Caring for our Country Business Plan 2010-11

About the Business Plan 2010-11

Caring for our Country overview

Caring for our Country is an Australian Government initiative that seeks to achieve an environment that is healthy, better protected, well-managed, resilient, and provides essential ecosystem services in a changing climate.

Australia's natural environment - the life in our rivers, lands and seas - is fundamental to our economy, well-being and national identity. Our natural environment provides the basis for our ability to support human life.

Australia's natural environment is in decline. We have suffered the largest decline in biodiversity of any continent over the past 200 years and our rate of decline remains one of the highest in the world. The most severe symptoms of this include loss of species, fragmentation of native habitats, reduced productive capacity and economic losses that are felt across the entire community.

In addition, the environmental services we rely on are at risk - from climate change and from decisions and actions that threaten our critical aquatic systems, water quality, biodiversity, rich marine life, coasts, soils, vegetation cover and land. Essential ecosystem services include protected biodiversity, clean air and water and healthy soils which support sustainable food and fibre industries. At the same time there is increasing pressure to maintain rural economies and food and fibre production against the background of a changing climate.

The government has already responded decisively to climate change and water availability, with a range of initiatives in place to address these issues that complement Caring for our Country.

Caring for our Country aims to protect and restore our unique and valuable environment by focusing on six national priority areas: the National Reserve System, biodiversity and natural icons, coastal environments and critical aquatic habitats, sustainable farm practices, natural resource management in northern and remote Australia, and community skills, knowledge and engagement.

Over the first five years, Caring for our Country will provide over $2 billion in funding. To date, more than $1.3 billion (including more than $455 million under the 2009-10 business plan) has been approved for investment in environmental protection and sustainable practice single and multi-year projects.

To ensure these funds are invested in the best way across the highest priorities, in 2008 the government announced the Caring for our Country five-year outcomes. Details of these are available on the Caring for our Country website at www.nrm.gov.au.

To further guide investments, detailed shorter-term targets are identified in each annual business plan, setting out the key elements necessary to meet the five-year outcomes. This current business plan identifies the targets and investment focus for the third year of Caring for our Country.

An annual Caring for our Country report card will identify progress against these outcomes and targets so that achievements can be tracked and measured.