DISCUSSION PAPER:   DO WE NEED A CAVE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION?

E. Hamilton-Smith, Australian Speleological Federation, Committee on Cave Tourism and Management

This conference and the one which preceded it have both been convened by the Australian Speleological Federation through its Committee on Cave Tourism and Management.

The primary focus of the Federation is speleology — the systematic study of caves — but there is no question that recreational caving is a major concern of its member societies. The Committee on Cave Tourism and Management was established because the Federation recognised the importance of management. Doubtless this recognition has a number of underlying motivations including:

• Concern for conservation;
• Recognition that tourism has a strong educational component;
• Desire to maintain legitimate recreational access to caves.

The Federation would doubtless be willing to establish a permanent Commission on Cave Tourism and Management which could, within the limited resources available, continue to convene these conferences, express viewpoints on issues of cave management, disseminate information, or even provide advice. The question is whether those people who are professionally involved in cave management want the Federation to do this?

There are several alternatives open to those interested in this kind of operation:

1. Do nothing.
2. Ask the Federation to continue in this way by setting up a Commission. The way in which ASF Commissions operate is that a convenor (or convenors) are appointed by the Federation committee, given clear terms of reference, perhaps a few dollars of funding, and left to their own initiative, which usually operates very informally. It is administratively simple, but not very democratic. Basically, its effectiveness depends upon the appointed convenor (or convenors) .
3. Ask some other organisation to establish appropriate machinery, e.g. one might ask the Australian Institute of Parks and Recreation to establish an appropriate section. This could provide a membership-based system with regular mailing facilities — but cave management could well be swamped in the broader interests of any such body.
4. Establish a quite separate Cave Management Association. Such an Association could do all the things done or able to be done by the Federation. There would be two probable advantages in that an Association would mean the committee would be responsible to its own membership, and the Association could negotiate for its own resources. The major disadvantage would be setting-up another national body with all of the administrative problems of any such organisation. Real effectiveness still comes down to the effectiveness of the people who accept office.

This paper has been prepared and circulated so that those attending the conference (or others who write to the conference organisers) can express their preference and, hopefully, make a decision as to what action shall be taken.

FOOTNOTE

The Conference resolved to ask the Federation to establish a permanent Commission as outlined in option (b), above, rather than attempt to establish a new organisation - see Resolution 2, page 3.
Editor