Towards effective conservation of the Pilbara Early Life Sites as a multifunctional landscape: exploring lessons from national and international baest practice

Geoconservation - the practice of conserving geological features, from the landscape scale all the way down to the individual crystal scale - is growing in importance, as sites of international heritage value around the world face increasing pressure from human activities. A collection of geological sites that urgently require more effective protection is in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, where ancient rocks - up to 3.5 billion years old - that are extremely well preserved contain fossil stromatolites and microfossils that represent the earliest convincing evidence of life on Earth (henceforth Pilbara Early Life Sites). In addition, the Pilbara Early Life Sites contain some of the best evidence of the environments where life gained a foothold on early Earth, and even provide clues as to how life may have begun. Indeed, these sites help to paint a picture of the early Earth, when small volcanic islands rising out from the ocean formed the first exposed landmasses and provided heat, minerals, and chemical energy for primitive life to form and grow into communities that spread across shallow pools on land, occupied hydrothermal veins, and adapted to shallow marine habitats. This information is key not only for understanding the origin and evolution of life on Earth, but to help develop strategies for where to search for life on Mars and elsewhere in the solar system and is used by space agencies from around the world in mission planning. The excellent preservation of the Pilbara Early Life Sites is globally extremely rare. Such excellent preservation is key to understanding the processes of past life, and therefore using these sites as a teaching resource. The Pilbara Early Life Sites are small, isolated outcrops and are therefore vulnerable to irretrievable loss through illegal sample collection from unknown sources. Ever since the Pilbara Early Life Sites were first described by Walter et al. (1980) and by Lowe (1980), illegal collection of valuable outcrop material has been an issue of real concern. Because the key sites where excellent preservation of textures and the relationships between the traces of life and their habitats are so small (10m2) and isolated, and because the value of sites is critically dependent on being able to view the fossils in-situ, within their relevant context where their relationship to surrounding geology can be viewed, the illegal removal of material is a major loss of both important scientific knowledge and universal heritage value. There have been several attempts to conserve the Pilbara Early Life Sites, however none of these have succeeded in the long term. This thesis investigates whether the current method of protection is adequate, identifies and evaluates a range of approaches for conservation moving forward, and develops a roadmap toward more effective, meaningful conservation of the Pilbara Early Life Sites. This roadmap strives to ensure the conservation and management of the Pilbara Early Life Sites does not negatively impact local industries, communities, and future scientific research. Rather, this roadmap will facilitate an enhanced public understanding of the sites, allow for education of future researchers, conservation practitioners, and the public, as well as promote responsible scientific research through better working partnerships with other stakeholders. This thesis has employed a mixed-methods approach, wherein qualitative data was collected, and both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques were used. These collection and analysis techniques included interviews, literature review, PESTLE analysis, SWOT analysis, and application of the Brocx and Semeniuk ‘Geoheritage Toolkit’. The analyses show that the current method of conservation is inadequate, and that alternative methods of conservation and management strategies are required to ensure the future protection of the Pilbara Early Life Sites. These will be informed by best national and international practice. The recommend protection is National Heritage Listing. Due to the extended timeframe and practical considerations of implementing National Heritage Listing, additional conservation measures are also explored

NOTIFICATION !!!

All the content of this special edition is retrieved from the conference proceedings published by the European Scientific Institute, ESI. http://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/pages/view/books The European Scientific Journal, ESJ, after approval from the publisher re publishes the papers in a Special edition

NOTIFICATION !!!

All the content of this special edition is retrieved from the conference proceedings published by the European Scientific Institute, ESI. http://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/pages/view/books The European Scientific Journal, ESJ, after approval from the publisher re publishes the papers in a Special edition