Title: States question funding in national plan to protect species habitats
[Sydney Morning Herald - By Tom Arup, June 3, 2010] DAMAGE caused to the environment by invasive pests such as foxes, cane toads and camels will be reduced by 10 per cent by 2015 under targets in a new national strategy on biodiversity. Informed sources told the Herald the strategy, which still needs to be approved by state governments and is subject to change, will establish 10 national targets to slow the decline of biodiversity in Australia. Other targets, details of which have not yet emerged, will set goals to expand environmentally protected land, protect habitats, indigenous employment in reserves, connect biodiversity corridors and ecosystem market programs, among others.
The source said the invasive species target aims to reduce the ecological impact of invasive pests by 10 per cent by 2015. State governments believe it is an ambitious target and have urged the federal government to continue existing funding levels for pest eradication before they sign up.
The targets laid out in the national biodiversity strategy are understood to reflect or expand on existing targets under the federal government's environmental grants program, Caring for Our Country.
There will not be a specific target for stopping species extinctions; the focus instead will be on protecting ecological assets such as habitats that help strengthen populations of endangered plants and animals.
The shift away from protecting single species reflects the views of the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, who pushed for a whole-of-ecosystem approach to protecting the environment in a speech last August.
A spokesman for Mr Garrett yesterday declined to comment on the specifics of the strategy ahead of its release.
The inclusion of targets is also a major change in direction after the draft version of the biodiversity strategy released last year was roundly criticised for not having measurable outcomes.
In response, Mr Garrett asked state and federal bureaucrats to rewrite a second version of the strategy to establish achievable targets for protecting the environment.
The strategy's public release was delayed in April when some state governments asked whether the targets in the final version were achievable under current funding levels for biodiversity programs.
The release of the national biodiversity strategy is not expected to come with additional funding for biodiversity programs.
In the May federal budget Caring for Our Country was cut by $81.3 million over four years. But the government did commit $18 million for national environmental accounts and $8 million for new marine protection zones.
The national strategy is an overarching plan to protect Australia's natural environment and biodiversity.
The national biodiversity strategy will also form part of Australia's submissions to the UN later this year as the world negotiates a new version of the Convention on Biological Diversity.