Chapter 3: Key Achievements and Strategic Objectives

OUR LAND

Biodiversity

Australia is a unique continent and our biodiversity is an important part of our national heritage. Australia is one of 17 mega-biodiverse countries, with many species found only on our continent and in our marine areas. Australia has national and international obligations to conserve our biodiversity.

Biodiversity is essential for a wide range of goods and services. Goods like food, fuel and genetic resources for medicines; services such as clean air and water, natural soil fertilisation for crop growth, climate regulation, plant pollination and pest control – all depend on our biodiversity.

When biodiversity is lost or depleted, the cost of providing alternatives is high. For example, plant life in catchment areas produces clean water which otherwise requires costly and less effective treatment.

The economic value of Australia’s biodiversity is significant. Commercial fishing, which largely harvests wild species, is worth about $2.5 billion a year, making it our fourth most valuable ‘food based’ primary industry. Australian wildflower exports generated $30 million in 1997 and the bushfood industry was worth an estimated $100 million in 2000.

Approximately 60 per cent of Australia’s land area is used for agriculture or extensive area grazing. Agriculture is the dominant economic activity in most of rural and regional Australia. The challenge for agriculture is to obtain the greatest possible social, economic and environmental benefits from our natural resource base, including our biodiversity.

Salinity, soil degradation and poor water quality threaten Australia’s biodiversity, agriculture, regional communities and the viability of roads and buildings. Environmental degradation costs Australia up to $3.5 billion a year.

Natural resource management programmes

The Government is addressing this challenge with cost-effective, strategic and durable measures for a sustainable Australia. Innovative natural resource management programmes such as the recently extended Natural Heritage Trust (the Trust), the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (the NAP), the Biodiversity Hotspots Initiative and the biodiversity conservation provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) are an integral part of this strategic framework.

This strategic framework of national programmes, legislation and policies is the largest financial commitment to the environment in Australia's history, helping to realise our shared vision of a sustainable Australia.

Bilateral agreements between the Australian Government and State and Territory governments set out the roles and responsibilities of each level of government in delivering the Trust and the National Action Plan.

Under these arrangements, the Australian Government is an investor in activities that will deliver environmental outcomes such as measurable reductions in salinity, improvements in water quality and increased protection of remnant vegetation.

Natural Heritage Trust

Introduced by the Howard Government in 1996-97, the Trust will continue to provide the foundation for a sustainable Australia with funding for practical, strategic and results oriented actions by the Australian people and all levels of government. Overseen jointly by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Natural Heritage Trust aims to harness the knowledge and enthusiasm of individuals and communities and assist them to meet the challenges facing a sustainable Australia.

In 2001, the Natural Heritage Trust was extended for five years to 2006-2007 and the States and Territories agreed to match the Australian Government’s investment at the regional level.

This Budget will provide an extra $300 million to continue the Natural Heritage Trust, the largest and most successful environmental rescue effort ever undertaken in Australia’s history into 2007-08. This new funding will build on the unprecedented level of investment in our environment adding a twelfth year to the Trust and bringing total investment in the Trust to $3.0 billion. Investment through the Trust will exceed $1.2 billion over the next four years as a result of this year’s Budget initiative.

This national, state and territory investment is directed to regional natural resource management plans. The plans combine the best available science with community knowledge and experience to set ambitious but achievable targets for change. The Australian Government accredits plans that demonstrate clear targets and appropriate monitoring to ensure the best natural resource management outcomes.

They are a community-driven guide to the actions and priorities required to address the region’s most important issues. Regional plans provide the basis for investment strategies for government support of regional plans.

Coordinated regional activity, linked across Australia, is our best chance of improving the management of our natural resources. The Trust’s three objectives - biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of natural resources, and community capacity-building and institutional change - help focus volunteer networks and community contributions to rescuing the environment and achieving agricultural sustainability.

The Trust has four overarching themes:

• Landcare - reversing land degradation and promoting sustainable agriculture.
• Bushcare - conserving and restoring habitat for our unique native flora and fauna, which underpins the health of our landscapes.
• Rivercare - improving the water quality and environmental condition in our river systems and wetlands.
• Coastcare - protecting our coastal catchments, ecosystems and the marine environment.

Trust investment is helping Australians deliver eight key results in communities across Australia:

1. cleaner beaches and cleaner waterways

2. reduced erosion and healthier land

3. less air pollution

4. more productive agricultural land and effective farm planning

5. protection of our threatened species

6. protection of native vegetation

7. effective weed and feral pest management

8. effective fisheries and forestry management practices.

Funding from the Natural Heritage Trust is being provided to implement the agreement between the Prime Minister and the Queensland Premier to protect the Great Barrier Reef through the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (estimated to cost approximately $12 million over the next two years) and the 15 national biodiversity hotspots.

Governments have already approved 32 regional plans and the majority of corresponding investment strategies in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Trust and National Action Plan expenditure is beginning to flow. The end of 2004 will see the completion of all regional plans and investment strategies, with the exception of the Western Australian rangelands region plan which will be completed in June 2005.

Local investment

Australian community groups have enthusiastically engaged in environment projects at the local level, through the Australian Government Envirofund. Since its inception in 2002-2003, the Envirofund has supported 3314 projects at the local level. Projects worth $49.9 million have been funded, including $10 million for a special Drought Recovery Round of the Envirofund in 2003 -04. The Government has allocated up to $20 million in 2004-05.

National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality

On 3 November 2000, the Council of Australian Governments endorsed the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality to take action in some of Australia's worst affected areas. The National Action Plan tackles two of Australia’s most serious environmental threats, salinity and water quality. At least 2.5 million hectares (five per cent of cultivated land) is currently affected by dryland salinity. This could rise to 12 million hectares (22 per cent of cultivated land) by 2050 if the Australian Government and the community do not act.

The National Action Plan supports communities taking action to prevent, stabilise and reverse trends in salinity, particularly dryland salinity that impacts on the land’s productivity and can endanger biological diversity, and improve water quality and secure reliable supplies for home uses and industry uses while protecting the environment.

The National Action Plan is a joint commitment of $1.4 billion over eight years between the Australian Government and the state and territories governments, supporting communities and land managers in priority regions across Australia.

These priority regions, in some cases incorporating sub-regions, are developing plans for investment by governments:

New South Wales

• Murray, Murrumbidgee, Lower Murray Darling, Lachlan, Central West, Namoi, Gwydir, Border RiversWestern (Balonne Maranoa)

Victoria

• Goulburn Broken, Glenelg-Hopkins, Corangamite, Mallee, Wimmera, North Central

Queensland

• Fitzroy sub-region, Burdekin sub-region, Burnett Mary sub-region, Lockyer/Bremer/Upper Brisbane sub-region, Border River region, Balonne/Maranoa sub-region, Condamine sub-region

South Australia

• Mount Lofty, SA Murray Darling Basin, South East, Northern Yorke and Agricultural Districts, Kangaroo Island

Western Australia

• South West, South Coast, Northern Agricultural Region, Avon, Ord Bonaparte region

Tasmania

• Tasmanian NAP region

Northern Territory

• Mary River sub-region, Daly sub-region

Australian Government leadership and investment is critically important, as are the partnerships with state and local governments, catchment management authorities and the efforts of tens of thousands of volunteers. All levels of government, community groups, individual land managers and local businesses are working together to tackle salinity and improve water quality.

Through their plans, regional groups identify long-term targets for improvement in salinity and water quality. For example, in September 2003, the Australian and Victorian Governments jointly approved the Glenelg Hopkins Regional Catchment Investment Plan involving investments of $5.3 million. In the Glenelg Hopkins investment plan, activities costing $2.5 million address issues for rivers and wetlands. Some specific targets are:

• in the Hopkins Basin the total stream length in ‘good to excellent condition’ will increase from 0 to 10 per cent; and
• within a 10-year period the frequency of algal blooms will be reduced by half.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The National Monitoring and Evaluation Framework forges a national reporting system linking regional reporting, including reporting against agreed matters for targets addressed in regional plans and state systems. The National Monitoring and Evaluation Framework enables governments to assess progress on the policy reforms and institutional changes agreed in the bilateral agreements.

National Landcare Programme

Farmers and land managers are crucial to achieving the Australian Government’s primary industry and natural resource management goals. Productive, sustainable farming will shape the future of our continent, and maintain economic growth in regional Australia.

Landcare is a uniquely Australian approach to engaging community and volunteer action, with around 4000 groups and 40 per cent of farmers involved.

The National Landcare Programme encourages adoption of improved management practices by farmers and the community and is a vital contributor to improved management of natural resources, complementing the regional planning and investment strategies of the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Action Plan.

The Programme focuses on on-ground actions by community groups and land managers that are sustainable, while promoting community, industry and government partnerships in natural resource management. Landcare’s principal goal is increased profitability, competitiveness and sustainability of Australian primary industries.

In 2004-05 the Australian Government will spend $39.3 million on the National Landcare Programme.

The Budget also extends the National Landcare Programme by two years by providing an additional $80 million ($40 million in both 2006-07 and 2007-08). The Landcare programme is central to community involvement in natural resource management and the new funding will bring the Howard Government’s investment in this programme to $159.5 million over the next four years.

Empowering the community

The active engagement of the community is a critical element in regional planning and plan accreditation. To assist community engagement, the Government is funding a network of natural resource management facilitators, announced in April 2003.

This network, including Australian Government staff and people engaged directly by regional communities, is now in place across the country. The network assists regions and communities in planning and implementing activities, ensuring that the Australian Government’s natural resource management priorities are addressed and outcomes achieved.

At the present time, about 750 facilitators funded by the Trust and the National Action Plan are operating at local, regional and statewide/national levels. This includes an additional 35 facilitators for Coastcare, Rivercare and Bushcare activities announced in October 2003 and 13 Indigenous Land Management Facilitators. The Network was established in 1998 under the Natural Heritage Trust to promote participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in regional planning.

An additional 70 Landcare facilitators to support local community and Landcare groups were announced in August 2003. These are funded through the recently extended National Landcare Programme.

Green Corps also values community involvement by giving young people aged 17 – 20 years the opportunity to volunteer to conserve, preserve and restore Australia’s natural environment and cultural heritage

Since 1997, more than 11,000 Australians have participated in over 1,100 Green Corps projects, 11 million trees have been planted, 4,700 kilometres of fencing built, 36,000 hectares of weeds removed, 7,700 kilograms of native seeds collected and more than 4,000 kilometres of walking track constructed or maintained.

Biodiversity hotspots

Biodiversity hotspots are areas rich in biodiversity but under immediate threat. The Minister for Environment and Heritage announced the national biodiversity hotspots initiative in October 2003, which would be supported through the Natural Heritage Trust with priority given to hotspot conservation activities. The Australian Government has adopted 15 biodiversity hotspots identified by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee and Australian biodiversity experts. These areas include the southwest of Western Australia, one of the world's richest areas of endemic plants and mammals such as the western quoll and numbat, South Australia's Mt Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island, habitat for declining populations of birds like the southern emu-wren, and Victoria's Volcanic Plain, home to endemic plant and animal species.

Hotspot conservation activities supported through the Trust include surveys and mapping, information and support, fencing, weed control, habitat rehabilitation and protection and conservation incentive schemes. Research and management of threatening processes, such as feral species, dieback and changes in fire regimes are also being supported.

Australia’s biodiversity is essential to our economic prosperity, our cultural identity and our future as a sustainable continent. This Budget contains a new measure to protect biodiversity hotspots in Australia. Taking action in these areas, we will be able to save more species for every dollar we spend. Details of the new measure will be announced after the Budget. It will focus on protecting biodiversity values in areas currently under threat.

Biodiversity protection under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act

Through the EPBC Act the Government is identifying, protecting and conserving biodiversity. Activities include listing threatened species, developing and implementing recovery plans, conserving migratory waterbirds, protecting cetaceans and regulating international wildlife trade.

Protecting threatened species

Since 1997, the Government has invested over $37 million from the Natural Heritage Trust in threatened species recovery.

The Threatened Species Scientific Committee, operating under the EPBC Act, advises the Australian Government on the listing of threatened species, ecological communities and key threatening processes. Once a listing is made under the Act, recovery and threat abatement plans are developed. Over 700 threatened species and ecological communities have recovery plans in place or in preparation.

Projects have protected species such as the Orange-bellied Parrot, Swift Parrot, Regent Honeyeater, Tammar Wallaby, Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat, and stream frogs of southeast Queensland. Conservation activities include protecting and expanding habitat through fencing and revegetation, captive breeding programmes, weed and feral pest control, and community education.

The implementation of recovery plans includes assessment of feral animal impacts on nesting marine turtles and national approaches to strandings of cetaceans (whales and dolphins).

Strategic approaches to threatened species recovery and threat abatement will be expanded in 2004-05. The development of plans that address the recovery of species in a natural resource management region was initiated in South Australia and Western Australia in 2003-04. Further pilots will commence in 2004-05. The Government will also trial methods for providing early advice on actions to abate threats and recover threatened species and ecological communities.

Information continues to enhance community understanding of listed species and ecological communities, including explaining why a species has been listed. Administrative Guidelines on Significance for the Grey-headed Flying-fox and Spectacled Flying-fox informs fruitgrowers how to assess the impacts of their activities on listed species.

Funding will continue in 2004-05 for the Threatened Species Network, a community programme of the Natural Heritage Trust and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Australia, which increases public awareness of and involvement in protecting threatened species. The Network also manages the Threatened Species Community Grants Programme that funds rural and urban community groups to undertake recovery and awareness raising activities for threatened species and ecological communities. The malleefowl in Western Australia, southern bell frogs in South Australia, the brush-tailed rock-wallaby in New South Wales and the Western (Basalt) Plains Grasslands in Victoria have benefited from the grants programme.

Combating weeds and pests

Feral predators introduced over the past 200 years are among the greatest threats to our biodiversity. They have resulted in native plants and animals becoming extinct or endangered and have had devastating economic effects. Weeds cost the Australian economy around $4 billion a year.

Native wildlife helps control pests. A flock of Ibis, for example, can eat almost a quarter of a million insects in one day from pastures, including grasshoppers, locusts, larvae, crickets and caterpillars. Expensive pesticide applications are increased when native insect and rodent-eating bird populations decrease.

With a $28.5 million investment under the first phase of the Natural Heritage Trust, the Government has focused on key world heritage areas and national parks and there has been considerable success in eliminating and controlling a range of invasive pests and weeds.

The Government continues implementation of the six threat abatement plans adopted under the EPBC Act. Activities include work on abating fox impacts, such as further research into the development of an immunocontraceptive vaccine and development of a cat specific toxin and bait, and the development of codes for the humane capture, handling and destruction of feral animals.

Plans for beak and feather disease, feral pigs, infection of amphibians with chytrid fungus, and tramp ants (including fire ants) are being developed. Research continues into the development of biological control agents for cane toads and weeds such as bitou bush, Mimosa pigra, and cabomba.

The Natural Heritage Trust funds the development of eradication techniques that use best practice control. Impressive results are being achieved through development and release of biological control agents for many nationally significant weeds such as rubber vine, bridal creeper, and cabomba. Blackberry is one of the worst weeds in southern Australia. Trust funds are supporting the establishment of experimental sites in New South Wales where a new strain of blackberry leaf rust fungus will be released.

Australia’s biosecurity policy enhances the competitiveness of agriculture, fisheries and food industries by developing a risk assessment process to permit safe trade. This protects Australia’s plant, animal and human health as well as environment. Significant achievements include development of 40 import risk analyses for various plant and animals. The Government will spend $12.5 million on these activities in 2004-05.

Since the Gene Technology Act 2000 came into force, applications for the release of genetically modified organisms have been subjected to an evaluation process that includes a risk assessment and management plan. Developed with public and key stakeholder consultation, including advice from the Minister for Environment and Heritage, the plan forms the basis of the Gene Technology Regulator’s decision whether to issue a licence.

Protecting wildlife through regulating trade

The Government ensures wildlife industries are ecologically sustainable and humane through assessment of wild harvests, approval of breeding and propagation programmes, and regulating exports and imports of wildlife under the EPBC Act. These activities are being improved by encouraging best practice animal welfare and sustainable management practices. Wildlife trade provisions have been integrated with other environmental impact assessment procedures to ensure potential environmental impacts of wildlife trade proposals are considered.

Australia provides leadership and assistance to members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in the South Pacific region in meeting their obligations.

Conserving migratory waterbirds

The Australian Government leads the conservation of migratory waterbirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

The Government facilitates the migratory waterbird partnership initiative under the World Summit on Sustainable Development and is near completion of the bilateral agreement on migratory bird conservation with the Republic of Korea.

The Wildlife Conservation Plan for Migratory Shorebirds will be released for public comment in 2004-05. The Plan will outline national implementation of the Action Plan for the Conservation of Migratory Shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Protecting biodiversity from the impacts of climate change

The Australian Government, with the state and territories, is finalising the National Biodiversity and Climate Change Action Plan. The Plan is Australia's first framework document to protect biodiversity from climate change.

Reversing the decline in the extent and quality of native vegetation

The Australian Government has achieved significant milestones towards a national approach to sustainable management of native vegetation.

In 2001 the Australian Government and the State and Territory governments agreed to the National Framework for the Management and Monitoring of Australia’s Native Vegetation.

In 2001 governments agreed, through the Framework for the Extension of the Natural Heritage Trust, to prevent clearing of endangered and vulnerable vegetation communities and critical habitat for threatened species, and limit clearing to those instances where biodiversity objectives are not compromised.

In April 2001 land clearing was listed as a key threatening process under the EPBC Act.

In July 2003, under their Natural Heritage Trust bilateral agreement, the Australian and Tasmania Governments announced historic changes to management in Tasmania to protect rare, vulnerable and endangered forest and non-forest vegetation communities and maintain at least 95 per cent of the 1996 native forest estate on public land.

In October 2003 the Australian Government and the New South Wales Government announced landmark reforms to end broadscale land clearing and clearing of protected regrowth vegetation to implement the National Action Plan and Natural Heritage Trust bilateral agreements.

In February 2004 the Queensland Government announced its commitment to protect all vulnerable vegetation communities and phase out clearing of remnant vegetation by 2006. The Australian and Queensland Governments are now finalising their Natural Heritage Trust bilateral agreement to include the Queensland vegetation reforms. These reforms have enabled Queensland to meet one of the key policy objectives of the Trust extension.

Protecting and sustainably managing our forests

Australia is a world leader in the protection and sustainable management of forests.

The aim of the regional forest agreement process was to strike a balance between protection of a comprehensive, forest reserve system and a sustainable forest industry. The Australian Government has worked with scientists, conservationists, industry, community groups and state and local governments, to introduce 10 Regional Forest Agreements across four states.

The $30 million Tasmanian Private Forest Reserve Programme under the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement aims to secure priority forest areas for conservation. Of the $20 million provided under the first phase of the Natural Heritage Trust, $11.9 million had been approved by early 2004 for over 39,826 hectares of forest.

The Private Forestry for Sustainable Production and Environmental Services builds on the success of the Farm Forestry Programme under the Natural Heritage Trust through commercial tree growing on cleared agricultural lands. Eighteen Private Forestry Development Committees have been funded to work in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory with local and regional stakeholders, industry and governments.

Harnessing the market

The Government is committed to using innovative financial arrangements to encourage better land and water management.

Market-based instruments (such as cap and trading schemes, stewardship payments and revolving funds) play a key role in providing an effective, equitable and sustainable response to environmental challenges. They can achieve policy outcomes efficiently compared with instruments such as regulation or funding programmes and can provide flexibility in natural resource management, using trade mechanisms, auctions and price signals to change behaviour and encourage environmental stewardship.

Eleven pilot projects were funded under the $5 million first round of the National Market-Based Instruments Pilot Programme. This Programme investigates ways to use innovative financial arrangements for better land and water management and to reduce salinity in irrigation-based and dryland agriculture. The projects will trial a range of market-based instruments over two years in several of the National Action Plan regions.

Environment Management Systems

The Government’s Environment Management Systems (EMS) Programmes for primary producers aim to encourage the adoption of profitable and sustainable farming practices, provide improved natural resource management and environmental outcomes and enable primary producers to demonstrate environmental stewardship to domestic and international markets. In November 2003, the Government announced additional programmes to encourage EMS development in Australia’s primary industries. The Government’s investment in EMS programmes will be $21.7 million over the next four years.

Managing protected areas

The Australian Government manages twenty protected areas in the Northern Territory, the external territories and Australian waters. Two of the larger protected areas, Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Parks are on the World Heritage List.

On Christmas Island rehabilitation of mine-sites is re-establishing rainforest on degraded land, assisting the recovery of seabird species. The programme to control yellow crazy ants, reducing their impact on the Island’s ecosystems, has been recognised with several national awards.

Increasing protection through the National Reserve System Programme

The National Reserve System Programme, part of the Natural Heritage Trust, provides financial assistance to state and local government agencies, non-government organisations, and Indigenous people to establish protected areas as part of a National Reserve System.

Since 1996 over 20 million hectares have been added to the National Reserve System through the Programme, some six million of which are property purchases or covenanted lands added to the System with the co-operation of States and Territories. The area added since 1996 represents three per cent of Australia’s landmass.

Chart 3.1 Area of land protected and managed through the National Reserve System programme

All properties approved for inclusion contain ecosystems that are poorly represented or not represented at all in the National Reserve System. Many properties have rare or threatened species, communities and ecosystems listed under state or Commonwealth endangered species legislation. The Programme favours species with specialised habitat requirements, migratory species and species, which depend on reservation for their survival.

Nineteen Indigenous Protected Areas covering over 13.8 million hectares have been added to the National Reserve System. Indigenous ownership of land across Australia, including Indigenous Protected Areas, now stands at 17 per cent of the continent and its islands. Through this process, the Government is supporting Indigenous landholders to manage their lands for conservation using both contemporary and traditional knowledge and practices such as patch burning. This programme supports Indigenous Australians to exercise a duty of care for their country and to pass on both traditional and other knowledge about achieving sustainability and maintaining biodiversity for present and future generations.

Since the introduction of a private protected area component of the National Reserve System in 1998, over $15 million has been provided by the Government to local governments and non-government organisations to own and manage 788,000 hectares of protected areas

The Programme will continue to build and enhance the National Reserve System and ensure effective management arrangements are in place for reserves under the Programme.

Practical reconciliation – Indigenous engagement in conservation

The Government is addressing the aspirations and interests of Australia’s Indigenous people through symbolic and practical reconciliation. The Government is a world leader in integrating Indigenous land ownership, knowledge and conservation with World Heritage property management responsibilities.

The Australian Government jointly manages three national parks with their Aboriginal traditional owners: Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Parks in the Northern Territory and Booderee National Park in the Jervis Bay Territory.

Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Parks, two of Australia’s best known natural and cultural icons, continue to set international best practice for working with Indigenous owners. The Management Plan for Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is regarded around the world as the model for cultural landscape management planning. Uluru, as one of the world’s most recognised tourist destinations, has a major multiplier effect on the Northern Territory economy. Entry fees make an increasing contribution to park management costs and provide significant income for traditional owners.

Joint management is an excellent example of the Government’s commitment to practical reconciliation. Recent achievements include:

• the revised lease for Booderee National Park greatly assists in delivering and improving the joint management arrangements between the Director of National Parks and the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council. The lease provides impetus for the programme of progressive contracting out of park services to the local Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community, building local indigenous employment and the community’s capacity to eventually assume sole management of the park;
• improved training for Indigenous members of Boards of Management is assisting them to take a more active role in high-level park management;
• growing involvement of Aboriginal people in park operations, with Aboriginal employment now around 45 per cent of the total workforce – up from 35 per cent in the mid-1990s - and a growing proportion of park services delivered through contracting of Aboriginal enterprises;
• a more positive engagement between traditional owners and the tourism industry – aimed at expanding opportunities for Indigenous tourism and greater control by traditional owners of their economic future;
• at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, an independent review of the effectiveness of joint management arrangements in 2002 has led to clearer and more robust working relationships between the Board of Management, the Central Land Council, the Park’s traditional owners, the resident Mutitjulu community and Parks Australia;
• the progressive integration of traditional knowledge and skills into park management. In Kakadu this means a return to the ‘mosaic’ fire regime which benefits biodiversity and bush foods, and the maintenance of cultural values through ‘action learning’ and the inter-generational transfer of knowledge, for example, through the involvement of family groups in planning and undertaking seasonal burning. At Uluru cultural heritage planning and management is virtually entirely under the direct control of traditional owners and Indigenous staff.

The Australian Government is a partner with the Queensland Government and the Torres Straits Regional Authority allowing direct involvement of Torres Strait Indigenous fishermen in the sustainable management of Torres Strait fisheries and the environment.

Furthering our knowledge base

The Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS) is ensuring Australia remains a world leader in taxonomy - the naming and classification of plants and animals - and in managing biodiversity information necessary for the conservation of Australia’s biological resources. The Budget provides $4.7 million for the ABRS in 2004-05.

ABRS’s activities include supporting research and publishing taxonomic and biogeographical information. Flora of Australia online, launched in April 2004, is the world's first national online interactive taxonomic data resource for unique plant species. It enables farmers, landcare groups, scientists and students to customise questions and provides information about species names, habitat, and distribution maps.

ABRS will host the Australian node for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, providing a protal to link Australian contributors to the network and enhancing national and international access to Australia’s biodiversity data.

The Australian National Botanic Gardens and the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research (a joint venture with CSIRO) provide world class botanical and bio-informatics data and tools for research and management.

Australia’s Virtual Herbarium is a pioneering collaboration between the Australian Government, State and Territory governments and the private sector to unlock two centuries of botanical information held in Australia’s herbaria.

---