The values and vulnerabilities of ‘Star Wars Island’: exploring tensions in the sustainable management of the Skellig Michael World Heritage Site

ABSTRACT

This paper explores challenges in reconciling the cultural, economic and ecological pillars of the sustainable development concept. It does so by examining how conflicts in the management of an island off the Irish coast called Skellig Michael, which has been internationally designated for its significant cultural and ecological attributes, have been intensified by: (a) increasing tourist numbers; (b) a re-framing of the site’s identity and (c) changing visitor motivations. These have resulted from the amplified attention the island has received following the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi in which it features prominently. Following a critical identification and discussion of the fault lines between different stakeholders involved in the conservation and use of the island, the paper advances a roadmap for action to help resolve animosity in the governance of the site and facilitate its sustainable management in the context of changing visitor numbers and profiles.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable management
• stakeholder tension
• multiple values
• value change
• Skellig Michael

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This is the island where Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, is hiding (The Force Awakens) and where he subsequently meets Rey, played by Daisy Ridley (The Last Jedi).

2. The DoCHG currently administrations Ireland’s designated cultural and natural heritage sites. However, up to 2011 the administration of such sites was undertaken by the DoEHLG. Hence, in 2011 the administration of Ireland’s cultural and natural heritage sites was separated from the management of the broader natural environment (e.g. pollution control) conducted by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) operating beneath the aegis of the ‘Environment’ division of this department. This administrative rearrangement separated the NPWS, which is charged with conserving the ecology of Ireland’s national parks and sites designated EU nature conservation legislation (e.g. the Skelligs), from the EPA, which is charged with protecting Ireland’s environment. Unsurprisingly, such an administrative change generated concern among environmentally orientated non-governmental organisations that considered this an inappropriate division of necessarily overlapping functions that would reduce the efficiency and effectiveness with which Ireland’s natural heritage would be protected.