In a letter to a local newspaper, Noosa identity Bob Jarvis issued a challenge for someone to brag about any achievements that may have resulted from our UNESCO biosphere status. I’ll take up that challenge on behalf of the many volunteers and community leaders who, in my experience as inaugural chairman of Noosa Biosphere version 1, contributed to making it an effective and viable organisation.
In the first six Biosphere years covered by v1 a great many people took on board John Horn’s chiasmus to “ask not what the biosphere can do for you, ask what you can do for the biosphere”. A great many people did just that during those years.
Firstly, there was an economic return on funding. After the first three years, Noosa Biosphere was returning $1.20 for each dollar received from the Council in terms of volunteered labour from residents and hard cash from sponsors. On top of that, education tourism was putting around one million dollars a year into the economy – plus new jobs, additional services and business sustainability. By the fifth year sponsorship, tough to secure in that period following the global financial crisis, had stumped up several hundred thousand dollars. We had also put in place alliances with more than 120 other organisations which supported the Biosphere principles.
UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Office observed of this progress that the Noosa Biosphere had achieved in a few years what others internationally had not reached in a decade.
During that period the Noosa Biosphere enhanced the environmental credentials of the Noosa ‘brand’ by producing a community climate action plan, again heralded by UNESCO as one of the top 20 globally. We created the first Biosphere community radio program in the world, giving a weekly voice to hundreds of organisations, residents and experts talking about Biosphere related matters.
Much of the first Biosphere’s output was crafted and initiated bottom-up by volunteers serving in sectors driving economic benefit, education and research, cultural activity, environmental conservation and protection and social cohesion. This differs from the current (version 2) Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation’s heavy concentration on environmental outcomes.
Hundreds of residents took part in our annual disaster and emergency planning workshops. Ten percent of the community attended the annual Noosa Biosphere Festival, supporting stall holders, learning and experiencing more about what we hoped would be a legacy for the next generation.
The Biosphere website was regarded by UNESCO as one of the top three globally for information and learning and contributed to Noosa achieving number one status by Wotif as Australia’s most clicked destination of choice.
None of this exists now.
UNESCO invited Noosa to contribute a presentation to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its Man and the Biosphere initiative which cemented our reputation as a ‘living, learning laboratory’ exemplar for other biospheres.
This prompted the Director-General of UNESCO to visit Noosa. The result was Noosa being invited to assist Canada, Cambodia, the USA, Vietnam, Peru, China and the UK, again reinforcing our reputation and creating new opportunities. There is more, much more, but I will not further test readers’ patience. That astonishing level of engagement of the community in creative and worthwhile projects – all gone.
Much of this history of beneficial achievement is now hidden by time and ignored by the political manoeuvrings that accompanied the replacement of Biosphere v1 by Biosphere v2. Four years of the new model and it still struggles to find relevance and recognition.
But none of this should tarnish or render irrelevant the successful efforts of those who went before.
