Caring for our Country - Environmental Stewardship
Farmers, graziers, Indigenous communities, and other private land managers manage approximately 77 per cent of Australia's land area. Effective protection of Australia's environmental resources requires managing environmental assets on private land, and engaging private land managers in this effort.
Caring for our Country - Environmental Stewardship will purchase environmental services from individuals or organisations that own or manage freehold, leasehold or native title land. We will pay land managers to undertake agreed actions beyond their regulated responsibilities to achieve public benefit environmental outcomes that contribute to the long-term protection, rehabilitation and improvement of targeted environmental assets on private land. Relevant actions could include changing property management in relation to aspects such as:
- stocking and grazing intensity
- fertilizer use
- weed management
- replanting
We will assess land manager bids on the basis of the amount of environmental benefit provided for the price and time under management. Those that provide the best value for money, and fall within the available budget, will be most competitive.
Contract lengths may be up to 15 years duration, to allow for the time required by ecological processes to produce an outcome. For example most regenerating vegetation does not develop resistance to pests and weeds for 10-15 years.
Payments to land managers will be treated as income and will be taxable.
National priorities
Environmental Stewardship investments will contribute to the Caring for our Country biodiversity and natural icons national priority. They will target high public value environmental assets on private land or impacted by activities on private land. Targeted assets will be related to the following matters of National Environmental Significance listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999:
- nationally endangered or vulnerable species and ecological communities;
- migratory species and wetlands for which Australia has international responsibilities; and
- natural values associated with world and national heritage places.
These matters represent the most vulnerable and at risk environmental assets which fall substantially under the Australian Government's responsibility.
The Australian Government will identify priority environmental assets that will be the subject of specific calls for proposals.
Who can apply?
You can apply if you own or manage freehold, leasehold or native title land which has priority environmental assets that have been identified under a specific call for proposals. We will specify additional criteria such as the type and location of the environmental asset in a particular call for proposals. Success in obtaining a contract will be determined through auction, tender and other market-based mechanisms.
Current Projects
New Projects
As described in the Caring for our Country Business Plan 2010-11, the Environmental Stewardship Program will be expanding in 2010-11 to target an additional five endangered ecological communities, with new projects to be delivered in northern NSW and south eastern SA.
SA Multiple Ecological Communities Project
The SA project will be implemented in the NRM regions of Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Northern and Yorke, and South Australian Murray-Darling Basin and will target the following nationally threatened ecological communities:
- peppermint box grassy woodland
- iron-grass natural temperate grassland
- swamps of the Fleurieu Peninsula.
NSW Multiple Ecological Communities Project
The NSW project will be implemented in the NRM regions of Central West, Namoi, and Border Rivers-Gwydir and will target the following nationally threatened ecological communities:
- white box, yellow box and Blakely's red gum grassy woodland and derived
grasslands ecological community - natural grasslands on basalt and fine-textured alluvial plains of northern NSW
and southern Queensland - weeping Myall woodlands.
These projects are due to commence in 2010-11. More information on the commencement of funding rounds will be available closer to this date.
The Caring for our Country Business Plan 2010-11 can be accessed by following this link:
Recognition of Caring for our Country funding
All projects funded in full or part by the initiative must acknowledge Caring for our Country in all promotional activities.
Further information
Other market based approaches
Key
Links to another web site
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