Uluru, formerly known as Ayer's Rock, is an immense monolith
set in the flatlands of Central Australia. A world
heritage site since 1987, Uluru is illustrative of the conflict that often
arises at such locales between cultural protection on the one hand and tourism
development on the other.
As the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported
this week, Australia handed the site back to its traditional indigenous owners
30 years ago, and it has been co-managed with the Australian federal government
ever since. The relationship between the co-managers has been marked by
tensions, yet ironically it is also held up as a model for joint-management
schemes elsewhere.
In this context, Parks Australia has recently launched a
review of the arrangement that will focus on such questions as how the park is
managed and how park staff and traditional owners interact with each other. Let's
hope that the conclusions and recommendations arising from the review are
widely circulated, given that conflict between the interests of local
communities and tourism authorities is a recurring problem in heritage sites
the world over.
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