Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review: Report of the Expert Scientific Panel

The report provides a scientific basis for the declaration and management of the Australian Marine Reserve Syste

An accidental outcome: Social capital and its implications for Landcare and the "status quo"

For 25 years the Australian Landcare program has encouraged rural land managers to work cooperatively to resolve natural resource management issues across the nation. Landcare has spread and the model is used internationally. Despite its successes, Landcare has come under criticism for not sufficiently directing land management practices towards environmental sustainability. This criticism sees it as having maintained the " status quo" .Alternatively Landcare has been credited with acting as an agent that creates social capital, bringing neighbours together to share ideas and implement cooperative projects. We use the concept of social capital to offer insight into how Landcare groups as social networks can either inhibit or promote changes in land management.Using findings from a study of 16 Landcare groups in South Eastern Victoria, Australia, we demonstrate that various forms of social capital can act to either inhibit or empower individuals and groups to challenge the status quo of land management practice. We explain how the intentions of these grass roots organisations are to emphasise local knowledge, ownership and power. However, in some cases these actions produce the accidental outcome of maintaining the status quo. We argue that the way Landcare groups are supported can further aggravates this.At a time when the health of Landcare is in question, and the need for solutions to natural resource management problems are critical, understanding the implications of these findings will enable institutions to tailor programs to facilitate groups to challenge the status quo and reinvigorate interest in Landcare as a community building model

Carbon sequestration and biodiversity restoration potential of semi-arid mulga lands of Australia interpreted from long-term grazing exclosures

Limited data regarding soil carbon (C) sequestration potential and biosequestration potential in arid and semi-arid environments is an impediment to appropriate policy formulation directed at greenhouse gas abatement. This paper assesses the terrestrial C biosequestration and biodiversity restoration potential of the semi-arid mulga lands of eastern Australia by measuring above and below ground C, and by making floristic biodiversity assessments in old grazing exclosures.Grazing exclusion increased water infiltration rates and water retention capacity in the soil. Exclosures also had increased herbaceous cover and decreased bare ground. Biodiversity benefits included higher species richness and increased abundance of native grasses, many of which have become locally rare under increased grazing pressure.The study indicates that in the absence of grazing, soil and above ground biomass, when combined, has potential carbon sequestration rates of between 0.92 and 1.1tCO-ehayear over a period of approximately 40 years. The contribution to these figures from soil C sequestration is approximately 0.18tCO-ehayear, with above ground biomass contributing an additional 0.73-0.91tCO-ehayear. If 50% of eastern Australia's mulga lands (half of 25.4 million ha) were managed for C sequestration and biodiversity through the control of all herbivores, then annual sequestration rates could reach between 11.6 and 14MtCO-eyear which is between 2 and 2.5% of Australia's annual emissions. The potential to sequester carbon and improve biodiversity outcomes in extensive semi arid grazing lands will require significant policy shifts to encourage and reward necessary land use change