Access to Nature PhD Project
Enhancing access to coastal nature benefits through Protected Areas
Understanding access trade-offs is essential for designing successful conservation measures while maintaining community support and social equity.
This project asks how conservation decision-making can better represent local voices in the management of access to nature in protected areas.
This project is part of a PhD research project on understanding access to coastal protected areas led by Valeria Mendez, under the supervision of Prof. Graeme Cumming, Dr Abbie Rogers and Dr. Matthew Navarro.
Protected areas, like national parks, coastal reserves and marine sanctuaries, can provide multiple benefits to our society. Nature reserves can protect the coastline from pollution and other forms of environmental degradation caused by human activities. Marine sanctuaries help fish to thrive, restoring stocks and benefitting local fisheries. National and regional parks can attract tourists from the city or internationally, boosting local businesses in the accommodation and tourism sector. Indigenous protected areas play an additional role in re-establishing land tenure and long-standing connections between people and nature. However, for protected areas to deliver these benefits successfully and sustainably, the ways in which they are created and managed need to integrate local knowledge and community priorities, values and capabilities.
How can we expand the reach of protected area benefits so that no one is left behind?
The Access to Nature project pursues three objectives on access to protected areas:
1. Understand protected area benefits to coastal communities in Western Australia
2. Investigate trade-offs relating to access in coastal protected areas
3. Identify and support participatory processes for managing access to protected area benefits
During the Western Australia Coastal Nature Reserves Survey period (30 June to 30 November 2025), a sample of 2,000 WA coastal residents and visitors will be randomly selected to participate in the survey to ensure results are representative of WA population.
The survey aims to understand perspectives on how access to coastal nature reserves should be managed. Only participants that have received a link to the survey can participate at this stage. Please use the link in your flyer or letter to participate in the survey.
Participation in the survey is entirely voluntary. All responses will be kept confidential and used solely for academic research purposes. There are no right or wrong answers. The research team is genuinely interested in learning about your insights on coastal nature reserves and your perspective on their accessibility.
If you require additional information, please contact the Project Coordinator at: valeria.mendezangarita@research.uwa.edu.au.
Preliminary results from the survey will be available on this website later this year.
The Access to Nature PhD Project is hosted by the Ocean Institute and the School of Earth and Oceans at the University of Western Australia.
The project is financially supported by the Western Australian Government, the Forrest Research Foundation and the Jenkins Top-up Scholarship.