Changing conceptions of individual and public responsibility for natural resource management: A study of the views of Queensland landholders 1990-2007

Some contemporary views of ecosystems, resources and ‘the environment’ generally as public goods pose direct challenges to traditional understandings of private land ownership. In Australia, policies aimed at limiting individual resource use to protect public good values are juxtaposed with an inherited framework of private land ownership and have consequently generated a growing discourse on the rights associated with land and natural resources. In the various arguments for individual ‘property rights’ and other perceived ‘rights’ a corresponding discourse of responsibility is lacking. While responsibility is often inferred by governments and others, meanings of responsibility are rarely defined and thus it remains an under-developed concept in natural resource management literature. 

This paper documents the evolution of rural landholders’ understandings of private and public rights and responsibility for land and natural resource management in Queensland, Australia. A discourse analysis of submissions to five major public consultations initiated by the Queensland government in relation to land use policy between the years 1990 and 2007 is examined.  

The analysis found that landholders’ conceptions of their role have broadened from responsibilities for food and fibre production and economic contributions to the public good to include responsibilities for sustainable resource use, risk management and environmental protection. However, the allocation of public rights with no commensurate responsibilities to third parties and the increased burdens of individual responsibility to landholders with no public acknowledgement have created an injustice that acts as a disincentive to landholders for both participation and cooperation in the creation of policy. Additionally, the increasing transfer of public responsibility to individual responsibility acts against capacity building and creates a disconnect between rural and urban societies. The solution lies in the rediscovery and implementation of principles of fairness.