Supporting Green Spaces

Throughout history wise leaders have protected green spaces for the health and sustainability of their communities. The indigenous Nyungar people in Australia’s southwest regarded certain zones within their tribal areas to be sacred and therefore off-limits; and within these zones sufficient flora and fauna would flourish to ensure the sustainability of surrounding hunting grounds.

Some areas were designated public places for people to meet to facilitate marriage or solve intertribal issues; other areas were declared off-limits seasonally to ensure the recovery of natural resources critical for the community’s survival. The Nyungar people believed the violation of sacred areas could anger the spirits and destroy the community.

The Nyungar elders and custodian traditions have been ravaged by invasion and modernism, but some of their wisdom is still being applied to sustain the multicultural community inhabiting the metropolis known today as Perth, in Western Australia.

In 1963 the Perth Metropolitan Region Scheme established the framework for protecting large open spaces for conservation and recreation. The first Regional Park within the scheme to have a formal management plan was the Canning River Regional Park. Just nine kilometres from Perth’s central business district, the park covers an area of 266 hectares extending six kilometres along both sides of the Canning River within a suburban area.

The park, which contains a wide diversity of habitats from salt water estuary to freshwater environment and woodlands on a flood plain, is an important refuge for birds and other wildlife. Despite its ecological value and stunning beauty, the park is beset by outbreaks of blue-green algae, fire, weeds, general degradation and vandalism.

Much of the damage has been repaired by management authorities and community groups guided by a 10-year plan articulating a clear vision for the park: “… where sustainable habitats and ecosystems are protected, where a wide range of appropriate recreational activities can take place, where degraded areas are restored and protected, where the community and management agencies share the stewardship and educational tasks for park users and the community.”

In suburban communities surrounding the park, residents have formed local groups to assist in planting, weeding, monitoring the park’s ecology, clearing rubbish and providing important public education programs. These community groups also lobby the municipal council for zoning, by-laws and facilities that preserve and improve the park. Local community groups, like the Wilsons Wetlands Action Group, are run by volunteers with a keen interest in studying and preserving the park’s heritage while healing its ecology.

BCI Asia, publisher of FuturArc, provided 37 people in May as voluntary labourers as well as funding to help the Wilsons Wetlands Action Group plant 2,500 sedges in the park which will become home to native birds and enrich wetland biodiversity. Through participation in the planting, the BCI Asia people learnt much about urban wetlands and how active community participation was a key factor in protecting and improving green spaces. Importantly, these 37 bright leaders from urban centres across Asia and Australia have learnt that improving green spaces is the right thing to do and a fun thing to do. –Thor Kerr, Managing Director, FuturArc

1 The Darter, a long-necked diving bird, is commonly found in the Canning River wetlands
2 The wetlands are home to a wide variety of flora and fauna
3 & 4 BCI Asia leaders help to plant 2,500 sedges in the Canning River wetlands