Tasmania's Tarkine, Community Involvement, and the Sustainable Development Platform Method

The emergence of the Tarkine as a potential tourism drawcard for Tasmania presents a number of challenges and opportunities for local economic development and sustainable resource management. Opportunities include the potential to create an iconic international tourism destination, new wealth creation and employment opportunities, whilst challenges include the possible scaling back of resource extracting industries and changes to sociocultural lifestyle choices within the region, particularly along the Arthur-Pieman Conservation Area (APCA) coastline.

Traditional polycentric approaches to the Tarkine’s management are arguably inadequate to meet the needs of coordinated sustainable use and development of the Tarkine asset. A new approach is required that is capable of aligning divergent views into a cooperative, sensitive and appropriate management structure capable of delivering sustainable development outcomes for businesses, communities and other stakeholders. The Sustainable Development Platform Method (SDPM) offers one such approach.

The SDPM has been designed to enable the realisation and development of economic values inherent within natural and cultural environments, to encourage community involvement in management as well as to provide a source of funds that can resource sustainable management efforts. Securing these important financial incentives and resources requires a mechanism for the cooperative attainment of profits that can be procured through the development of Regional Innovation Systems (RIS).

Investigating a new policy trajectory that has the potential to support the sustainable and self-funded management of the Tarkine, whilst enabling private economic development, can provide a path forward for authentic, community-supported and participatory, resource management in the Tarkine.