Australian Innovation System Report 2012 Compendium of Program Updates

DEPARTMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Climate change science in Australia

Climate change science is a fundamental underpinning of Australian climate change policy. Australia has world class climate change science capabilities and is an important contributor to enhancing global understanding of climate change.

In 2009 the Australian Government released the Australian Climate Change Science: A National Framework, which identifies national climate change science priorities for the coming decade and sets out ways to harness our full science capacity to address them. In 2012, a High Level Coordination Group comprised of government departments and the scientific community agreed to A Plan for Implementing Climate Change Science in Australia (the Plan). The Australian Government has subsequently adopted the Plan. The aim of the Plan is to develop a single integrated program to address national climate change science priorities over the coming decade.

The Plan addresses the requirements for delivering high quality climate change science, including:

• 
  the provision of research infrastructure
  
• 
  an appropriately sized and skilled research workforce, and
  
• 
  facilitating international research collaboration.
  

Website for further information:

www.climatechange.gov.au/en/climate-change/national-framework-science/plan.aspx

Clean Energy Future plan

To tackle climate change, Australia needs to transform its energy sector. In 2011 the Australian Government released its plan for a clean energy future. Central to the plan is the introduction of a carbon price into Australia’s economy, which commenced on 1 July 2012, creating a financial incentive to reduce carbon pollution and encouraging investment in renewable energy like wind and solar power and the use of cleaner fuels like natural gas.

The transformation of Australia’s energy sector towards clean energy sources will unfold over the coming decades. The Clean Energy Future plan recognises that innovation will play a pivotal role in reducing carbon pollution, which is why the Government is providing substantial new funding to promote innovation in clean energy including through:

• 
  a new $10 billion commercially oriented Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in renewable energy, low pollution and energy efficiency technologies
  
• 
  a new Australian Renewable Energy Agency to administer $3.2 billion in Government support for research and development, demonstration and commercialisation of renewable energy
  
• 
  an additional $200 million over five years through the Clean Technology Innovation Program to support business investment in research and development of clean technologies.
  

The Government’s new innovation measures build on a strong base of existing policies to promote innovation in renewable energy. These include the Renewable Energy Target (RET), which is legislated to ensure that 20 percent of Australia’s electricity supply comes from renewable sources by 2020. The RET is designed to speed up the adoption of renewable energy technologies and help smooth the transition to a clean energy future. The Government will also continue a range of existing programs to support clean energy innovation, with committed funding of over $2 billion.

Website for further information:

www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au

DEPARTMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY, ENVIRONMENT, WATER, POPULATION AND COMMUNITIES (DSEWPaC)

Much of DSEWPaC’s policy and regulatory functions are focused on making improvements to production technology and changing consumer behaviour. This lens of considering the innovation that is driven by our environmental policies and regulatory settings is an interesting one, and beyond discussion of carbon price effects, probably isn’t often thought of as an example of innovation. However, standards and well designed regulation can provide clear market signals and incentives for innovation. Examples include waste policy and reforms to Murray Darling Basin allocation and water trading arrangements.

Another useful example of an innovative approach to emerging challenges is the Biodiversity Fund, established as part of the Land Sector Package under the Clean Energy Future Plan. The Biodiversity Fund will integrate with the emerging carbon market, leveraging funding that will be available for carbon sequestration activities, to assist land managers enhance biodiversity and environmental resilience across the Australian landscape. This will ensure that carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation are complementary activities, rather than competing options for land use, which will maximise benefits for landholders and environmental outcomes.

All of the above are examples of green growth in practice, and illustrate how these trends represent a significant economic opportunity. Other opportunities to improve environmental and resource productivity include investing in public information. DSEWPaC is investing in activities that will improve availability of information for public and private users such as the National Plan for Environmental Information, the Measuring Sustainability Program, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s scientific research and information services.

Reef Rescue

Reef Rescue is a $200 million, five year (2008-2013) Australian Government initiative that is delivering assistance to agricultural land managers in the Great Barrier Reef catchments to reduce the runoff of soil, fertiliser and pesticides from their land into the reef lagoon. Reef Rescue investment priorities have been determined and are regularly reviewed based on the best available scientific information and expert advice.

Reef Rescue funding includes a $10 million allocation for the Reef Rescue Research and Development program. Eighteen research projects are being funded that will increase the understanding of the link between land management practices and their impact on water quality and the health of the Great Barrier Reef. Improved monitoring techniques for water quality are also being investigated. An independent research coordinator has been appointed to ensure effective coordination between Reef Rescue projects and other similar research programs.

Research outcomes will be used to improve the efficiency of Reef Rescue and similar program delivery.

Expenditure profile:

2008-09 = $1.0 million; 2009-10 = $0.1million; 2010-11 = $3.4 million;

2011-12 = $3.0 million; 2012-13 = $2.5 million

Websites for further information:

rrrc.org.au/reefrescue

www.nrm.gov.au/funding/reef-rescue/index.html

Mobile apps for environmental information

In August 2011, DSEWPaC released an iPhone/iPad app called MyEnvironment. Using GPS or map based searching the app reports to the mobile user details of environmental themes and assets in their area of interest including: heritage places; listed threatened species and ecological communities; wetlands; protected areas; historic shipwrecks; weeds and invasive species. MyEnvironment is predominantly dynamic and draws heavily on DSEWPaC’s data and existing IT infrastructure including web services and Oracle databases. MyEnvironment also delivers RSS news feeds from the department.

This is the first use of smart phone technology to deliver environmental information to the public by DSEWPaC. It is an important investment in capability and exploration of the technology as use of mobile devices grows rapidly. User submitted content is one of the many possible future enhancements being considered for MyEnvironment.

Website for further information:

www.environment.gov.au/about/media/myenvironment/index.html

Social media integration in stakeholder engagement for the Caring for our Country review

Caring for our Country is the Australian Government’s principal program for funding environmental management of our natural resources by supporting communities, farmers and other land managers to protect Australia's natural environment and sustainability. It is administered jointly by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

A review of Caring for our Country was undertaken to evaluate the initiative in 2011. The review was designed to seek community views about Caring for our Country; whether it had met its objectives and what issues may need to be considered in developing future options to support natural resource management. To consult with as many stakeholders as possible, social media (Facebook and Twitter) and an online forum were used to reach out to stakeholders and facilitate discussions.

The online forum created a space for stakeholders to see review updates, watch video submissions, take part in surveys, read formal submissions and see case studies. The use of social media facilitated stakeholder discussion and drove interest to the online forum. The review team found that the use of social media in the consultation process allowed for a greater number of stakeholders to interact with the Australian Government, including those in remote locations.

Through the Caring for our Country review, over 4000 stakeholders were consulted. The use of social media was very successful in increasing interest in the Caring for our Country review, as Facebook and Twitter directed traffic to the online forum and provided opportunities for consultation.

Websites for further information:

Caring for our Country review

www.caringforourcountryreview.com.au

Caring for our Country

www.nrm.gov.au

Working on Country and Indigenous Protected Areas National Cybertracker Project

Objectives: To support Working on Country (WOC) and Indigenous Protected Areas (IPA) projects to collect and manage data relating to environmental activities; to provide environmental data to the Commonwealth to increase understanding of the outcomes of these programs; to improve reporting, monitoring and management outcomes of these programs.

Progress: This project focuses on the use of Cybertracker technology to improve the occurrence and consistency of environmental reporting, monitoring and management across each region. The project runs from 2010 to 2013 and in that time aims to build capacity of Indigenous participants and support staff to use Cybertracker and to facilitate the provision of basic environmental outcomes and/or outputs data to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPaC).

Cybertracker technology makes use of hand-held Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that can be used to collect environmental information while conducting field work, which is later downloaded into a database and used for reporting and to inform management actions. The technology is robust under rugged conditions and also uses iconography which has had popular uptake with users who may not have high English literacy.

The project focuses on three regions – central, southern and northern Australia. In each region progress to date includes:

• 
  an audit of current capacity and use of Cybertracker across WOC and IPA projects, where required
  
• 
  continued training in the use of Cybertracker
  
• 
  assessment of individual project environmental data collection needs and other practical considerations
  
• 
  identification of key datasets for provision to SEWPaC: datasets include weeds (with a focus on Weeds of National Significance) and Threatened Species
  
• 
  work with regional service providers towards standardising data collection sequences.
  

Website for further information:

cybertracker.org/

Strategic assessments

The Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPAC) has been implementing an innovative environmental policy approach to landscape planning through the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EBBC Act) strategic assessment provisions. Strategic assessments evaluate national environmental values within a landscape and, taking social and economic factors into account, as well as the principles of ecologically sustainable development, create a sustainability plan for the future of that landscape. To date, only three have been completed. The western Sydney Growth Centres strategic assessment, completed in December 2011, showcases the outcomes of this innovation.

This innovation has been taken one step further in SEWPaC’s new policy area Sustainable Regional Development, which requires developing sustainability plans in Australia’s high growth areas, in partnership with state and local governments to provide long-term sustainability and protect biodiversity values. The new policy has funding for four years to develop the approach and undertake seven regional plans. Achieving this will require developing further innovative approaches to managing landscapes to ensure equitable consideration of environmental, social and economic and environmental values at all governance levels. The department’s National Environmental Research Program (NERP) is contributing to the research, as well as the research-policy interface, to support innovation needed for this new policy area.

Website for further information: www.environment.gov.au/epbc/notices/assessments/western-sydney.html