Media release - 20 October
2008 - South Australia's fragile wetlands
and the internationally-renowned Padthaway
wine growing district will be better protected
under projects funded through the Caring
for our Country initiative.
Minister for the Environment,
Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, and
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and
Forestry, Tony Burke, said the Caring for
our Country package would support eight
projects around the state in 2008-09.
A total $18.9 million
will be shared between the state's eight
Natural Resource Management boards.
"Wetlands provide
an essential link between our land and water
resources and they need to be protected,"
Mr Garrett said.
"In the South Australian
Murray-Darling Basin region work will be
done to improve the condition and connection
of wetlands around Coorong and the Lower
Lakes.
"Funds will also
be used to protect the endangered Glossy
Black-Cockatoo on Kangaroo Island, by continuing
to improve nesting habitats and control
the impact of feral animals and weeds."
Mr Burke said the Caring
for our Country funding would help address
the salinity challenge facing wine growers
in the Padthaway district.
"Padthaway, meaning
'good water', is recognised as one of Australia's
premier wine growing areas and its wines
are in high demand around the world,"
he said.
"To ensure the
region's water is protected, we will work
with wine growers on practical ways to manage
and reduce root-zone salinity, minimising
the impact on soil and maximising vine productivity.
"Our farmers, including
wine growers, are already leaders in environmental
management on their properties and Caring
for our Country will help to ensure they
are supported into the future."
The $2.25 billion Caring
for our Country package is a five-year initiative
to deliver a new, coordinated approach to
environmental management in Australia, built
on a set of consistent national targets.
It is part of the Rudd
Government's plans to assist our primary
industries and the environment to adapt
to a changing climate.
For more information visit www.nrm.gov.au
Summary of activities
under the Caring for our Country investment
for South Australian regions
SA Murray Darling Basin: $5.08 million
Key activities include: best practice guidelines
for land managers; mapping priority pest
densities; whole farm planning, monitoring
and evaluation of environmental water policies;
integrated floodplain management; collection
and assessment of baseline fish and in-stream
habitat data; wetland management including
implementation of the Coorong and Lower
Lakes Ramsar Management Plan; protection
of resources through conservation agreements;
conservation and enhancement of habitat;
establishment of revegetation buffer areas
and natural regeneration of degraded areas;
recovery programs for priority threatened
species; community support, education and
awareness-raising; engagement of local Indigenous
people. For more information contact Jenny
Phillips on (08) 8532 1432.
South East: $2.61 million
Key activities include: identification of
the most profitable and sustainable commercial
pasture-based systems for the areas impacted
by the Upper South East deep drainage system;
improving the ecological health of Lake
George; recovery of threatened species and
habitat (eg. Southern bent-wing bat, Buloke
Woodland); protecting the iconic Blue Lake
from land use impacts; development of an
invasive species biosecurity strategy for
the South East; assessment and management
of salt water intrusion into the coastal
aquifers; improving management of soil salinity
for wine quality at Padthaway; restoration
of several Lower South East wetlands; strategic
feral deer control; supporting indigenous
involvement in natural resource management;
support of the Waterwatch South East Program.
For more information contact Fred Stadter
on (08) 8762 9116.
Adelaide and Mt Lofty
Ranges: $2.28 million
Key activities include: minimising threats
to biodiversity in the region by implementing
recovery plans to protect populations of
key species; on-ground reconstruction works
to enhance ecosystems and improve their
natural functionality; improving conservation
outside of reserves by supporting land managers
in effectively managing remnant ecosystems
on private land with a focus on conservation
clusters; providing advice and incentives
to assist farmers implement sustainable
production methods; and fencing and re-vegetating
watercourses to improve water quality. For
more information contact Christel Mex on
(08) 8273 9100.
Eyre Peninsula: $2.07
million
Key activities include: farm planning, assistance
with identification of best cropping/grazing
mixes for enterprises, planning for climate
change movement corridors on the Eyre Peninsula;
implementation of recovery plans for threatened
species; partnership with councils to protect
and revegetate coastal and dune areas; streambank
erosion control in the Cummins Wanilla/Salt
Creek/Dutton River Catchments; promotion
and adoption of best practice sustainable
agricultural and grazing techniques; improved
water quality in three major catchments
through fencing, revegetation, perennial
pasture establishment, erosion control and
improved land use practices; coordinated
feral pest control over a large part of
Eyre Peninsula; control of White Weeping
Broom and African Boxthorn; engagement of
Indigenous Communities, schools and volunteers.
For more information contact Kate Clarke
on (08) 8682 7555.
Kangaroo Island: $1.45
million
Key activities include: protecting the island's
biodiversity by controlling and eradicating
pest species and preventing new introductions;
maintaining and replanting habitat to increase
populations of the endangered Glossy Black
Cockatoo; minimising threats to threatened
plant species in the eastern part of the
island by revegetating, improving fire management
and controlling weeds; replanting along
watercourses to improve water quality and
mitigate seagrass decline; and increasing
the sustainability of agriculture by increasing
awareness of practices to manage soil acidity,
waterlogging and soil erosion. For more
information contact Jeanette Gellard on
(08) 8553 4340.
Alinytjara Wilurara:
$1.99 million
Key activities include: research into sustainable
groundwater harvesting limits and the impact
of grazing on native vegetation, increasing
knowledge of hydrological processes, ground
and surface water resources and the impacts
of water harvesting; protection of rock
hole springs; implementing sustainable fire
regimes; educating Indigenous communities
in traditional and contemporary biodiversity
principles and working with them to protect
biodiversity from feral animals such as
camels, foxes, rabbits and cats; sustainable
use of bush tucker and medicine; encouraging
sustainable grazing; controlling feral pests;
and managing vehicle and visitor activity
in the area. For more information contact
Danielle Rosenberg on (08) 8357 3880.
SA Arid Lands: $1.8
million
Key activities include: enhancing landscapes
and biodiversity by controlling key threatening
pest species through the development of
best practice in feral animal control; supporting
local community groups to better manage
pest plants and animals, including the use
of evidence-based measures to control dingo
populations; re-establishing natural ecosystems
by reintroducing locally extinct fauna and
implementing recovery measures for other
threatened fauna. For more information contact
Mark Wheeler on (08) 8204 9328.
Northern & Yorke:
$1.69 million
Key activities include: improving land management
practices while enhancing farmers/landholders
ability to sustain productive livelihoods,
protecting iconic species and ecological
communities; creating wildlife corridors;
buffering landscape edges from threatening
processes; restricting vehicular access
to sensitive coastal environments; improving
water quality discharged to marine environments;
improving farm management practices through
addressing soil erosion and acidity; increasing
adoption of no-till farming; implementing
agreements for the permanent conservation
of natural resources; managing weeds and
pest animals; and helping local Indigenous
people to manage their land. For more information
contact Wendy Fowler on (08) 8636 2361.
+ More
New award for carbon
measuring system
Media release - 21 October
2008 - Australian Government technology
developed to measure greenhouse gases emitted
from forestry, land clearing and farming
has received another award - the CSIRO Partnership
Excellence Award.
Minister for Climate
Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, congratulated
the team of scientists from the Department
of Climate Change, CSIRO, and the Australian
National University that developed the system,
known as the National Carbon Accounting
System.
This National Carbon Accounting System provides
Australia with a world-leading tool to measure
greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sinks
across Australia's landscape.
This tool underpins
Australia's national emissions accounts
and assists in devising ways to reduce emissions
from land management activities.
In August, the National
Carbon Accounting System won the Sherman
Eureka Prize for Environmental Research.
"The Australian
Government developed the National Carbon
Accounting System in partnership with the
spatial industry, the private sector, and
State Governments," Senator Wong said.
Globally, deforestation
is occurring at a rate of about 13 million
hectares per year. At the Bali Climate Change
Conference, the world agreed for the first
time that reducing emissions from deforestation
in developing countries should be a part
of a future international climate change
agreement.
To help turn this agreement
into practical reality, the world must first
increase the capacity of developing countries
to account for their forest carbon and Australia's
National Carbon Accounting System is providing
the technological answer.
"Australia is already
sharing this award-winning technology with
the world," Senator Wong said.
"Indonesia has
expressed its intention to build an Indonesian
national carbon accounting system and Australia
is currently working with a team of Indonesian
scientists and officials as part of the
Indonesia-Australia Forest Carbon Partnership.
"We recently worked
with China to help it build a carbon accounting
system for the Guangxi Autonomous Region
as a pilot project for a future national
system.
"The National Carbon
Accounting System was also selected from
an international search by the Clinton Climate
Initiative to be the basis for a Global
Carbon Monitoring System, which aims to
use carbon trading to benefit the environment
and help alleviate poverty in the developing
world."
The highly sophisticated
system involves remote sensing, information
from thousands of satellite images, greenhouse
gas accounting methods, and modelling of
changes in our environment to monitor and
account for emissions from land-based sectors.
