Caring for our Country Business Plan 2010-11

About the Business Plan 2010-11

Budget

Up to $171 million will be available for investment under the 2010-11 Caring for our Country business plan. An additional $138 million is allocated each year as base-level funding to regional natural resource management (NRM) organisations.

Funding so far

Caring for our Country provides a sustained, long term commitment to achieve meaningful and targeted results for our environment and sustainable agriculture. The Australian Government has provided over $2 billion for the first five years of Caring for our Country, of which more than $1.3 billion is already approved for investment in single and multi-year projects for environment protection and sustainable agriculture across Australia, including:

more than $450 million in base-level funding for regional NRM organisations
$77.2 million to expand the National Reserve System, including Indigenous Protected Areas
$63.1 million for Landcare grants to improve sustainable agriculture
over $22 million in grants for critical aquatic habitats
over $37 million in grants for biodiversity protection
$99.2 million for the Reef Rescue election commitment
$10 million to support research into the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease
$5.25 million to improve water quality in the Gippsland Lakes and Eastern Creek Wetlands
$8.66 million to improve water quality in the Tuggerah Lakes estuary
$41.5 million for the Community Coastcare election commitment
$27.3 million for Environmental Stewardship Program projects to protect endangered ecological communities in New South Wales and Queensland.

Working with state governments

The Australian Government has also been working jointly with state governments to implement a number of ongoing activities that contribute to Caring for our Country outcomes and targets (this funding is also included in the $1.3 billion) including:

$17 million over five years (or $3.4 million per year) to manage and protect the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area
$13.5 million over five years (or $2.7 million per year) to manage and protect the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area
$2 million since 2008-09 towards fox eradication in Tasmania
over $3 million since 2008-09 for national coordination of the Australian Weeds Strategy, Weeds of National Significance Strategy and the Australian Pest Animal Strategy
over $11 million since 2008-09 to help eradicate Red Imported Fire Ants and Electric Ants and prevent them becoming established pests
$9.2 million over five years to eradicate rabbits and rodents that are causing extensive damage to World Heritage listed Macquarie Island.

Multi-year projects

Many successful proposals under Caring for our Country have funding approved for multi-year projects.

This commitment to multi-year projects provides greater long term certainty to project managers and allows for better planning to improve on-ground outcomes.

This also means that some funding in 2010-11 and remaining years has already been committed.

Funding for 2010-11 business plan

We are seeking submissions for single or multi-year funding through the 2010-11 Caring for our Country business plan. Investment will be available through various approaches, including through an open call and expression of interest processes.

Table 1 provides information on the 2010-11 notional multi-year budget and details the split between each national priority area and a snapshot of the overall expected spread of funding available through the business plan and other processes.

These notional budgets may, however, change depending on the quality of applications received under the business plan for each national priority area.

Table 1: Caring for our Country 2010-11 notional multi-year budget
National Priority Area	Notional Budget Split	Notional Multi-Year Budget Available
National Reserve System	Expanding the National Reserve System	$38 million
National Reserve System	Expanding Indigenous Protected Areas	$10 million
Biodiversity and Natural Icons	Environmental Stewardship Program	$10 million
	Protection of environmental values in and around World Heritage Areas, including securing management arrangements	$6 million
	Increasing native habitat and reducing the impact of invasive species	$6 million
Coastal Environments and Critical Aquatic Habitats	Protecting the Great Barrier Reef including $9 million for research and development proposals	$49 million
	Community Coastcare to improve water quality in coastal hotspots and increase community participation in protecting and rehabilitating coastal environments	$29 million
	Sustaining the environmental values of Ramsar wetlands and high conservation value aquatic ecosystems	$7 million
Sustainable Farm Practices	Sustainable practices projects	$15 million
Community Skills, Knowledge and Engagement	Targets in this priority area will be delivered via projects addressing targets in other national priority areas. Community Action Grants are also available to support community groups to undertake projects in other Caring for our Country national priority areas.
Northern and Remote Australia	Funding for northern and remote Australia is delivered through several targets and activities under other Caring for our Country national priority areas.
Note: Notional budgets are approximate and described in whole millions.

Regional NRM organisations are allocated $138 million per year in base-level funding under Caring for our Country.

Table 2 shows how regional NRM organisations applied their base-level funding received in 2008-10 against each of the Caring for our Country national priority areas.

Regional NRM organisations will continue to use their base-level funding to contribute to the Caring for our Country outcomes and targets. For more information on the role of regional NRM organisations see Section 1.5.

Table 2. Regional NRM organisation base-level allocations
National Priority Area	How regional NRM organisations have applied their base-level funding
National Priority Area	2008-09	2009-10
National Reserve System	$207 300	$1 114 479
Biodiversity and Natural Icons	$51 204 528	$37 184 855
Coastal Environments and Critical Aquatic Habitats	$34 928 499	$16 286 597
Sustainable Farm Practices	$34 235 713	$35 922 969
Community Skills, Knowledge and Engagement *	$38 423 960	$21 538 615
Core Operating Costs Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement **	-	$17 929 395
TOTAL	$159 000 000	$129 976 910 ***
Notes: * Regional NRM organisations play an important role in engaging the public in natural resource management issues through a range of community skills, knowledge and engagement investments. Investment on core operating costs and on Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement were specifically identified from 2009-10 onwards. * Amount allocated to date from the total regional base-level funding of $138 million for 2009-10.