Ecological Economics 33 2000 63 – 75
ANALYSIS
Conservation or cultural heritage? Cattle grazing in the Victoria Alpine National Park
Iain Fraser , Tony Chisholm
Department of Economics and Finance, School of Business, La Trobe Uni6ersity, Bundoora Campus, Melbourne, Victoria
3083
, Australia Received 18 June 1998; received in revised form 30 August 1999; accepted 2 September 1999
Abstract
The recent decision to continue cattle grazing in the VANP has not been uniformly welcomed. There exists significant scientific evidence detailing the environmental impact of grazing. This paper examines whether an
opportunity has been missed to resolve the ongoing conflict that accompanies the continuation of grazing in the VANP. The potential of economic instruments in resolving this unique land use conflict is examined. It is argued
unambiguously that the compensation of graziers for a change in existing institutional alpine grazing arrangement can help to facilitate a resolution of the conflict. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords
:
Cattle grazing; Cultural heritage; Compensation; Conflict resolution www.elsevier.comlocateecolecon
1. Introduction
The Australian Alps National Park AANP links alpine and sub-alpine regions of Victoria,
New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory. The Victorian Alpine National Park
VANP, established in 1983, is a significant part of the AANP with many unique attributes, espe-
cially its flora. The Land Conservation Council 1979 identified over 1000 native flowering plant
and fern species plus numerous and varied inver- tebrate populations. However, the existence and
integrity of many of the natural features of the VANP are questioned by conservationists and
ecologists. They argue that cattle grazing reduces the structural and floristic diversity of the vegeta-
tion, impacting upon the summer display and luxuriance of the wildflowers, such a notable fea-
ture of ungrazed high alpine plains. Indeed, the Land Conservation Council 1979 advocated the
removal of cattle from these areas, whilst Bennett 1995 observed, ‘‘Ecologists, while recognising
the heritage of mountain grazing, say it is an
Corresponding author. Tel.: + 61-3-9479-2214; fax: + 61- 3-9479-1654.
E-mail address
:
i.fraserlatrobe.edu.au I. Fraser 0921-800900 - see front matter © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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inappropriate national park land use’’ p. 33. But, the graziers claim that the cattle do little if
any environmental damage and that the continua- tion of grazing yields significant cultural and her-
itage benefits for society.
The conflict between conservationists and gra- ziers came to a head in mid-1998 when most
existing alpine grazing licences came up for re- newal. The outcome was that in August 1998, all
alpine grazing licences were renewed for a further 7 years. In this paper we consider whether this
decision represents an opportunity lost to remove the cattle from the VANP once and for all or an
appropriate land use decision given existing benefits and costs of grazing.
Although there are numerous examples of re- source use conflict analysis in the literature
Rhodes and Wilson, 1995; Brown, 1998; Skon- hoft, 1998 there are particular features specific to
this problem that make it unique. First, the deci- sion to renew is important because the AANP has
been identified for nomination to the World Her- itage Convention. Conservationists argue that for
a potential nomination to succeed land uses such as cattle grazing need to stop. This point is made
by Mosley 1988, Kirkpatrick 1994 who argue that the AANP is of outstanding international
significance on the criteria used by the World Heritage Convention. But cattle grazing is an
incompatible activity as it significantly harms the integrity of the VANP. This land use conflict is
therefore taking place over a tract of land that is considered by many as unique by global environ-
mental criteria. Second, alpine grazing is linked with significant cultural and heritage traditions
non-IndigenousEuropean. Alpine grazing has been practised for over 150 years and many of the
graziers have a long association with the area. This, in combination with the strong cultural
identity produced as a result of poetry and out- back imagery, places this land use firmly in the
mind of all Australians. Intrinsically linked to this are the political realities that impinge on land use
decisions. Third, the precise details in the grazing licence that allows a grazier to graze cattle in the
VANP are interesting. To be able to operate a licence a grazier needs to be an approved person.
What exactly constitutes an approved person is important in seeking a solution to this conflict.
The structure of the paper is as follows. We begin by providing an overview of alpine grazing
and the scientific evidence detailing the impact of grazing. In Section 3 we consider why the grazing
licences were renewed despite the scientific evi- dence. Section 4 provides an evaluation of alter-
native management options that could have been implemented instead of the licence renewal. Fi-
nally in Section 5 we provide conclusions.
2. An overview of alpine grazing
