6 July
2006 - Three world-class multi-disciplinary research
hubs will explore Australia’s most pressing environmental
challenges, the Australian Minister for the Environment
and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, announced
today.
“I am delighted to announce
the first recipients of funding under the Australian
Government’s $100 million Commonwealth Environmental
Research Facilities (CERF) Programme,” Senator
Campbell said.
“CERF is this government’s key
environment research programme to encourage and
assist research into current and emerging environmental
challenges, bridge our knowledge gaps and contribute
to the development of environmental policy.
“These recipients will receive
a total of $23 million to establish hubs, or networks,
of Australia’s top scientists, universities, government
agencies and community partners. As experts in
their fields they will come together for four
years to expand our knowledge on key challenges.
“The hubs will explore how we
can make better environmental decisions and planning
in our sensitive tropical and coastal areas. The
research will give environment managers new tools
to improve the sustainability of our agricultural
landscapes in Australia’s temperate regions.
“These are vital policy and management matters
which we need to get right. They are central to
the future of our land and people.”
The new hubs are:
• Research hub for Applied Environmental Decision
Analysis
University of Queensland’s Professor
Hugh Possingham will receive $6.9 million to establish
a research hub addressing Australia’s environmental
planning, decision making and policy approaches.
For the next four years, Prof Possingham will
lead 12 principal researchers and up to 60 research
fellows and PhD students from Victoria, Queensland
and Canberra institutions in the development of
a range of tools and techniques to help environment
managers overcome management and policy challenges.
Prof Possingham’s team will
be at the forefront in developing tools that take
account of social as well as environmental implications
of management and policy decisions. Researchers
will test their methods on a range of persistent
environmental challenges including feral animal
control, managing invasive species in the Australian
alps, fire management in urban/rural overlap areas
and environmental river flows to improve the management
of these challenges.
• Research hub for Tropical Rivers and Coastal
Knowledge (TRACK)
A group of seven researchers
from Western Australia, Northern Territory and
Queensland will receive $8 million to improve
management information for northern Australia’s
catchments. TRACK will bring together Australia’s
leading tropical river and coastal scientists
and managers to address environmental issues facing
Australia’s northern river catchments. The hub
will generate and disseminate the knowledge needed
by regional NRM bodies, governments, Indigenous
communities and industry to support the sustainable
management of tropical rivers and costal environments.
The northern river catchments
area covers the rivers and coasts between the
tip of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland and Broome
in Western Australia, and includes the Fitzroy,
Daly, Mitchell, Ord, East Alligator, Gregory and
Nicholson rivers. It is home to the world’s oldest
living culture and contains the world’s most significant
concentration of river catchments still retaining
their ecological integrity. The hub will identify
important natural assets and ecosystem services
to provide a solid base upon which to assess the
social, economic and environmental impacts and
the viability of proposed developments in the
region. The hub will also identify opportunities
to develop genuinely sustainable and culturally
appropriate enterprises.
• Research hub for Landscape Logic: Linking Land
and Water Management to Resource Condition Targets
University of Tasmania’s Professor
Ted Lefroy will receive $7.9 million to establish
a research hub that will develop tools to improve
the sustainability of natural resource management
practices. He will lead a partnership of 24 researchers
across seven institutions and six regional catchment
management organisations including the North East,
Northern Central and Goulburn Broken Catchment
Management Agencies in Victoria, and the NRM North,
South and Cradle Coast in Tasmania. This hub will
develop a practical approach to natural resource
management by identifying the links between land
management at paddock, farm and forest block level,
and landscape health at catchment and regional
levels, improving returns from existing and proposed
public investments in natural resource management.
The model will be unique in
its applicability across a broad range of environments,
enabling environment managers to identify localities
and management activities that are contributing
to improving or decreasing the health or sustainability
of our landscapes, and where appropriate suggest
alternative activities to improve management outcomes.
This work will draw on the research that has been
undertaken through the Australian Government’s
previous investment in natural resource management
through the Natural Heritage Trust and the National
Action Plan on Salinity and Water Quality. It
will contribute to Australia’s management of emerging
markets for sustainable use of natural resources
such as water, carbon and biodiversity.
“The work of these hubs will
underpin good environmental management into the
future,” Senator Campbell said.
“It will also contribute significantly
to Australia’s response to climate change, its
water and soil management, and the sustainable
use of our country’s biodiversity – all critical
issues for this nation.
“Over the coming months, I will
be making further announcements on research to
address critical gaps in our knowledge of the
challenges facing the Australian environment.
In particular, I am keen to look at the areas
of taxonomy, marine conservation and socio-economic
research.”
For more information visit www.deh.gov.au/cerf
Rob Broadfield
