A South Australian researcher is set to investigate the barriers preventing greater participation in revegetation projects across the Mt Lofty Ranges, backed by the prestigious Catherine Helen Spence Scholarship.
Adelaide University PhD student and scholarship recipient, Shannon Evenden, whose work is also supported by the University's Environment Institute, will explore why fewer private landholders are engaging in revegetation efforts, looking beyond financial incentives to better understand the real challenges faced by regional communities.
As part of the project, Evenden will also spend time at the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden, a global leader in the interactions between people and nature.
Supported by $25,000 in State Government funding, the Catherine Helen Spence Scholarship is in memory of iconic South Australian suffragist Catherine Helen Spence, who played an influential role in passing legislation for women's right to vote.
The first Scholarship was awarded more than 100 years ago to Dorothea Proud, who investigated the industrial conditions of women factory workers in Britian and Australasia.
In more recent times, Scholarship recipients have delved into social issues such as improving accommodation and facilities for mothers and babies in prisons, drink spiking, and barriers to getting into university.
As put by Minister for Women Katrine Hildyard
The Catherine Helen Spence Scholarship has a proud legacy of supporting women to lead change on some of the most complex social and environmental challenges we face.
Shannon's research is a powerful example that legacy in action, beyond financial incentives to understand the real, lived barriers regional landholders experience when it comes to revegetation.
By centring community voices and lived experience, her work will help shape more effective, practical solutions that support both our environment and the wellbeing of rural communities.
We are proud to back women like Shannon, whose leadership, research, and passion are helping build a more resilient and sustainable future for South Australia.
As put by Shannon Evenden, Catherine Helen Spenece scholarship recipient
Having lived and worked in rural environments, I have seen that the dominant focus for revegetation support comes in the form of financial incentives.
While financial help is an important mechanism, there are likely to be unknown barriers to participation, such as whether a landholder has time to apply for grants.
Through longform interviews and workshops, I will gain insight into the implementation gap, uncovering a holistic picture of barriers and preferential support mechanisms for revegetation projects.
Importantly, the design support mechanisms that come from this project will be grounded in landholders' lived experience.
Identifying and addressing barriers to revegetation participation will help to address the degradation of the Australian landscape and its function.
The drastic loss of biodiversity alongside essential ecosystem services, such as water retention and soil stabilisation, has led to a steady decline in landscape health.
This ecological pressure is now colliding with a changing climate as South Australia warms and dries, and drought becomes an ever-present occurrence.
With conditions predicted to only become worse, the impact of declining landscape health and exposure to a changing climate on farmer and rural community wellbeing cannot be overstated.
To restore landscape health and increase resilience to a changing climate, revegetation is paramount and urgent.
As put by Professor Andy Lowe, Environment Institute Director Adelaide University
Driven by her passion to motivate revegetation, Shannon has developed an incredible network of engaged landholders who want to participate in her project and support revegetation outcomes.
The Catherine Helen Spence award and opportunity to develop these ideas with world leading experts in Stockholm is recognition of Shannon's outstanding achievements and potential as an early career researcher.
