Document Index 1999-2000 Ministerial Statements Investing in our Natural and Cultural Heritage Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Biodiversity

Table 4.1: Biodiversity--New Measures and Programme and Tax Expenditure Estimates

New measures are expressed in outturn prices and other expenditure and revenue figures are expressed in 1999-2000 prices.
Programme and tax expenditure estimates include the effect of new measures
- denotes nil;
na denotes not available.

1. For implementation of the National Strategy and fulfilling obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Biodiversity Strategy and Convention Programme continues the activities of the Biodiversity Programme which concluded in 1998-99.
2. 2001-02 figures for Natural Heritage Trust programmes are contingent on the sale of the 2nd Tranche of Telstra.
3. Includes funds for the Cape York Natural Heritage Trust Plan, (but excludes funds for farm forestry administered through the Farm Forestry Programme, and for Property Management Planning administered through the National Landcare Programme; these funds amount to $7.5 million in 1999-2000 and $8 million in 2000-01). In 1999-2000, of the total Bushcare funding, $81.8 million is funded through the Natural Heritage Trust, with an additional $1.5 million through Natural Heritage Trust-related Programmes.
4. A significant portion of this is funding for Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Kakadu National Parks, which are World Heritage areas (see Chapter 10).
5. Jointly administered by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Australia, and Environment Australia. 1998-99 figure includes all carry forwards from 1997-98.
6. Jointly administered by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Australia, and Environment Australia.
7. Funding for eradication programmes is subject to approval by ARMCANZ/SCARM on a case by case basis. Therefore, out-years funding can only be estimates as the number and nature of incursions are unknown.
8. This is the total of the figures against the indented descriptions below.

Australia is home to about 10 per cent of the planet's biological diversity, of which 80 per cent is endemic, reflecting Australia's long period of geographical isolation. Biodiversity conservation has been identified in the report Australia: State of the Environment 1996 as perhaps Australia's key environmental challenge, a challenge linked through unsustainable land clearing and habitat destruction to land and water resource degradation. Sustainable agriculture and management of Australia's natural resources are intimately linked to conservation of our unique biodiversity. Together they constitute the core objectives of the Government's Natural Heritage Trust.

Australia works to conserve its biodiversity--at the levels of ecosystems, species and genetic variability within species--through the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity, and through it fulfils its obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Priorities are conserving biodiversity both on and off reserves; addressing threats to biodiversity, particularly land clearance, feral animals and weeds; and building on knowledge of Australia's native species and ecosystems and how they function.

The National Reserve System and the Bushcare programmes, both funded through the Natural Heritage Trust, address loss of biodiversity through both on- and off-reserve conservation. The Commonwealth is committed to a comprehensive, adequate and representative (CAR) reserve system, and implementation through Regional Forest Agreements, of strategies to protect old-growth forests and wilderness as part of the reserve system. The CAR reserve system allows for ecologically sustainable development. Other biodiversity-focused programmes address a variety of issues including endangered species, invasive species, world heritage management and nature-based tourism. In addition, the programmes with a focus on natural resources management, such as the National Landcare Programme, the National Rivercare Programme, Murray-Darling 2001, the Farm Forestry Programme and the Fisheries Action Programme also make a significant contribution to the Trust's biodiversity outcomes, for example through controlling salinity, or improvements in water quality.

Funding for biodiversity and related programmes is shown in Table 4.1. The Coasts and Clean Seas Initiative described in Chapter 9 addresses biodiversity conservation in the marine environment.

Australia recognises that biodiversity conservation is critical for sustainable food production and the alleviation of poverty in many developing countries. Australia's overseas aid programme will spend $22.3 million in the financial year 1998-99 on bilateral and regional activities in developing countries aimed at the management of biodiversity. This includes institutional strengthening, human resource, land resource management, forestry and coastal zone activities. These activities support a number of international conventions or initiatives, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, Ramsar Convention and the International Coral Reef Initiative. The Australian aid programme has also committed $38.6 million to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the interim funding mechanism for the Convention on Biological Diversity. Approximately 35 per cent of these funds are directed towards biodiversity activities.

• IMPLEMENTING THE BIODIVERSITY CONVENTION AND THE NATIONAL STRATEGY
• OFF-RESERVE CONSERVATION
• RESERVES
• COMMONWEALTH PROTECTED AREAS
• FERAL ANIMALS AND WEEDS
• WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
• THREATENED SPECIES AND ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES
• BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION BASE
• NATURE-BASED TOURISM