Messages
from the Executives
New Millennium
Introduce
a new member
Paying for conservation on private land
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Messages
from the Executives
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New Millennium |
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As we approach the start of a new
millennium, the future of conservation at the Federal level is at a
crossroads. With a Federal election to be held in 2001, voters could be
faced with a Hobson’s choice in terms of the conservation policies of
the two major parties.
On the one hand, we have a Coalition Government which has placed economic gains above environmental outcomes on a number of issues, including uranium mining adjacent to Kakadu and the resort development at Port Hinchinbrook. The Minister for Forests and Conservation (sic), Wilson Tuckey, has made his attitude to conservation clear through recent calls for logging in NSW national parks as a means to reduce fire hazard. The Labor alternative has demonstrated a slovenly approach, seemingly preferring to watch the Coalition antagonise conservationists rather than developing meaningful policy initiatives. At least in Australia, unlike the United States, conservationists have alternatives which can influence legislation through the balance of power in the Senate. Important conservation issues which should be at the forefront of green voters' minds in the run-up to the election include management of World Heritage areas, vegetation clearing and protection of marine biodiversity. The National Strategy for Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity aimed to achieve a National Reserve System by the end of this year. The system is far from complete, yet funding for the program will cease this financial year. Continued funding for the completion of the comprehensive National Reserve System is a high priority for NPA. NPA will be seeking to ensure that the policies of all parties address these significant issues. Roger Lembit |
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Paying for conservation on private land |
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Achieving off-reserve
conservation outcomes on private land is increasingly recognised as
pivotal to a whole-of-landscape approach to biodiversity conservation.
Private conservation areas can provide crucial links and corridors
between formal reserves, and can achieve conservation where formal
reservation is difficult to realise for practical or economic reasons.
Currently, achieving off-reserve conservation in NSW relies largely on the voluntary efforts of a limited number of landholders. Some have taken part in small-scale incentive schemes (such as Greening Australia remnant fencing incentives), or have signed conservation agreements with the National Parks and Wildlife Service or the Department of Land and Water Conservation. Achieving off-reserve conservation on a broader scale requires a more targeted incentive scheme, one that recognises the public benefits from setting aside and actively managing private land for conservation, and that draws in those landholders not attracted by existing voluntary schemes. The concept of "land stewardship", where landholders are paid to manage their land for conservation under a conservation agreement (which may be registered on land title), has been widely debated and promoted in the conservation movement in recent years as a way to achieve such off-reserve conservation. Despite significant efforts, it has been difficult to find a vehicle for the practical application of this concept. In the last few months, the NPA/WWF Western Project has lobbied both State and Federal governments to include a stewardship scheme within West 2000 Plus – a Commonwealth/State rural partnership program funded to improve the viability of leaseholders in far west NSW. Our efforts have been rewarded with the allocation of over $300,000 to a pilot scheme. We will be working closely with the agencies involved to ensure the scheme can deliver binding conservation agreements, and allocate funds in an effective manner. The Western Project sees important potential conservation outcomes for the Western Division, such as strategic relocation of artificial watering points in the landscape to alleviate the impacts of total grazing pressure on biodiversity (from domestic stock, feral animals and native herbivores). We also hope to see fencing of remnant vegetation communities that have lost their natural understorey and are not regenerating due to excessive and continual grazing pressure. And, perhaps, set a precedent for similar developments throughout the State. Anita Sundstrom |
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