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Program 1.1 Sustainable management of natural resources
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Main responsibilities for this outcome
- Strategies Caring for our Country
- The National Reserve System
- Indigenous Emissions Trading
- Feral Camel Management Project
- Environmental Stewardship
- National Wildlife Corridors Plan
- Landscape-scale management of native species and natural resources
- Ramsar wetlands and High Ecological Value Aquatic Ecosystems
Program 1.1 Sustainable management of natural resources
Objectives Under Caring for our Country, the government has identified five-year outcomes to be achieved for six national priority areas:
In addition to the objectives under Caring for our Country, the department aims to:
Strategies Caring for our Country Caring for our Country seeks to achieve an environment that is healthy, better protected, well-managed and resilient and provides essential ecosystem services in a changing climate. The initiative sets measurable targets that focus effort on the most effective ways to improve Australia’s natural environments and help ensure productive land remains viable into the future. To achieve these targets, the government works in partnership with regional natural resource management organisations; local, state, and territory governments; Indigenous groups; industry bodies; land managers; farmers; Landcare groups; and communities. Caring for our Country also operates a network of state- and territory-based officers, including Indigenous Land Management Facilitators, to help support project delivery at a local level. There are also two national coordinators (business/industry and Indigenous) who broker partnerships to maximise the effectiveness of investments. The Caring for our Country business plan 2011–12 The Caring for our Country business plan 2011–12 was released on 5 April 2011. The business plan maintains a range of investment approaches to allow Caring for our Country to continue to meet the needs of the community. To ensure ongoing progress against the five-year outcomes, the majority of targets from the previous business plan have been retained. Some have been revised, following stakeholder feedback, to allow more flexibility and greater potential for investment. Community Action Grants The Community Action Grants program was established to help support community groups contributing to the outcomes of the Caring for our Country initiative. The program targets community-based organisations, offering grants of between $5 000 and $20 000 to encourage them to participate and engage in natural resource management. Under the first round of Community Action Grants in 2010–11, over $7.9 million was provided to 452 projects. More than $310 000 of this funding was for 19 projects located in or adjacent to World Heritage or National Reserve System sites, and over $850 000 went to 46 Indigenous groups to conduct natural resource management work and record cultural heritage and traditional knowledge. Groups around Australia are currently working on activities including planting and protecting areas of existing native and/or remnant vegetation; reducing the impact of invasive species, including Weeds of National Significance; recording Indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage; running workshops and field days to build community awareness and knowledge of local environmental issues, and demonstrating sustainable land management techniques such as managing soil erosion or rehabilitating land. The National Reserve System The National Reserve System is Australia’s national network of protected areas. It conserves examples of our unique landscapes, plants and animals for future generations. The National Reserve System currently protects 13.7 per cent of Australia’s land area, covering over 105 895 377 million hectares. The National Reserve System program provides funding through Caring for our Country to support the collective effort of governments, non-government organisations and Indigenous and private landholders to expand the protected area estate. Underpinning Australia’s National Reserve System is a bioregional framework for the development of a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system. The aim is to fill notable gaps in the system by increasing the level of protection in bioregions that are less than 10 per cent protected in reserves and contribute to landscape-scale conservation outcomes. During 2010–11, the government contributed over $22.2 million towards the purchase of 19 properties, covering more than 772 280 hectares. It also contributed just over $1.4 million to strategic projects to establish protected areas on private lands through perpetual covenants. Funding for a national secretariat to support the newly-established Conservation Lands Trust Alliance was also approved in 2010–11. The alliance, created by seven non-government covenanting organisations who assist landholders to register conservation covenants over their land, will work with interested stakeholders to improve private land conservation as part of the National Reserve System. The alliance will develop nationally consistent principles, standards, and best practice guidelines for private land areas included in the National Reserve System. A web based information site and forum will be available for owners of covenanted lands across Australia to share their experiences, receive recognition of their work and provide input into future directions, policies and strategies. Land purchases supported this year included:
North East Cape York. (Roger Fryer)
Indigenous Protected Areas The government’s Caring for our Country initiative is providing funding over five years to support Indigenous Protected Areas, non-statutory protected areas that form part of the National Reserve System. The funding assists Indigenous landowners to establish and manage Indigenous Protected Areas on their lands and supports them through contractual arrangements with the government. The program also promotes the integration of Indigenous ecological and cultural knowledge into the management of these areas. In 2010–11 the Indigenous Protected Areas program supported 44 declared Indigenous Protected Areas. Another 48 consultation projects explored the potential for Indigenous Protected Area declaration over Indigenous-owned land. The government’s Caring for our Country initiative provided over $11 million in grants and project support during 2010–11. The Indigenous Land Corporation provided an additional $1 million in 2010–11 under a $7 million agreement to expand the Indigenous Protected Area initiative. This arrangement has enabled coordinated, streamlined funding support from government for Indigenous Protected Areas. Five new Indigenous Protected Areas, covering 2.36 million hectares, were declared in 2010–11:
The 48 Indigenous Protected Area consultation projects were supported to develop plans of management that incorporated Indigenous ecological and cultural knowledge into contemporary protected area management practices. This included 11 new Indigenous Protected Area projects initiated in 2010–11 to help Indigenous landowners to consult and plan for potential Indigenous Protected Area declarations over more than 15 million hectares of land. Working on Country Working on Country builds on Indigenous traditional knowledge to protect and manage land and sea country. There are 625 full-time equivalent positions, with additional casual and part-time ranger work contracted to the Working on Country Indigenous Ranger program, which represents the government’s $243.1 million investment to 2012–13. The Indigenous rangers are employed to manage the natural and cultural values of the Indigenous estate across remote and regional Australia. Working on Country rangers combine Indigenous Ecological Knowledge with contemporary natural resource management skills to manage weeds, feral animals, threatened species, sea country, fire management and to protect cultural sites. Over 80 per cent of Working on Country projects involve the transfer of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and 94 per cent of projects manage matters of national environmental significance. Job retention under Working on Country has been high and the majority of Indigenous rangers are undertaking accredited and other forms of training to further develop their skills in land, sea and cultural heritage management. Indigenous Emissions Trading Indigenous Emissions Trading is implementing two projects that build Indigenous capacity in carbon markets:
Feral Camel Management Project The Feral Camel Management Project is a four-year $19 million investment in the mitigation of adverse impacts of feral camels on priority environmental assets. The project is undertaken in partnership with Indigenous landowners/managers, relevant state and territory government agencies, pastoralists and the camel industry. The primary objective is to reduce feral camel density around priority environmental assets (including terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems). All options for camel removal are being investigated, including helping Indigenous land communities and organisations to develop willingness and capacity to remove camels through commercial ventures. Aerial culling in remote and/or inaccessible areas has been successful, although the recent extended wet weather across much of the rangelands has hampered operations. The wet weather has encouraged the camels to disperse into small family groups, which reduces the pressure on aquatic ecosystems, and the strategy has changed temporarily to prevent mobs of camels from drifting back to priority environmental assets. More intensive operations will recommence as the weather improves and the camels begin aggregating into larger herds.
The Environmental Stewardship program uses voluntary market-based approaches to support private land managers reduce critical threats to biodiversity by increasing the area of native habitat being managed for conservation. The program targets specific matters of national environmental significance under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 where an improvement in their quality and extent can be effectively achieved through the actions of private land managers. By June 2011, 270 private land managers had been contracted for up to 15 years under the Box Gum Grassy Woodland and Multiple Ecological Communities projects in the program for the conservation management of over 47 500 hectares of five nationally threatened ecological communities on private land in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. National Wildlife Corridors Plan The National Wildlife Corridors Plan, which commenced in 2011, is a three-year commitment of $10 million to link national parks and reserves with well-managed private land. This initiative will help to build the resilience of Australia’s environment to climate change by working with the 56 regional natural resource management groups, and local communities, to develop a national plan for wildlife corridors. It will guide future government investments in projects that support the protection of our natural environment and conserve our biodiversity. Landscape-scale management of native species and natural resources The government is committed to taking a more strategic, landscape-scale approach to managing native species and natural resources. The approach is being implemented through coordination and, where necessary, realignment of a mixture of new programs, such as the National Wildlife Corridors Plan and the Carbon Farming Initiative, and existing policies and programs, particularly Caring for our Country. The concepts of landscape-scale management were developed further by an expert workshop in May 2011. World Heritage Caring for our Country funding addresses a range of environmental challenges in World Heritage places. Integrated management arrangements are being secured for the Wet Tropics of Queensland and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Areas, to assist in reducing threats to the universal values of the properties. Within the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area, work has commenced on securing management arrangements for 894 000 hectares with the Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal people, the general community and other organisations. Management arrangements in place for the extended Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area are tackling threats to the property’s outstanding universal values through a vegetation management plan, a revised fire management plan and improved monitoring and management of values. Reef Rescue Land managers continue to engage enthusiastically in the Caring for our Country Reef Rescue program. Through Reef Rescue, $200 million will be invested in the five years to 2013 to address the impacts of declining water quality on the Great Barrier Reef. This investment is helping land managers to adopt improved management practices that reduce the amounts of nutrients, chemicals and sediments leaving their properties and entering the reef lagoon. Since 2008 more than 2 000 land managers in priority areas have received Reef Rescue funds to deliver water quality improvements through on-ground works and a total of 3 600 have been engaged in the program through farm planning, risk assessment and training activities. To June 2013 land managers received more than $40 million in incentive payments and have contributed $70 million of their own cash or in-kind labour and equipment. The Reef Rescue Land and Sea Country Indigenous Partnerships program continues to provide unique opportunities and support for traditional owners to conduct sea country management in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. During 2010–11, significant achievements were made in a number of areas:
Community Coastcare Community members, school children & rangers cleaning up the beach and camping grounds. The government’s Community Coastcare initiative is providing funding over five years to help local communities protect and restore the Australian coastline and prepare for the impact of climate change. Since 2008 the Community Coastcare initiative has allocated $69.1 million to 513 projects involving over 2 000 community groups. Community Coastcare is delivering significant outcomes by increasing the capacity of coastal communities to adapt, restore and protect the local coastal environment.
In the Gippsland Lakes, $5.25 million has been invested over three years in planning and on-ground actions to protect the conservation values of this significant wetland system. Strategies to improve water quality and reduce nutrient inputs from public and private land ($3 million) and to minimise the impacts of flooding problems for current and future developments through a flood mitigation program ($2.25 million) have been developed. Ramsar wetlands and High Ecological Value Aquatic Ecosystems Since 2008, $36.9 million has been committed under Caring for our Country to protecting and restoring significant aquatic ecosystems. Priority has been given to Ramsar wetlands in northern and remote Australia and High Ecological Value Aquatic Ecosystems in the Murray-Darling Basin. Ramsar wetlands are recognised as internationally important sites for flora, fauna and the ecological communities they support. High Ecological Value Aquatic Ecosystems include rivers, wetlands, floodplains, lakes, inland saline ecosystems, groundwater-dependant ecosystems and estuaries of high environmental value. This funding has helped communities to implement measures to protect, restore and manage nationally and internationally significant wetlands sites through on-ground activities, information gathering and community engagement and capacity building. In 2010–11 Caring for our Country sustained the environmental values of priority wetland sites such as internationally listed Ramsar wetlands and those with high conservation value, including Howard Sand Plains and Coburg Peninsula in the Northern Territory; Cotter River in the Australian Capital Territory; the Lowbidgee Floodplain and the Macquarie Marshes in New South Wales; the Mitchell River System, Barmah Forest and Western District Lakes in Victoria; Mitchell Springs, Currawinya National Park and Great Sandy Strait in Queensland; the Derwent Estuary in Tasmania; the Bool and Hacks Lagoons and Coongie Lakes in South Australia; and the Eighty Mile Beach, Lakes Argyle and Kunanurra in Western Australia. Policy and governance framework for the Great Barrier Reef The Reef Water Quality Protection Plan contains priority work areas as well as supporting actions that contribute to the plan’s goal and objectives. It builds on existing government policies and government, industry and community initiatives aiming to halt and then reverse the decline in the quality of water entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. The plan, which is aimed at long-term solutions, identifies actions to encourage good planning and to help land managers to adopt best management practices that are both profitable and environmentally sustainable. In accordance with the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, an independent audit by Lloyd Consulting thoroughly assessed the degree to which actions had been implemented, how well partners were engaged and whether there were any impediments to the successful implementation of plan. The final report was submitted by the auditors in March 2011. The audit found overall that progress had been positive and that partners felt engaged and committed to the plan. It also highlighted the significant improvements in the program compared to the previous Reef Plan (2003). The audit highlighted some areas in which improvements should be made, specifically around communications (both within and external to the program) and the need for greater engagement with farmers and graziers through extension programs. A joint government response to the audit is being been prepared through the Reef Plan Intergovernmental Operational Committee and will identify the steps to be taken in addressing the impediments highlighted in the audit.
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