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The Government recognises that solutions to environmental problems require cooperation between governments, industry and the community. Chapter 5 acknowledges the contributions of Australia's environmental volunteers and the Indigenous community and outlines some of the international environment-related activities that Australia is involved in.
The work of volunteers is crucial to the protection and conservation of Australia's environment. Throughout Australia many thousands of volunteers devote their time and effort to valuable environmental work. On Natural Heritage Trust projects alone, more than 300,000 people have worked on almost 10,000 projects since 1996. With 2001 having been declared the International Year of Volunteers by the United Nations, now is an appropriate time to acknowledge and encourage the extraordinary contribution made by environmental volunteers.
Funds are provided under the Natural Heritage Trust for the essential materials that enable the volunteer movement to be as effective as it is. Funding pays for seedlings, fencing and similar items, as well as supporting volunteer coordinators, but the volunteers provide the hard work and the dedication. Without them many practical projects that are making a positive, lasting and measurable difference to Australia's environment might not have been achieved.
Volunteer work includes planting trees, collecting seeds, cleaning up rubbish, monitoring the quality of our waterways and surveying wildlife populations. Volunteers are the backbone of many of the Government's environment programmes, among them Bushcare, Coastcare, Waterwatch Australia, the Threatened Species Programme, Landcare and Rivercare. Volunteers also work on Indigenous land management projects, at national parks and at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, and collect data for the Bureau of Meteorology.
One rural Victorian family has been collecting weather data continuously for over a century. Three generations of the family have been involved in record keeping, and the Bureau of Meteorology holds rainfall records taken by family members as long ago as 1899.
June Hill's grandfather established a farm at Colbinabbin in 1858, and Mrs Hill continues the family tradition of rainfall record keeping on the property. She is one of 6,200 volunteers across Australia who keep daily rainfall records. Such weather volunteers provide vital assistance to the Bureau of Meteorology by contributing to the provision of weather forecasting and warning services and helping to maintain the national climate record.
In July 2000 Mrs Hill received a Rainfall Excellence Award from the Bureau to commemorate the keeping of rainfall records at Colbinabbin for 100 years. Only some 40 families across Australia share this distinction. Mrs Hill's father, Mr Christian Toedteberg, was awarded a posthumous award in 1972 for recording daily rainfall for more than 50 years.
While automated weather stations have replaced many of the tasks previously undertaken by volunteers, those volunteers provide valuable data that promotes better understanding of Australia's weather and climate and makes predictions more accurate.
Contact: Bureau of Meteorology - Executive and International Affairs Branch - (03) 9669 4534
Sydney school students from Cranebrook High and Penrith High are keeping a close watch on the health of Penrith Lakes and the nearby Nepean River as part of the Natural Heritage Trust's Waterwatch Australia programme.
The Cranebrook group began monitoring only recently, but Penrith High has been active in this area since 1990. Science and geography students from the school have collected over 200 sets of water quality data, which are recorded and stored in the Waterwatch database.
The New South Wales Department of Land and Conservation interprets the data. If any problems are found with water quality, solutions are suggested by the Department and implemented by the school.
The Natural Heritage Trust has provided $60,000 over the past three years to fund a Waterwatch coordinator's position within the Department. Waterwatch coordinators help volunteers liaise with local governments, water authorities, industry and other organisations to discuss water quality issues in their catchments and to develop strategies to deal with these issues.
Contact: Environment Australia - Water Branch - (02) 6274 2223
Environmental volunteering will be the focus for Australia's World Environment Day celebrations on 5 June this year. Environment Australia is providing community resources to raise awareness of the scope of environmental volunteering activities and the impressive contribution that volunteers make to the environment, and to tell people how they can become volunteers.
Community organisations, local governments, schools and other groups will be encouraged to focus their World Environment Day events on activities which recognise the work of environmental volunteers.
To mark the International Year of Volunteers, botanists at the Australian National Botanic Gardens are developing a daisy called Helichrysum Helping Hand. It is expected that the project, being conducted with Volunteering Australia, will result in 10,000 seedlings flowering by spring this year. The seedlings will be sold through volunteering organisations throughout Australia.
The development of working partnerships between the Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is a further step towards reconciliation and sustainable environmental management. Indigenous participation in the protection of Australia's natural and cultural environment is vital. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 reflects this. Three of its seven objectives refer to the key involvement of Indigenous people, who also have a voice in the operation of the Act through the Indigenous Advisory Committee (IAC). The IAC is made up of 12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with expertise in traditional land management, conservation and cultural heritage management.
Environment Australia has developed a Reconciliation Action Plan in response to the work of the National Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. The plan reflects the Commonwealth's approach to developing and maintaining strong working relationships with Indigenous people. It identifies Environment Australia's current and planned activities, procedures, policies and areas of responsibility associated with reconciliation.
An example of successful working partnerships with Indigenous people is the joint management of national parks. Indigenous involvement has significantly improved the management of Kakadu, Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Booderee national parks, as described in the `Managing Commonwealth national parks and reserves' section of Chapter 4.
The Government is implementing other approaches to promoting and recognising the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values in environmental management. For example, the Indigenous Land Management Facilitators Programme has encouraged the participation of Indigenous Australians in Natural Heritage Trust programmes. There is also a range of activities designed to protect areas and heritage of significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) Programme has led to the declaration of 13 IPAs on Aboriginal lands covering more than 3.16 million hectares. Indigenous heritage is being protected through a variety of programmes, including the Heritage and Environment Programme administered by ATSIC.
Another important component of the partnership approach being implemented by Environment Australia is the Indigenous Career Development and Recruitment Strategy, which facilitates the direct employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This reflects the proactive approach the Government is taking in developing essential working relationships with Indigenous Australians.
Many environmental issues are highly complex and transcend national boundaries. Tackling global environmental and sustainable development challenges often causes significant social and economic issues to arise in consequence. Confronting such issues requires a cooperative and coordinated approach by the international community. Recognising this, the Government works cooperatively in international fora to progress integrated solutions to regional and international issues. This involves Australian engagement in international policy debates and negotiating fora. It also involves building and maintaining strong relationships of trust and mutual support with a range of countries so that ideas and knowledge can be freely shared and areas of common interest explored. A range of Commonwealth agencies - including Environment Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and AusAID - are closely involved in these efforts, reflecting the breadth of Australia's international environmental role and interests.
In 2001-02 the Government is focusing on a number of international initiatives designed to achieve concrete environmental and sustainable development outcomes. Some of these are outlined below.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development is to be held in Johannesburg in September 2002. It will be a landmark international event convened to review and reinvigorate the commitments made at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the summit is therefore referred to as Rio+10). The meeting will focus on improving progress and stimulating action towards achieving sustainable development worldwide.
Australia recognises that climate change is a global challenge that requires a worldwide response. Australia continues to work with other countries in seeking equitable and cost-effective solutions for addressing climate change. Australia is pursuing this objective through high level international negotiations, as well as supporting the establishment of collaborative projects, workshops, training courses and studies with other countries.
Australia has played a leading role in international efforts to protect and conserve natural and cultural places of international significance since it ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1975. The Government hosted and chaired the successful meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Cairns in December 2000. It was at this meeting that the Greater Blue Mountains Area was listed as Australia's fourteenth World Heritage Property, resulting in the enhanced protection of one million hectares of unique bushland. During 2001-02 Australia will continue to be proactive in heritage conservation, providing support for initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region through Australia's Asia-Pacific Focal Point for World Heritage. Initiatives will include placing specialist support staff in regional countries and convening an Asia-Pacific heritage ministerial forum.
The Government has led international efforts to protect several particularly important and threatened animal species. For example, Australia has led the development of an international Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels since 1997. The text of the agreement was finalised in Cape Town, South Africa, in February 2001. Australia is confident that all participating countries will be in a position to sign the agreement during the course of 2002.
The Government is also committed to achieving a permanent international ban on commercial whaling. Australia and New Zealand jointly proposed the development of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary at the July 2000 meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Adelaide. The Government will continue to pursue establishment of the sanctuary at the IWC meeting in July 2001 as a step toward the creation of a global whale sanctuary.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is an international trust fund which provides grants to international organisations such as the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The grants facilitate strategic and catalytic activities which will improve global environmental outcomes in ozone protection, climate change, biodiversity and international waters. Australia is currently a member of the council of the GEF and will contribute in the order of $50 million to the next replenishment of the fund in 2002.
Australia's overseas aid programme assists developing countries to achieve sustainable development by addressing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development in an integrated manner. The aid programme focuses on the Asia-Pacific region, with significant assistance also provided to international development institutions. One such activity being supported by the programme is the Coral Reef Management and Rehabilitation Project, which aims to protect and rehabilitate coral reefs in Indonesia.
In keeping with Australia's particular focus on environmental issues and activities of importance to our region, Australia is the largest bilateral donor to the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). SPREP is a cooperative effort through which the governments of Pacific island nations work with each other to address shared environmental management issues, ranging from community education on endangered species through to disposal of hazardous wastes and effective participation in global climate change negotiations.
Australia also provides support directly to SPREP's Pacific island members at the national level, complementing the work undertaken in SPREP. For example, Environment Australia is undertaking a forests and conservation project in Papua New Guinea which is designed to assist relevant government agencies in Papua New Guinea to identify policy priorities and develop technical capacity in biodiversity and forest assessments, and land-use planning. The project is based on planning tools developed through the Australian Regional Forests Agreement process.
Following very positive bilateral discussions early this year, Australia and South Africa aim to develop a bilateral environmental action plan during 2001-02. The plan, which is based on a recognition of common environmental interests, challenges and experiences, will promote closer cooperation between the two countries in the fields of environmental protection, sustainable natural resource management and the establishment of new ecologically-based industries and enterprises.
Preparations are under way for a high-level environment business delegation visit to China in 2001 to promote the achievements of Australia's environment industries. The visit's primary aim is to highlight Australia's capabilities in the areas of 'green' buildings, waste-water treatment, flood mitigation, solid-waste management and technologies demonstrated at the 2000 Olympics, which are now recognised internationally as the `Green Games'. The delegation will visit Beijing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou.