Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts inquiry into the operation of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

'Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts inquiry into the operation of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999', exploring the fundamental significance of the peopled landscape or 'people on country' in the natural resource management of the Australian continent

Why the Northern Territory government needs to support outstations/homelands in the Aboriginal, Northern Territory and national interest: submission to the Northern Territory Government Outstation Policy Discussion Paper

"The development of a Northern Territory outstation/homelands policy which meets the needs and aspirations of a dynamic and highly mobile population is extremely important. It is a complex and difficult task, but one which provides an important opportunity for outstations/homelands to be viewed as an integral component of the Northern Territory Government’s vision for ‘a framework for a sustainable future where development takes place within a context of land and sea conservation’ as envisaged in the Northern Territory Parks and Conservation Masterplan 2005. An innovative outstation/homeland policy which solves the problem of government service delivery of Indigenous Australians’ citizenship entitlements—so that it provides a choice for Indigenous Australians where they want to live and how they want to engage nationally and internationally in social, cultural and economic life—is urgently needed..." - Introduction, page

Creating Markets for Biodiversity: A Case Study of Earth Sanctuaries Ltd

This papers examines the activities and operations of the first publicly listed company in Australia with wildlife conservation as its primary goal. Earth Sanctuaries Ltd (ESL) is the first publicly listed company in Australia with wildlife conservation as its primary goal. Its focus to date is on conservation of small native mammals that are threatened by exotic predators and loss of habitat. Its strategy has been to acquire land, erect electrified vermin-proof fencing, remove feral animals, regenerate native vegetation and reintroduce selected native species. The paper finds that there does not appear to be a consistent and coordinated approach across jurisdictions for private conservation providers to access, keep, relocate and trade native wildlife, amplifying uncertainty for organisations which operate in several jurisdictions.biodiversity - environment - conservation - wildlife - Earth Sanctuaries - regulation - property rights - competitive neutrality - contestability - ecological outcomes - private sector conservation

Cost Sharing for Biodiversity Conservation: A Conceptual Framework

„h Many resource users undertake actions that conserve biodiversity. If, however, there were public demand for more conservation than would be provided voluntarily by the private sector alone, there are two broad principles for determining who should bear the costs ¡X ¡¥impacter pays¡¦ or ¡¥beneficiary pays¡¦. The two principles have different efficiency and distributional effects. „h A fundamental step in determining which cost sharing principle to apply is the clarification of the rights and responsibilities implied by existing property rights. This is an important issue that requires further work. „h If property rights effectively require resource users to meet an environmental standard, resource users who fail to achieve this may be considered to generate external costs. In these circumstances, on efficiency grounds, the impacter pays principle should generally be adopted to internalise external costs. This effectively amounts to enforcement of an individual¡¦s existing legal responsibilities. However, if the costs of implementing the impacter pays principle were to outweigh its efficiency advantages, the beneficiary pays principle may be considered.environment, conservation, biodiversity

Weed plan for Western Australia

One of the most significant environmental challenges facing Western Australia is the minimisation of the impact of weeds. In the relatively short history of this State since European settlement, some 1155 exotic plant species have established as weeds in our diverse and generally fragile ecosystems. While development for agriculture, mining, transport and housing must by its nature result in some change to the State’s flora, the introduction of weedy plant species has caused serious impacts which cause great concern. Weeds now pose a serious threat to many of the State’s ecosystems, and impose high annual costs on agricultural industries. Weeds pose a more widespread risk to the State’s bioregions than does salinity, recognised as Western Australia’s most serious environmental challenge. Without a substantial change in the way weed problems are tackled, the long-term impact of weeds on the economy, environment and community may approach, or even exceed, that of salinity. Development of A Weed Plan for Western Australia (referred to as the ‘State Weed Plan’) was initiated because a wide range of community, industry and government stakeholders recognised that there “had to be a better way” of reducing the impact of weeds.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1109/thumbnail.jp