Part 3 - Australian Alps National Parks

The Banff-Bow Valley Study (1996) was selected as a case study due to their being a substantial amountof research and writing on cumulative effects assessment in Canada, and the study was an application ofCIA to a regional tourism situation, with sufficient time elapsed to enable analysis of whether this hasinformed planning. In Banff National Park (and region), it became clear that various projects over timewere in combination detrimentally affecting the Banff Bow Valley ecosystem. The Task Force agreed thatcomplete and naturally functioning ecosystems, a healthy environment upon which a viable, regionaltourism industry depends, and a clean and abundant water supply for the large population centres alongthe Bow River were too valuable to risk (Page et al. 1996). The objective of the Cumulative EffectsAssessment (CEA) was "to quantitatively assess the cumulative effects of land use, development, humanpresence and activities on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, the physical environment and socioeconomicsystems by evaluating the changes to key representative species or indicators in the past,present and the reasonably foreseeable future" (Page, et. al. 1996:367). This case demonstrates that thecumulative impacts of tourism and associated development became recognised as a threat to the values ofthe region and to future sustainable tourism development in the National Park.The Australian Case Study research applied a network approach for cumulative impact assessmentdeveloped by Lane et al. (1988) from Canadian research (largely supported by CEARC), usedconceptually in an Australian Commonwealth Review of CIA (Court et al. (1994)). This networkrepresents causes, actions, primary impacts, secondary impacts and tertiary impacts. Networks have valueas a means of identifying cumulative impacts and can be used to pinpoint cause and effect relationshipsand identify priority impact issues, tracing their base causes to enable effective management (Dixon andMontz 1995). Further, networks can be developed using expert judgement (Lane et al. 1988 andMacDonald 1998), in the absence of other data. The nature of cumulative impacts study, and the relativeunavailability of quantitative data means that "…qualitative methods are used to a greater extent "(Cooper and Canter 1997: 26).Document review was collated in combination with interviews to identify valued resource components,activities and impact issues. This information was used to construct the network diagrams in relation totourism use of the Victorian Alps and more specifically in relation to the Horsehair Plain Airportdevelopment for Mt Hotham Alpine Resort. A questionnaire was distributed to consolidate the network,prioritise issues as well as to assess the usefulness of the network diagram in communicating cumulativeimpacts in a given area to decision makers. This presented one samples’ view and would require greaterinput and iterative workshopping to make the results more robust.Opportunities and Challenges in managing cumulative impacts forsustainable tourismObstacles or challenges in this context can be identified for (a) cumulative impact assessment generally,(b) the Banff case, (c) the Australian Case Study CIA, and (d) the network analysis approach. This sectionwill consider opportunities and obstacles with particular reference to the lessons from Banff and Victoriancase studies.OpportunitiesThe Banff study focused on the research component, with an ecological bias but did not adequatelyinclude the management component to successfully consider cumulative impacts. Planning has since beenimplemented (with varying success) and would appear to at least have increased knowledge of the affectsof tourism in the natural ecosystems.The Banff-Bow Valley Study and associated activity did create a reaction and increased awareness ofcumulative impacts in a region of high visitor use (Ross pers.comm. 1999, Creasey 1999, Pagepers.comm.1999, McDonald and Aumonier 1998). It has also prompted the development of formalisedapproaches to cumulative impact assessment in Parks Canada management. Cumulative effects/impactsare now explicitly considered in Parks planning, tourism operations have been changed (and in somecases limited) and a tourism strategy (appropriate to the nature of the setting and knowledge ofcumulative impacts over time) has been developed and is being implemented.Celebrating Mountains – An International Year of Mountains ConferenceJindabyne, New South Wales, Australia303