Seeing the change in a sea change community: issues for environmental managers

Abstract

Sea Change' communities have drawn much attention over recent years for the way in which their accelerated growth and development is impacting on both ecological sustainability and connection to place for longer-term residents. The urgency of these and other issues is reflected in the establishment of a National Sea Change Taskforce in 2004 to develop policies that will protect the coastal environment and establish sustainable limits to growth. This article examines the effects on the environment in a particular sea change community, Central Queensland's Capricorn Coast, and the response by the local authority and community to the growth affecting the environment. It explores key issues on the Capricorn Coast that require careful consideration from environmental managers, by looking through the lens of environmental history and focusing on demographic change over the past 30 years including the sea change era from the 1990s. The environmental management issues emanating from this study are multi-dimensional. They include hillside clearings, high-rises buildings, corrosion of people's connection to place, water supply, habitat loss, false sense of security from so-called ‘green’ development, and difficulty for conservation groups to make a difference on their own. Two ways forward emerge to ameliorate further environmental and social impacts. These are a whole of community approach, and acceptance of the need for limits to growth. This article has relevance for identifying key issues in other sea change communities and approaches that might ensure sea change communities are sustainable.