Making choices: prioritising the protection of biodiversity in wildfires

McCormack, Phillipa C.; McDonald, Jan; Legge, Sarah; Garnett, Stephen T.; Wintle, Brendan A.; Rumpff, Libby

doi:10.1071/wf22229

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This is a formidable challenge. But other preparatory actions may be more readily achievable, for example, proactive management of biodiversity assets that can be predicted to be susceptible in wildfires, such as translocations of narrowly endemic species and establishment of insurance populations to reduce risk of total loss in wildfires (Woinarski et al., 2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latter asset types may compete for protection with biodiversity assets. In many cases, those responsible for attempting to control such events must make fateful choices about what to protect and hence what not to protect (Woinarski et al., 2023). These choices become more difficult and consequential as the scale and severity of such disasters increase, as human populations and infrastructure increase and spread, and as depletion of biodiversity continues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We took up the suggestion resulting from the New South Wales inquiry that such relative valuation among disparate assets—and hence their prioritization for protection—should be established prior to a wildfire or other disturbance event (Woinarski et al., 2023). Such prioritization should reflect societal values and then be established in relevant fire management planning, policy, and protocols.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social valuation of biodiversity relative to other types of assets at risk in wildfire

Woinarski,

Garnett,

Zander

2024

Conservation Biology

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Environmental crises, such as wildfires, can cause major losses of human life, infrastructure, biodiversity and cultural values. In many such situations, incident controllers must make fateful choices about what to protect – and hence what to abandon. Conventionally, human life is prioritized ahead of property, with biodiversity last. With increasing incidence and severity of environmental crises, such prioritization will lead to a recurring pattern of acute biodiversity losses, including extinctions. We investigated Australian social attitudes to this dilemma, to consider whether existing policies and protocols for asset prioritization reflect community values. We used best‐worst scaling to assess preferences across a set of 11 assets representing human life, infrastructure, biodiversity and cultural values. Survey respondents overwhelmingly prioritized protection of a single human life, even if that choice resulted in extinction of other species. Inanimate (replaceable) objects were accorded lowest priority. Amongst biodiversity assets, most respondents ranked protecting a population of the iconic koala ahead of preventing the extinction of a snail and a plant species. Women showed more preference than men for protecting koalas, wallabies and sheep, and less preference for protecting a house, shed, shrub and rock carving; Indigenous people showed more preference for Indigenous cultural assets. These results variably support current policy, in that they emphasize the importance the community places on protection of human life, but results diverge from conventional practice in rating some biodiversity assets ahead of infrastructure. The preference for protecting a population of koalas ahead of action taken to prevent the extinction of an invertebrate and plant species corroborates previous research reporting biases in the way people value nature. If non‐charismatic species are not to be treated as expendable, then the case for preventing their extinction needs to be better made to the community. Given the increasing global incidence of high severity wildfires, further sampling of societal preferences amongst diverse asset types is warranted, with results from such sampling then informing planning, policy and practice relating to wildfire and other catastrophic events. Other pre‐emptive targeted management actions (such as translocations) will be needed to conserve biodiversity likely to be imperilled by wildfires, and especially so for non‐iconic species.ARTICLE IMPACT STATEMENT: Regarding protection from wildfire, respondents prioritized protection of 1 human life even if the choice lead to extinction of a species.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social valuation of biodiversity relative to other types of assets at risk in wildfire

Woinarski,

Garnett,

Zander

2024

Conservation Biology

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“…Forests there have the best opportunity to develop into 'new' old-growth stands; trees there are just reaching an old-growth state (85+ years old). Above and beyond their many ecological benefits, these forest stands will also provide countless future socio-cultural benefits which should not be overlooked when considering conservation policies (Wintle et al 2020;Gilhen-Baker et al 2022;Woinarski et al 2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-unburnt stands of snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieber ex Spreng) are exceedingly rare in the Victorian Alps: implications for their conservation and management

Morgan,

Shackleton,

Walker

2024

Aust. J. Bot.

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The nature of Australia’s high mountains is changing. Recent, repeated landscape-scale fires have burnt much of the subalpine forests dominated by snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora). Long-unburnt snow gum forests are important for ecosystem services, have socio-cultural benefits, and conservation values, but they are now exceedingly rare, comprising <1% of snow gum forests in the Victorian Alps. We identify where long-unburnt snow gum stands persist in the Victorian Alps and outline why management intervention is necessary to protect unburnt refuges and, more broadly, to allow mature/adult stands (such as occur on the Baw Baw Plateau) to develop into future old forests.

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“…This hierarchy pervades our dealings with any crisis; indeed, it is an implicit assumption of how we are governed. Such an ingrained hierarchy will inevitably lead to severe, compounding and unrecoverable losses of biodiversity (Woinarski et al 2023b).…”

Section: Living In a Time Of Lossmentioning

confidence: 99%

To the future: An ecology of love, hope, and action

Woinarski

2023

Austral Ecology

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This is an edited version of a keynote address given at the 2023 Ecological Society of Australia conference (https://youtu.be/0JDJ9RdIkP4). I argue that the practice of ecology gifts us a unique capability to see and understand the beauty, intricacy and wonder of the natural world, but also powerful insight into biodiversity loss and its consequences. With such privilege we should take more responsibility for its protection. We should recognize that love drives our concern for nature and that emotion renders us more persuasive advocates. Despair at environmental loss is understandable but unhelpful, and we must find hope and build from it. Such hope comes, for example, from a sense of community connection to and concern for nature; in increasingly bold commitments by governments and many organizations to protect biodiversity; in the increased recognition and respect shown in Australia for First Nations management and perspectives on responsibility for country; and in those (albeit still too few) success stories of recovery.

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Making choices: prioritising the protection of biodiversity in wildfires

Cited by 6 publications

References 34 publications

Social valuation of biodiversity relative to other types of assets at risk in wildfire

Social valuation of biodiversity relative to other types of assets at risk in wildfire

Long-unburnt stands of snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieber ex Spreng) are exceedingly rare in the Victorian Alps: implications for their conservation and management

To the future: An ecology of love, hope, and action

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