has improved over the
last 5 years
 When asked to describe their
current level of involvement with
the management and planning of
Ngarkat CP 79% report no
involvement.
 In terms of desired level of
involvement 43% preferred no
involvement.

31. Why??

32. Reasons
 Most already volunteer
 Figure dominated by women
 Most volunteer for between 4 - 7 organisations.
 Again greater number of organisations for women
compared to men
 Men tended to volunteer for Country Fire Service
 Women tended to volunteer for various school,
sporting and church related groups.
 Lots were simply “burnt out”

33. Reasons
 Perception that Parks not in crisis and the need
was more urgent elsewhere.
 They don‟t have strong attachment to the park
 They didn‟t feel they had the technical skills to
help
 Particularly an issue with female respondents

34. Results
Table 1: Statistically Significant Differences in Volunteerism Subgroups
Variable Measure Uninvolved with Desired park
park (n=58) engagement
(n=60)
Familiarity with Mean (5pt scale) 1.7 2.3
Ngarkat
% „poor‟ 22.4 6.6
Volunteer in % „yes‟ 37.9 65.5
community
Volunteer Mean (5pt scale) 4.4 4.2
burnout
% strongly agree 54.2 43.9

35. Conclusion
 It is a resilient and optimistic community that has strong place
attacment to the region but not to the park
 Ngarket is a “good place for a picnic”
 There is a trust in the park agency at a local level but not at the
state level
 “The girls know what they are doing. Doing a lot better with fire these days.
Not a bunch of greenies. They know they benefit of burning off”

36. Conclusion
 Many people in the region volunteer
 If the park agency wants more help – they need to first increase use
of the park and demonstrate their commitment to the community
 Be community minded – develop more creative volunteer
opportunities
 Provide training to build capacity. Don‟t assume rural people know
“the environment”.

37. Thank you
Any Questions?
Barb.Koth@unisa.edu.au Delene.Weber@unisa.edu.au