Native vegetation provides the tremendous range of useful plant products we enjoy. All began as ‘wild’ unimproved species, with their potential spotted and developed by generations of farmers and entrepreneurs working with domesticated organisms. This process is ongoing (native grasses and bush foods are current examples) and more will be required. Native vegetation also forms the basis of the rangelands grazing industries; native pastures can form an important part of the feed base in southern and eastern Australia; shade and shelter and so on. The productive value of native vegetation was introduced in Question 3, which noted that a review of the economic value of native vegetation and biodiversity to human well-being was available in Biodiversity, Australia State of the Environment Report 2001 (Theme Report). Since then, numerous reports have been published through the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation on the productive use of native plant species. These include reports on wildflowers for export and local markets , bushfoods as a source of income for indigenous communities, bioenergy, and the potential for environmental certification for meat and wool products that utilise native plants as a main fodder source. Working with communities to demonstrate the contribution that native vegetation can make to local and regional economies is an important tool to help the resource become an integral part of management systems.
| | | | Action: 5.7 |
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| | Consult the RIRDC website for reports on the productive use of native plant species and the potential for environmental certification. | | | COST |  | | | TIME |  | | | COMPLEXITY |  | | | | |
The ecosystem services provided by native vegetation have been identified as a major contributor to agricultural production. Ecosystem services are the transformation of a set of natural assets (soil, plants and animals, air and water) into things that we value. For example, when fungi, worms and bacteria transform the raw ‘ingredients’ of sunlight, carbon and nitrogen into fertile soil, this transformation is an ecosystem service. The Ecosystem Services project has been introduced in Questions 1 and 4. The project is working with communities in several regions to understand and recognise the importance of ecosystem services, and consider them when making catchment-scale land use decisions. Seven different regions provide diverse approaches, a mixture of regional economic and social issues and differing natural resource characteristics. The project will provide a multitude of processes and tools with which to study ecosystem services including: - Methods for inventory of ecosystem services at a catchment scale;
- A scenarios and modelling process which illustrates the interaction of ecosystem services and the economic and social impacts related to different land uses;
- Decision-making aids which incorporate preferences and values of community members;
- Provision of an action research methodology that engages communities and stakeholders.
| | | | Action: 5.8 |
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| | Consider ways of valuing and investing in ecosystem services to support integrated regional management in your region, using the resources developed by the Ecosystem Services project. | | | COST | | | | TIME |  | | | COMPLEXITY |  | | | | |
The Farming in a Landscape (FIL) project aims to improve understanding of the relationships between cropping practices and landscape functions among grain growers and associated community and agency groups. The project has developed an action learning module (ALM) that focuses on the impacts that cropping activities have on landscape functions and the effects of landscape structure and function on farming systems. In particular, the ALM aims to identify and help overcome conceptual constraints to addressing landscape-scale natural resource management concerns such as salinity and biodiversity loss. Participants are encouraged to consider the spatial context (scale) of their land management activities and to identify the various impacts of on-farm management activities on natural resources in the wider farming landscape. It is anticipated that this will lead to a better understanding of the impacts of farming activities on landscape ecosystems and more efficient and sustainable use of natural assets in cropping landscapes. At policy level, Assessing Vegetation Assets, States and Transitions (VAST) was developed as a conceptual framework to assist in policy discussions on how to value, measure, evaluate and account ecosystem services provided by vegetation. The approach is built on a need to recognise that the goods and services provided by vegetation are valued for productive use and amenity along with values for biodiversity conservation. Differences in social and economic requirements, and in the capacity of native or non-native vegetation to meet these needs, determine the uses and land management practices of vegetation, e.g. production of food and fibre or biodiversity conservation. The National Market-based Instruments Pilot Program is also funding projects that are testing ways to value and invest in ecosystem services. It supported a symposium on Market-Based Tools for Environmental Management, with many of the presentations available on-line.
| | | | Action: 5.9 |
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| | Consider the wide array of mechanisms being tested under the National Market-based Instruments Pilot Program to value and invest in ecosystem services to support integrated regional management. | | | COST | | | | TIME | | | | COMPLEXITY |  | | | | |
Over the past three to eight years a number of rural industry groups have invested funds on projects and programs that are investigating the management of native vegetation and biodiversity in the context of commercial, profitable farms. These include: - Sustainable Grazing Systems Program (Meat & Livestock Australia);
- EDGENetwork NRM Modules (Meat & Livestock Australia);
- Land, Water & Wool Program (Australian Wool Innovation and Land & Water Australia);
- Biodiversity Strategy for the Rice Industry (Rice Growers Association);
- A Review of Biodiversity Research in the Australian Cotton Industry (Cotton Cooperative Research Centre); and
- Grain & Graze (Meat & Livestock Australia, Australian Wool Innovation, Land & Water Australia, and Grains Research and Development Corporation).
| | | | Action: 5.10 |
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| | Visit the websites of major industry research corporations and centres to discover what activities they are undertaking on managing native vegetation from the farm to catchment scale. | | | COST | | | | TIME | | | | COMPLEXITY | | | | | |
While the focus of many of the projects is on farm level, increasingly this work is being undertaken in the context of broader landscape and regions. For example, this has been addressed in the Managing Living Systems: EDGENetwork Training module and some of the projects in the Native Vegetation and Biodiversity sub-programs of Land, Water & Wool and Grain & Graze . The involvement of industry groups, with their extensive extension and communication networks, is opening up new avenues to explore the role that native vegetation and biodiversity play in production landscapes. Tourism is also raising awareness about native vegetation, particularly with the broader community. The report Steps to Sustainable Tourism offers a step-by-step approach to foster partnerships and to achieve benefits for tourism and conservation interests. Steps to Sustainable Tourism endeavours to find a common language between conservation, management and a business approach to help to conserve Australia’s environment and heritage (including natural, historic and Indigenous places), as well as support economic and community development. |
