The Enduring Pilbara is an initiative of the Partnership for the Outback, supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
We aim to promote a more expansive Pilbara identity, based on its natural and cultural wealth, and to set out a vision for the region and its economy based on sustaining and restoring these values.
The Pilbara bioregion is so much more than a resource zone and a source of iron ore. Its ancient geology and fossils, rich and unique biota, relatively intact beautiful landscapes and diverse human cultures should make it world famous. Promoting these values so that the Pilbara is appreciated as much more than a ‘mining powerhouse’ and ‘economic engine room’ is important to strengthen support for conservation.
New industries have recently come to dominate the Pilbara landscape. Alongside this, new species have colonised the region since the arrival of Europeans. With only a small conservation estate in the region, the future of impacted biodiversity depends on much more effective threat management across all tenures.
With growing appreciation of the high conservation values of the Pilbara have come efforts to arrest biodiversity decline and degradation. We must implement plans and strategies, conservation reserves, threatened species and threat abatement projects. Much conservation activity is underway, but it is often piecemeal and short-term. The outcomes have been equivocal, often outmatched by threats.
The Enduring Pilbara report is a publication by the Centre for Conservation Geography and the University of Tasmania.