Abstract

The high rainfall landscapes of southwest Western Australia dominate Western Australia’s production and processing of a wide variety of fresh foods, contributing nearly $6 billion to the State’s economy ABS (2006-07). These climatically favourable and culturally diverse multifunctional landscapes account for only a small percentage of the WA landmass, but they are home to a large proportion of the State’s 2.4 million people. These places also contain Australia’s only internationally recognised terrestrial biodiversity hot spot (Myers, Mittermeier et al 2000). With a substantial projected population increase likely to result in both socio-demographic change as well as socio-cultural change, an understanding of how to sustain this diverse ecological landscape and the continuation of good decision making about food production is of critical importance. A current review of rural planning legislation (WA Department of Planning 2009) indicates that the future of the region will be shaped by the ability to manage landscape resilience with a government under pressure to convert land from food production to denser settlement potentially compromising biodiversity and landscape aesthetics. This reality signals the need for a coordinated approach to planning that supports best practice and partnerships that comprise a food system rather than a community of producers. This research draws on an analysis of some seventy expert contributions across a triple bottom line and across a range of industry and governance scales as to the future of sustainable landscapes in the region. These perceptions are compared with an aspirational model of world-class food systems operating to showcase triple bottom line values of food system sustainability. By linking expert insights into opportunities with an aspirational model we provide a vision of possibility for sustainable and resilient socio-ecological food landscapes.