tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/landcare-3433/articlesLandcare – The Conversation2020-02-03T18:59:18Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1308742020-02-03T18:59:18Z2020-02-03T18:59:18ZLots of people want to help nature after the bushfires – we must seize the moment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313208/original/file-20200203-41541-1b7qp5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C0%2C4500%2C3233&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Mariuz/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the devastation of this season of bushfires unfolds, many people have asked themselves: what can I do to help? Perhaps they donated money, left food out for wildlife or thought about joining a bush regeneration group.</p>
<p>Big, life-changing moments – whether society-wide or personal – provide unique opportunities to disrupt habits and foster new behaviours. Think of how a heart attack can prompt some people to adopt a healthier lifestyle.</p>
<p>For many Australians, the bushfire disaster could represent such a turning point, marking the moment they adopt new, long-term actions to help nature. But governments and environmental organisations must quickly engage people before the moment is lost.</p>
<h2>Creatures of habit</h2>
<p>Human behaviour is <a href="http://orca.cf.ac.uk/43453/1/MomentsofChangeEV0506FinalReportNov2011(2).pdf">generally habitual</a>, resistant to change, and shaped by context such as time of day, location or social group. But when this context is disrupted, opportunities emerge to foster change.</p>
<p>Take the case of taking action on climate change. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01695.x">Research</a> into public perceptions, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00230/full">including in Australia</a>, suggests most people see climate change as not personally relevant. In other words, they are “psychologically distant” from the problem. This means they are less likely to adopt pro-environmental behaviors.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fire-almost-wiped-out-rare-species-in-the-australian-alps-feral-horses-are-finishing-the-job-130584">Fire almost wiped out rare species in the Australian Alps. Feral horses are finishing the job</a>
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<p>But the bushfire crisis was personally relevant to millions of Australians. Some tragically lost loved ones or homes. Thousands were forced to evacuate or had holidays cut short. And the smoke haze which engulfed our cities badly interfered with daily life.</p>
<p>Such ruptures are described in psychology and behavioural science as a <a href="http://orca.cf.ac.uk/43453/1/MomentsofChangeEV0506FinalReportNov2011(2).pdf">moment of change</a>, which means the time is ripe to encourage new behaviours.</p>
<h2>Where there’s a will</h2>
<p>Even before the fire crisis, many Australians were primed to act for nature. </p>
<p>In 2018 we conducted a survey <a href="https://www.ari.vic.gov.au/research/people-and-nature/victorians-value-nature">which found</a> 86% of Victorians support pro-environmental and pro-social values, 95% are aware of the condition of Victoria’s environment and the importance of biodiversity, and more than 64% feel connected to nature.</p>
<p>Experience of previous natural disasters provides further insights into why people might volunteer.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pulling-out-weeds-is-the-best-thing-you-can-do-to-help-nature-recover-from-the-fires-130296">Pulling out weeds is the best thing you can do to help nature recover from the fires</a>
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<p>After the 2011 Rena oil spill in New Zealand, communities came together to quickly remove oil from the coastline. <a href="https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/11678">Subsequent research</a> found people volunteered for a range of reasons. This included a sense of collective responsibility for the environment for both current and future generations, and to connect with others and cope with their negative response to the spill.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.behaviourchangewheel.com/about-wheel">One model of behaviour change theory</a> suggests if people have the motivation, capability and opportunity, they are more likely to act.</p>
<p>Australians have shown motivation and capability to act in this bushfire crisis – now they need opportunities. Governments and environmental organisations should encourage easy behaviours people can perform now.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313213/original/file-20200203-41516-1tgg1dj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313213/original/file-20200203-41516-1tgg1dj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313213/original/file-20200203-41516-1tgg1dj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313213/original/file-20200203-41516-1tgg1dj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313213/original/file-20200203-41516-1tgg1dj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313213/original/file-20200203-41516-1tgg1dj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313213/original/file-20200203-41516-1tgg1dj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Bush regeneration groups are keenly awaiting new volunteers to help with bushfire recovery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
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<h2>Putting it into practice</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BIT-Publication-EAST_FA_WEB.pdf">Timeliness</a> is essential in promoting new behaviours. Organisations should limit the time that passes between a person’s first impulse to help – <a href="https://conservationvolunteers.com.au/bushfires/">such as signing up to a volunteer organisation</a> – and concrete opportunities to act.</p>
<p>Volunteering groups should communicate early with volunteers, find out what skills and resources they can offer then provide easy, practical suggestions for acting quickly.</p>
<p>In the short term, this might mean suggesting that concerned citizens keep their <a href="http://www.safecat.org.au/">cats</a> indoors and dogs under control, particularly near areas affected by the fires; take a bag on their beach walk to pick up litter and debris; or advocate for the environment by <a href="https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/say-what-starting-climate-conversation">talking</a> with family and friends about why nature needs protecting.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-this-grandmother-tree-connects-me-to-country-i-cried-when-i-saw-her-burned-129782">Friday essay: this grandmother tree connects me to Country. I cried when I saw her burned</a>
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<p>In the longer term, these behaviours could be scaled up to activities such as encouraging people to fill their <a href="https://gardensforwildlifevictoria.com/">garden</a> with native plants to provide new habitat for wildlife; regularly <a href="https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/biodiversity/victorians-volunteering-for-nature">volunteering</a> for nature, and participating in <a href="https://www.swifft.net.au/cb_pages/citizen_science.php">citizen science</a> projects.</p>
<p>Governments, councils and other organisations should provide information that guides the activities of volunteers, but still gives them control over how they act. This can lead to positive initiatives such as <a href="https://landcareaustralia.org.au/">Landcare</a>, which allows local people to design solutions to environmental problems.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/rebuilding-from-the-ashes-of-disaster-this-is-what-australia-can-learn-from-india-130385?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20January%2028%202020%20-%201519614480&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20January%2028%202020%20-%201519614480+CID_95e759a130584ceb9e01dfae3bfc0836&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Rebuilding%20from%20the%20ashes%20of%20disaster%20this%20is%20what%20Australia%20can%20learn%20from%20India">Analysis of natural disaster response overseas</a> has shown that decentralised approaches which incorporate local communities work well.</p>
<h2>The long-term picture</h2>
<p>There is a danger that once the immediate shock of the bushfire crisis passes, some people will return to their old behaviours. However research has shown when people undertake one pro-environmental behaviour, they are more likely to <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/You-did%2C-so-you-can-and-you-will%3A-Self-efficacy-as-Lauren-Fielding/63eec319447a3bb71234230fe1b7b6092df1825e">repeat it in future</a>. </p>
<p>Encouraging people to help nature, and spend time in it, can also improve a person’s <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29982151">physical</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-019-00118-6">mental</a> well-being.</p>
<p>After the New Zealand oil spill cleanup, for example, most volunteers reported a sense of satisfaction, better social ties and renewed optimism. </p>
<p>This summer’s east coast bushfires are a tragedy. But if the moment is harnessed, Australians can create new habits that help the environment in its long process of recovery. And perhaps one day, acting for nature will become the new social norm.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130874/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Hatty receives a Graduate Research Industry Partnership (GRIP) scholarship, part-funded by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abby Wild and Denise Goodwin do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For many Australians, the bushfire disaster could represent a turning point: the moment they adopt new, long-term behaviours to help nature.Denise Goodwin, Research Fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash UniversityAbby Wild, Research fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash UniversityMelissa Hatty, PhD candidate, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1302962020-01-27T18:58:14Z2020-01-27T18:58:14ZPulling out weeds is the best thing you can do to help nature recover from the fires<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311539/original/file-20200123-162232-xs4vf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C0%2C3867%2C2444&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australians are keen to help nature recover after a season of devastating bushfires.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darren England/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Australians feel compelled to help our damaged wildlife after this season’s terrible bushfires. Suggested actions have included <a href="https://www.wwf.org.au/get-involved/bushfire-emergency">donating money</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-can-leave-water-out-for-wildlife-without-attracting-mosquitoes-if-you-take-a-few-precautions-128631">leaving water out</a> for thirsty animals, and learning how to <a href="https://www.marieclaire.com.au/how-to-help-animals-australian-bushfires">help the injured</a>. But there is an equally, if not more, important way to assist: weeding.</p>
<p>An army of volunteers is needed to help land owners with judicious weed removal. This will help burnt habitats recover more quickly, providing expanded, healthy habitat for native fauna. </p>
<p>Other emergency responses, such as culling feral animals and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/massive-food-drop-to-help-save-endangered-wallabies-in-fire-affected-areas-20200112-p53qss.html">dropping emergency food from aeroplanes</a>, are obviously jobs for specialists. But volunteer weeding does not require any prior expertise – just a willingness to get your hands dirty and take your lead from those in the know. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311544/original/file-20200123-162190-4qhus3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311544/original/file-20200123-162190-4qhus3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311544/original/file-20200123-162190-4qhus3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311544/original/file-20200123-162190-4qhus3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311544/original/file-20200123-162190-4qhus3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311544/original/file-20200123-162190-4qhus3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311544/original/file-20200123-162190-4qhus3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Volunteer weeding will help burnt habitats recover more quickly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Silje Polland/Flickr</span></span>
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<h2>Why is weeding so critical?</h2>
<p>The recent bushfires burned many areas in national parks and reserves which were infested with weeds. Some weeds are killed in a blaze, but fire also stimulates their seed banks to germinate.</p>
<p>Weed seedlings will spring up en masse and establish dense stands that out-compete native plants by blocking access to sunlight. Native seedlings will die without setting seed, wasting this chance for them to recover and to provide habitat for a diverse range of native species.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/many-of-our-plants-and-animals-have-adapted-to-fires-but-now-the-fires-are-changing-129754">Many of our plants and animals have adapted to fires, but now the fires are changing</a>
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<p>This mass weed germination is also an opportunity to improve the outlook for biodiversity. With a coordinated volunteer effort, these weeds can be taken out before they seed – leaving only a residual seed bank with no adult weeds to create more seed and creating space for native plants to flourish.</p>
<p>With follow-up weeding, we can leave our national parks and reserves – and even bushland on farms - in a better state than they were before the fires.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311542/original/file-20200123-162221-1l3qp1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311542/original/file-20200123-162221-1l3qp1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311542/original/file-20200123-162221-1l3qp1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311542/original/file-20200123-162221-1l3qp1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311542/original/file-20200123-162221-1l3qp1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311542/original/file-20200123-162221-1l3qp1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311542/original/file-20200123-162221-1l3qp1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Bush regeneration groups are well placed to restore forests after fire, but need volunteers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
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<h2>Weeding works</h2>
<p>In January 1994, fire burned most of Lane Cove National Park in Sydney. Within a few months of the fire, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2005.00225.x">volunteer bush regeneration groups were set up to help tackle regenerating weeds</a>.</p>
<p>Their efforts eradicated weeds from areas where the problem previously seemed intractable and prevented further weed expansion. Key to success in this case was the provision of funding for coordination, an engaged community which produced passionate volunteers and enough resources to train them.</p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/conservation-scientists-are-grieving-after-the-bushfires-but-we-must-not-give-up-130195">Conservation scientists are grieving after the bushfires -- but we must not give up</a>
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<p>Following recent fires in the Victorian high country, volunteers will be critical to controlling weeds, <a href="https://bie.ala.org.au/species/http://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2897651">particularly broom (Scotch broom and related species), which occurs throughout fire-affected areas </a>. </p>
<p>Fire typically kills these woody shrubs but also stimulates seed germination. Without intervention, broom will form dense stands which <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11258-005-9046-7.pdf">out-compete native plant species </a>.</p>
<p>However, swift action now can prevent this. Mass germination <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299041169">reduces the broom’s seedbank to as low as 8% of pre-fire levels, and around half of the remaining seeds die each year</a>. Further, broom usually takes three years to flower and replenish its seedbank. So with no new seeds being produced and the seedbank low and shrinking, this three-year window offers an important opportunity to restore previously infested areas.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311540/original/file-20200123-162199-1bukveg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311540/original/file-20200123-162199-1bukveg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311540/original/file-20200123-162199-1bukveg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311540/original/file-20200123-162199-1bukveg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311540/original/file-20200123-162199-1bukveg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311540/original/file-20200123-162199-1bukveg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311540/original/file-20200123-162199-1bukveg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Scotch broom, a native shrub of Western Europe, has infested vast swathes of Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gunter Maywald-CSIRO/Wikimedia</span></span>
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<p>Parks Victoria took up this opportunity after the 2003 fires in the Alpine National Park. They rallied agencies, natural resource management groups and local landholders to <a href="http://www.aabr.org.au/images/stories/resources/ManagementGuides/WeedGuides/wmg_brooms.pdf">sweep up broom </a>. Herbicide trials at that time revealed that to get the best outcome for their money, it was critical to spray broom seedlings early, within the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259323125_Best-practice_chemical_control_of_English_broom_Cytisus_scoparius_evaluated_in_Alpine_National_Park_Victoria_through_an_adaptive_experimental_management_program">first year and a half</a>. </p>
<p>Broom management also needs to use a range of approaches, <a href="https://www.parkconnect.vic.gov.au/Volunteer/public-planned-activity/?id=446c9d83-53b6-e811-a966-000d3ad1c6f2">including using volunteers to spread a biological control agent</a>. </p>
<h2>Plenty of work to do</h2>
<p>Parks Victoria continue to <a href="https://www.parkconnect.vic.gov.au/Volunteer/">engage community groups in park management</a> and will coordinate fire response actions when parks are safe to enter. Similar programs can be found in <a href="https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/conservation-and-heritage/volunteer-programs">New South Wales</a>, <a href="https://www.dbca.wa.gov.au/parks-and-wildlife-service/volunteering-with-parks-and-wildlife">Western Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.parks.sa.gov.au/volunteer">South Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/parks/park-volunteers/start-volunteering">Queensland</a>, <a href="https://parks.tas.gov.au/be-involved/volunteer">Tasmania</a>, <a href="https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/learn-and-be-involved/volunteers-in-parks">the Northern Territory</a>, and the <a href="https://www.environment.act.gov.au/parks-conservation/parks-and-reserves/get-involved/the-ParkCare-initiative">ACT</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kevin_Taylor16/publication/331247014_Fire_Weeds_and_the_Native_Vegetation_of_New_South_Wales_A_report_prepared_by_the_Hotspots_Fire_Project/links/5c6e1fa94585156b570d4c51/Fire-Weeds-and-the-Native-Vegetation-of-New-South-Wales-A-report-prepared-by-the-Hotspots-Fire-Project.pdf">wide range of weeds expand after fire</a> and warrant a rapid response. They include <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/weeds/publications/guidelines/wons/pubs/l-camara.pdf">lantana</a>, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128482">bitou bush</a>, and
<a href="http://caws.org.nz/old-site/awc/2006/awc200612111.pdf">blackberry</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-native-plants-can-flourish-after-bushfire-but-theres-only-so-much-hardship-they-can-take-129748">Yes, native plants can flourish after bushfire. But there’s only so much hardship they can take</a>
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<p>Managing weeds after fire is currently a high priority at many sites. At the edges of the World Heritage Gondwana rainforests of southwest Queensland and northern and central NSW, there is a window to more effectively control <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/12/12/3387436.htm">lantana</a>. In many forested areas in NSW, Victoria and South Australia, fire has created an opportunity to address important weed problems.</p>
<p>State government agencies have the mapping capacity to locate these places. Hopefully they can make these resources easy for the public to access soon, so community groups can self-organise and connect with park managers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311545/original/file-20200123-162240-brb21w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311545/original/file-20200123-162240-brb21w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311545/original/file-20200123-162240-brb21w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311545/original/file-20200123-162240-brb21w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311545/original/file-20200123-162240-brb21w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311545/original/file-20200123-162240-brb21w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311545/original/file-20200123-162240-brb21w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A koala badly injured during the Canberra bushfires before it was returned to the wild.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ALAN PORRIT/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>All this needs money</h2>
<p>Emergency funding is now essential to enable community-based weed control programs at the scale needed to have a substantial impact. Specifically, funding is needed for group coordinators, trainers and equipment.</p>
<p>While emergency work is needed to control regenerating weeds in the next 6-18 months, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2005.00225.x">ongoing work is needed after that</a> to consolidate success and prevent reinfestations from the small, but still present, seed bank.</p>
<p><a href="https://vnpa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Assessment-of-the-Weed-Management-program-in-land-managed-by-Parks-Victoria.pdf">Ongoing government funding is needed</a> to enable this work, and prepare for a similar response to the next mega-fires.</p>
<h2>Want to act immediately?</h2>
<p>You can volunteer to do your bit for fire recovery right now. In addition to state-agency volunteer websites, there are many existing park care, bush care and “friends of” groups coordinated by local governments. They’re waiting for you to join so they can start planning the restoration task in fire-affected areas.</p>
<p>Contact them directly or <a href="http://www.aabr.org.au/do/post-fire-wildlife-habitat-recovery-response/">register your interest with the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators</a> who can link you with the appropriate organisations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/you-can-leave-water-out-for-wildlife-without-attracting-mosquitoes-if-you-take-a-few-precautions-128631">You can leave water out for wildlife without attracting mosquitoes, if you take a few precautions</a>
</strong>
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</p>
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<p>If we do nothing now, the quality of our national parks will decline as weeds take over and native species are lost. But if you channel your fire-response energy and commitment to help manage weeds, our national parks could come out in front from this climate-change induced calamity.</p>
<p>By all means, rescue an injured koala. But by pulling out weeds, you could also help rescue a whole ecosystem.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Dr Tein McDonald, president of the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Don Driscoll receives funding from the Herman Slade Foundation, OEH NSW Environmental Grants program, DELWP Vic, National Geographic, Rufford Foundation and Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. He is Past President of the Ecological Society of Australia, Director of the Centre of Integrative Ecology and Director of the TechnEcology Research Network at Deakin University. Don is a member of the Ecological Society of Australia and Society for Conservation Biology.</span></em></p>By all means, rescue an injured koala. But by pulling out weeds after the fires, you could also help rescue a whole ecosystem.Don Driscoll, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1054852018-10-23T19:14:46Z2018-10-23T19:14:46ZWe must look past short-term drought solutions and improve the land itself<p>With drought ravaging Australia’s eastern states, much attention has been given to the need to provide short-term solutions through drought relief. But long-term resilience is a <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2007GL031524">vital issue</a>, particularly as climate change adds further pressure to farmers and farmland. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7844/">research</a> has found that helping farmers improve the rivers, dams, native vegetation and trees on their land increases productivity, the resilience of the land to drought, and through this the health and well-being of farmers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/helping-farmers-in-drought-distress-doesnt-help-them-be-the-best-105281">Helping farmers in drought distress doesn't help them be the best</a>
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<p>Now is the time to invest more heavily than ever in vital networks in regional Australia, such as Landcare and natural resource management groups like Local Land Services and Catchment Management Authorities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241772/original/file-20181023-169819-sonaiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241772/original/file-20181023-169819-sonaiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241772/original/file-20181023-169819-sonaiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241772/original/file-20181023-169819-sonaiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241772/original/file-20181023-169819-sonaiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241772/original/file-20181023-169819-sonaiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241772/original/file-20181023-169819-sonaiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241772/original/file-20181023-169819-sonaiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research shows that trees, dams and native vegetation are essential to increase agricultural productivity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/panoramic-landscape-countryside-south-australia-1048967765">Shutterstock/Olga Kashubin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Growing pressures on agricultural land</h2>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622814002793">researchers</a> suggest that up to 370 million hectares of land in Australia and the Pacific is degraded. This diminished productivity across such a large area has significant implications for the long-term sustainability of agricultural production. </p>
<p>Australia also has one of the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/15/4531">worst records</a> for wildlife diversity loss, including <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230817486_Impacts_of_red_meat_production_on_biodiversity_in_Australia_A_review_and_comparison_with_alternative_protein_production_industries">extensive loss</a> of biodiversity across much of our agricultural land. The problems of degradation and biodiversity loss are often <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2007GL031524">magnified</a> under the pressure of drought.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-australias-current-drought-caused-by-climate-change-its-complicated-97867">Is Australia's current drought caused by climate change? It's complicated</a>
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</p>
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<p>The good news is that there are ways to strengthen the resilience of the farmland. One key approach is to invest in improving the condition of key natural assets on farms, like shelter belts, patches of remnant vegetation, farm dams, and watercourses. </p>
<p>When done well, active land management can help slow down or even reverse land <a href="https://www.water.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/52702/Benefits-to-landholders-of-riparian-works-Evidentiary-Final-version-October-2016.pdf">degradation</a>, improve <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/31727010?q&sort=holdings+desc&_=1540253638970&versionId=209856779">biodiversity</a>, <em>and</em> increase <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7844/">profitability</a>.</p>
<h2>Better lands make more money</h2>
<p>Many <a href="http://fmnrhub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Francis-Weston-Birch-2015-FMNR-Study.pdf">studies</a> have shown improving the natural assets on an farm can boost production, as well as avoid the costs of erosion and flood control. For example, restored riverbank vegetation can <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/PC990028">improve</a> dry matter production in nearby paddocks, leading to greater milk production in diary herds and up to a <a href="https://www.water.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/52702/Benefits-to-landholders-of-riparian-works-Evidentiary-Final-version-October-2016.pdf">5%</a> boost in farm income. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241755/original/file-20181023-169828-frwf0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241755/original/file-20181023-169828-frwf0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241755/original/file-20181023-169828-frwf0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241755/original/file-20181023-169828-frwf0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241755/original/file-20181023-169828-frwf0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241755/original/file-20181023-169828-frwf0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241755/original/file-20181023-169828-frwf0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241755/original/file-20181023-169828-frwf0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lines of trees, called windbreaks or shelterbelts, can protect and improve the fields next to them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterfenda/11883603303/in/photolist-j77zf8-gs5twp-2yarvi-97rS4x-gctVvc-2zbPGZ-eZjZC9-n5u36E-qpbapj-i8u5i1-n5s6QM-pDrU3q-5YciLn-hvmtkA-23ZR5wr-dhZQg8-6WZjZQ-ayJwHt-25tYPnE-YFrUGJ-atxPZS-ppRWYA-RLZsrv-pDFgh2-hvnV3n-bWYiTp-Rpm12q-qArxKx-ntUjWJ-4zs3xh-nzZyew-5VyEeu-a5P87s-oaarB1-hvmW1N-hoPvL4-pLUKsC-5ZdRKT-Ek7o5-gmWNST-4AfTnR-iT6rNY-gqwGJr-gUM9Xb-MRXgiQ-5Zur7c-hvm2Pz-LymskZ-vaCtm-d4YfSh">Peter Fenda/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, shelter belts (tree lanes planted alongside paddocks) can lower wind speeds and wind chill, and boost pasture production for livestock by up to <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Trees_for_Shelter.html?id=to0FxKcZ-8AC&redir_esc=y">8%</a>, at the same time as providing habitat for <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7844/">biodiversity</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/recent-australian-droughts-may-be-the-worst-in-800-years-94292">Recent Australian droughts may be the worst in 800 years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our own <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7844/">long-term work</a> with farmers who invested in their natural assets prior to, or during, the Millennium Drought in New South Wales suggests these farmers are currently faring better in the current drought.</p>
<h2>Investing in resilience for the long-haul</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241771/original/file-20181023-169807-136doqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241771/original/file-20181023-169807-136doqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241771/original/file-20181023-169807-136doqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241771/original/file-20181023-169807-136doqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241771/original/file-20181023-169807-136doqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241771/original/file-20181023-169807-136doqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241771/original/file-20181023-169807-136doqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241771/original/file-20181023-169807-136doqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Groups like Landcare bring their expertise to land management.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/farmer-checking-how-close-crop-harvesting-209460511">Shutterstock/Darryl Smith</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Well-supported and resourced organisations like Landcare groups are pivotal to supporting effective land management, which improves degraded land and helps farmland (and farmer) through tough times.</p>
<p>However, Landcare and other natural resource management agencies have been subject to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/13/environment-funding-slashed-by-third-since-coalition-took-office">major budget cuts</a> over the past decade. </p>
<p>They are also a key part of the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11139291?q&versionId=45483041">social fabric</a> of rural communities, bringing together landowners to exchange ideas and support each other. Indeed, the Australian Landcare model is so well regarded globally it has been adopted in 22 other countries.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-moves-to-el-nino-alert-and-the-drought-is-likely-to-continue-104636">Australia moves to El Niño alert and the drought is likely to continue</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This drought is a critical decision point. The need to invest in maintaining and improving our vegetation, water and soil has never been more apparent than it is now. We have a chance to determine the long-term future of much of Australia’s agricultural land.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Government. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors are key members of Sustainable Farms a major new initiative at the ANU funded by the Ian Potter Foundation, The Vincent Fairfax Foundation, and The Calvert Jones Foundation. Sustainable Farms is a multidisciplinary research and extension program founded on 20 years of ecological research undertaken on farms through the south-eastern wheat-sheep belt of Australia.</span></em></p>Beyond trucking in hay and water, drought-stricken farmers need money and advice on improving the natural features of their land.David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityMichelle Young, Director, Sustainable Farms, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/700522016-12-07T05:37:43Z2016-12-07T05:37:43ZWhy give the Green Army its marching orders?<p>It’s a rare week when natural resource management policy penetrates the national news cycle not once, but twice.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, last Thursday the federal government struck a deal with the Greens to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-05/100-million-dollar-green-landcare/8094146">increase funding to Landcare programs by A$100 million</a> in exchange for their support on other matters. No one quite seems to know yet how this money will be spent – presumably in ways that support the thousands of volunteer community Landcare groups dotted around Australia.</p>
<p>Then on Sunday, the Australian Financial Review reported that the government will <a href="http://www.afr.com/news/tony-abbotts-green-army-gets-its-marching-orders-20161203-gt3eg2">abolish the Green Army program</a> as part of its mid-year budget update later this month. </p>
<p>Introduced in 2014 as a signature policy under the then prime minister, Tony Abbott, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/green-army-9820">Green Army</a> aimed to mobilise 15,000 young and unemployed people to work on conservation projects and receive complementary training. Axing the program would deliver budget savings of around A$350 million.</p>
<p>Abbott <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-05/abolishing-green-%20army-would-hardly-be-a-smart-move-tony-abbott/8093462">took to Facebook</a> on Monday to criticise the move. His main concern seems to be the implication that the Greens’ policy priorities are more important than the Coalition’s. That’s a bad look, he argues, for a “centre-right government”.</p>
<p>Yet the move would arguably be very much in keeping with centre-right values. By reinvigorating Landcare’s model of personal responsibility and self-regulation, the government could reduce pressure to regulate land use or to pay landholders financial incentives to improve their environmental management.</p>
<p>But consistency with any particular political philosophy is not the issue here. The hyper-polarised political landscape of recent years, particularly on environmental policies, encourages parties to differentiate on any grounds they can. Thus, the cross-party support long enjoyed by Landcare can perversely work against it. Incoming governments believe they need new programs to claim as their own, diverting attention and resources from those already in place.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/another-broken-promise-budget-switches-landcare-for-green-army-26818">A$484 million cut to Landcare in the 2014 budget</a> needs to be remembered in this context. Both Coalition and Labor governments have made changes over the years that either reduced the financial support available to community Landcare groups, or imposed more top-down modes of decision-making.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/landcare/Report">2015 Senate inquiry into the National Landcare Program</a> revealed considerable community concern about the impacts of budget cuts on Landcare’s activities and on private commitment to natural resource management. Every dollar of public money invested in Landcare is believed to leverage between A$2.60 and A$12.00 of community and landholder investment.</p>
<p>When the Green Army was launched, many people questioned whether it would deliver this kind of value for money. With a three-year review of the Green Army due for release early next year (subject to ministerial approval), we might have expected to see some answers.</p>
<p>So why is the Green Army is being cut before the review? Perhaps the government is sparing itself the embarrassment of defending a program that is failing to meet its objectives. Perhaps, despite the critics, the findings would have been positive and the government is avoiding having to explain why the Green Army is being killed off anyway. Perhaps it’s just looking for easy budget savings.</p>
<h2>Strategic plan?</h2>
<p>Whatever the motivation, the biggest concern is the absence of a strategic and coherent approach to natural resource management policy in Australia. Major program changes are being made with limited consultation and transparency, and precious little evidence of planning.</p>
<p>At the same time, some policies and programs appear to be working at cross purposes. For example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-better-policy-to-end-%20the-alarming-increase-in-land-clearing-63507">tree clearing is increasing</a> in much of Australia at the same time that some landholders are being paid through the <a href="https://theconversation.com/direct-action-not-giving-us-bang-for-our-buck-on-climate-change-59308">Emissions Reduction Fund to conserve native vegetation</a>. </p>
<p>Questions need to be asked about the genuine impacts of existing policy, about the way in which regulations intersect with voluntary programs, and about coordination between Commonwealth and state governments, among other issues.</p>
<p>The recent Senate inquiry into Landcare called for long-term investment and stability in natural resource management programs. Achieving this will require a return to genuine cross-party support coupled with broader community and industry support. The key to achieving this, I suspect, is less wheeling and dealing among political parties and more consultation and planning with all interested stakeholders.</p>
<p>It might be time to consider a white paper process to inform the next phase of natural resource management policy. At least that would give us some confidence policy is not being decided on the run.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stewart Lockie receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Mission Australia.</span></em></p>The possible axing of the Green Army, which aimed to put thousands to work tending conservation projects, leaves many questions unanswered - the biggest being the reason for the sudden retreat.Stewart Lockie, Director, The Cairns Institute, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/432352015-06-15T02:06:48Z2015-06-15T02:06:48ZPhillip Toyne cared for land-carers, black and white<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84968/original/image-20150615-1952-5f8gfw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Phillip Toyne lobbied for the transfer of Uluru National Park back to its traditional owners. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nosha/2836119312/">nosha/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Phillip Toyne died <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-13/landcare-co-founder-phillip-toyne-dies/6544366">on Saturday morning</a> after a long illness with cancer, leaving an indelible legacy of influence and achievement.</p>
<p>Along with <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happened-to-brave-leaders-a-look-at-the-life-of-rick-farley-5376">Rick Farley</a>, former leader of the National Farmers’ Federation, Phillip Toyne was the best strategist I’ve known. We worked together in the early days of landcare. More of that later.</p>
<p>Toyne had a big vision, tempered with acute political insight. Politics may be the art of the possible, but Phillip had a gift in helping people to enlarge their sense of what’s possible, and then to map a path to get there.</p>
<p>Each of Phillip Toyne’s four careers — <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/03/21/3460338.htm">working with Aboriginal people</a> in central Australia, environmental activism in Melbourne, environmental policy in Canberra and corporate consultancy and philanthropy in Gundaroo — would represent a substantial lifetime’s achievement for most people. Taken as a whole, it is a remarkable contribution.</p>
<p>The rich tapestry of Phillip Toyne’s life work was woven together by two continuous threads: improving our stewardship of Australia’s unique environment, and securing the rights of Indigenous Australians, particularly with respect to their land.</p>
<h2>Timeline of four influential careers</h2>
<p>After graduating with a law degree and then a Diploma in Education, Phillip Toyne worked in central Australia from 1973-86, first as a teacher in the one-teacher Aboriginal school at Haasts Bluff, and then as a solicitor and barrister in Alice Springs. He was the first lawyer for the Pitjantjatjara people and worked with Premier Don Dunstan to craft the South Australian Pitjantjatjara Land Rights Act 1981. </p>
<p>Among many legal representations on behalf of Indigenous people, he lobbied the Hawke government and negotiated the transfer of <a href="http://www.parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/">Uluru National Park</a> back to its traditional owners. He co-authored the first Uluru National Park plan of <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/resource/management-plan-2010-2020-uluru-kata-tjuta-national-park">joint management</a> between the Commonwealth and Traditional Owners.</p>
<p>In 1986, Phillip Toyne moved with his first wife Frances Coughlan to Melbourne to take up the position of Executive Director of the <a href="http://www.acfonline.org.au/">Australian Conservation Foundation</a> (ACF), which he occupied for six years. Under Toyne’s astute and politically savvy leadership, the ACF and the wider conservation movement enjoyed growing membership and mainstream political influence, and many effective campaigns and significant wins, including World Heritage Listing for the <a href="http://www.wettropics.gov.au/">Wet Tropics</a> and expansion of the <a href="http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=391">Tasmanian</a> and <a href="http://www.parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/">Kakadu</a> World Heritage Areas.</p>
<p>Phillip moved to Canberra in 1993 with Frannie and their son Jamie to take on a new role as a Visiting Fellow in the Centre for Environmental Law and Policy at the Australian National University. He taught a postgraduate course in environmental law, and co-wrote and produced an eight-part radio program for ABC Radio National called The Reluctant Nation – Environment, Law and Politics in Australia, also published as a book by the ABC in 1994. </p>
<p>After working closely with governments of all stripes at the ACF, Toyne became a Deputy Secretary in the Commonwealth Department of the Environment from 1994-97. His tenure straddled the Keating and Howard governments, and he was involved in early negotiations of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. </p>
<p>He worked closely with then Environment Minister Senator Robert Hill to overhaul Commonwealth environment legislation (resulting in the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/epabca1999588/">Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act</a> 1996) and to establish the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Heritage_Trust">Natural Heritage Trust</a> (NHT), funded by the part sale of Telstra.</p>
<p>With hindsight, Robert Hill was a remarkably effective environment minister, working with states and territories and cleverly deploying a mix of carrots (NHT funds) and sticks (the EPBC act) to deliver environmental wins in a difficult political environment. Both lawyers, Toyne and Hill worked well together, and with experienced departmental Secretary Roger Beale and a talented ministerial office they initiated a period of sustained growth in influence and resources for the Commonwealth environment portfolio.</p>
<h2>Life outside public service</h2>
<p>His substantial policy achievements notwithstanding, it was obvious to Phillip and others that he was not a natural fit for the public service. So he moved into his next career, founding the sustainability consultancy firm Eco Futures with his second wife Molly Harriss-Olson (founding Executive Director of President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development) and their two sons Atticus and Aaron. </p>
<p>They had a delightful home office on five acres on the upper reaches of the Yass River at Gundaroo and enjoyed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU9Yxx8lHQk&spfreload=10">life in a rural community</a>. One of their more notable projects was the <a href="http://www.nblf.com.au/">National Business Leaders Forum (NBLF) on Sustainable Development</a>.</p>
<p>Through the NBLF, Phillip expanded his already extensive network of contacts in the corporate sector and was invited to become a director on a number of boards including the innovative forestry company Neville Smith Timber Products and the Australian Agricultural Company (<a href="http://www.aaco.com.au/about-us/our-company/">AACo</a>), Australia’s oldest company and largest private landholder. </p>
<p>He relished the role, introducing sustainability and Indigenous engagement strategies into a large vertically-integrated agribusiness with extensive holdings across northern Australia.</p>
<p>Among Phillip’s most rewarding roles of the past 20 years was his association with <a href="http://www.bushheritage.org.au/">Bush Heritage Australia</a> of which he was President from 2001-2009. Bush Heritage uses private donations to buy special areas of land with high conservation values, and manages those lands for conservation. It was set up by Dr Bob Brown in 1990, and now manages 35 reserves covering millions of hectares, aided by more than 20,000 supporters. </p>
<p>Bush Heritage enabled Phillip to bring together his love of Australia’s wild places with his commitment to the genuine engagement of Traditional Owners, which he and CEO Doug Humann hard-wired into the Bush Heritage business model. In 2013, Phillip Toyne joined Bob Brown in being made an honorary life member. </p>
<h2>The birth of national landcare</h2>
<p>Phillip Toyne has been a close friend for almost thirty years. We first met in 1987 when as head of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) he visited the <a href="http://www.ianpotter.org.au/potter-farmland-plan">Potter Farmland Plan</a> project in Western Victoria. With A$1 million in funding from the Ian Potter Foundation, we were attempting to show using demonstration farms that with good planning, conservation and production can be complementary activities in farmed landscapes. Phillip was taken with <a href="http://www.ianpotter.org.au/50th-anniversary">what he saw on the ground</a> and what he learned from participating farmers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84962/original/image-20150615-1962-1se4oql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84962/original/image-20150615-1962-1se4oql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84962/original/image-20150615-1962-1se4oql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84962/original/image-20150615-1962-1se4oql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84962/original/image-20150615-1962-1se4oql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1173&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84962/original/image-20150615-1962-1se4oql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1173&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/84962/original/image-20150615-1962-1se4oql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1173&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrew Campbell and Phillip Toyne in 1991 at the launch of ‘Planning for Sustainable Farming’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Campbell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Coincidentally, Rick Farley, then Executive Director of the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF), visited that same week and responded similarly. Both asked how this work could be scaled up nationally. I suggested that they should be working together. But they had already started talking with each other about a national alliance, and had begun what became an unlikely, close and highly influential friendship. </p>
<p>The Victorian LandCare program initiated by <a href="https://theconversation.com/joan-kirner-united-farmers-and-conservationists-to-care-for-the-land-42746">Joan Kirner</a> and Heather Mitchell of the Victorian Farmers’ Federation provided a model for bipartisanship and community engagement. The Potter project illustrated the value of whole farm planning to integrate conservation and production.</p>
<p>Toyne and Farley asked me to work with them in developing a proposal for a national program of community-based land conservation based on farm and catchment planning, to take to Prime Minister Bob Hawke. Our proposal was also informed by a workshop held in the then brand new Parliament House in Canberra prior to its launch, attended by leaders of pioneering community land care groups in Australia.</p>
<p>Bob Hawke (supported by Resources Minister Peter Cook and Primary Industries Minister John Kerin and the Shadow Minister for Primary Industries Bruce Lloyd) agreed to fund a national program and a A$340m Decade of Landcare. In the new position of National Landcare Facilitator, I reported to Toyne, Farley and the Minister over the next four years and more than 200 tours to all parts of the continent. </p>
<p>It was exhilarating to track the rapid growth of <a href="https://espace.cdu.edu.au/view/cdu:40101">Landcare</a> — voluntary groups caring for their land, bringing together farmers and conservationists, traditional farmers and hobby farmers, women and men, young and old, rural and urban, on practical actions in local communities.</p>
<p>Phillip was justifiably proud that his friendship and partnership with Rick Farley catalysed the ACF-NFF alliance and the national development of Landcare (also mentioned in his Order of Australia (AO) citation in 2012).</p>
<p>I later worked with Phillip in the environment department in Canberra, establishing the Natural Heritage Trust and the Bushcare program, and working to dramatically reduce land clearing and reverse the decline in the extent and quality of native vegetation in Australia. We initiated new incentives for conservation on private lands (a boon for organisations like Bush Heritage) and helped to establish Australia’s distinctive <a href="http://nrmregionsaustralia.com.au/">regional model of natural resource management</a>, building on the foundations of Landcare.</p>
<p>We had stayed in touch ever since, conspiring only last week on how best to facilitate large-scale expansion of Indigenous savanna burning programs funded by multinational resources companies across northern Australia.</p>
<p>Phillip Toyne had a formidable bullshit detector and did not suffer fools gladly. He was not over-endowed with patience, especially earlier in his career, and his critiques could be bracing to say the least. But he was generous to a fault and his insights, advice and mentoring helped many people in their own careers. </p>
<p>As he came to terms with his cancer, a softer, more reflective and philosophical side of his big-hearted nature came to the fore, making it easier for those around him to deal with his obvious pain and discomfort. </p>
<p>Bob Brown called him “a magnificent Australian” and former independent MP Tony Windsor summed it up beautifully:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"609842203209302016"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Campbell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Phillip Toyne, a co-founder of the national landcare program, died on Saturday morning after a long illness with cancer, leaving an indelible legacy of influence and achievement.Andrew Campbell, Director, Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/427462015-06-03T05:55:51Z2015-06-03T05:55:51ZJoan Kirner united farmers and conservationists to care for the land<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83781/original/image-20150603-2337-11276dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mixed farming country near Binalong, New South Wales. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Campbell</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/joan-kirner-a-pioneering-leader-for-the-left-as-well-as-women-42639">plaudits</a> for Joan Kirner, who died on Monday, highlighted her achievements as a teacher, education activist, feminist and politician. It is also worth noting her pivotal role in the development of <a href="http://www.landcareonline.com.au/">landcare in Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Joan Kirner’s first ministerial role was as Victoria’s Minister for Conservation, Forests and Lands in the Labor government under <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cain_%28junior%29">John Cain</a> from 1985-88. She was a very effective minister, working very hard, travelling tirelessly, seemingly remembering the name of every public servant and community volunteer she ever met. She brought in the <a href="http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/environment-and-wildlife/threatened-species-and-communities/flora-and-fauna-guarantee-act-1988">Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act</a>, delivering Victoria’s first effective controls on land clearing.</p>
<p>However in the views of many, including me, Joan Kirner’s most enduring legacy will be Australia’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236627393_Landcare_communities_shaping_the_land_and_the_future">landcare movement</a>, beginning in Victoria and spreading nationally. </p>
<p>I worked as the first National Landcare Facilitator from April 1989 to August 1992. This coincided with Joan Kirner’s time as Victorian Premier, and from meetings with her during that time and in conferences and airport lounges since, I know she was extremely proud of her landcare legacy.</p>
<h2>The birth of landcare</h2>
<p>In 1985, Kirner’s new department of Conservation, Forests and Lands brought together five separate agencies (the Forests Commission, National Parks, Fisheries and Wildlife, Lands, and the Soil Conservation Authority) that had apparently overlapping roles but very different institutional cultures and a track record of collaboration that was patchy at best.</p>
<p>It required considerable strategic nous and political skill to get this new department working cohesively, and Kirner proved to be a good fit as minister.</p>
<p>The new department needed to work across private and public lands to tackle issues at a large scale (such as erosion, salinity, pests and weeds), and they needed to involve the community.</p>
<p>From prior experience in soil conservation, senior officials knew that individual landholders and local communities need to “own the problem” and be involved in designing and implementing solutions in order to ensure lasting environmental improvement. Joan Kirner understood this implicitly, possibly from her long grassroots community experience with State School mothers’ clubs.</p>
<p>Senior soil conservation staff designed a new program in late 1985 to support voluntary neighbourhood groups to tackle land degradation problems, that they proposed to call Total Land Care. When the Minister saw the acronym, she stated that she definitely did not want to be known as “the Minister for TLC!”. So it became Land Care, soon shortened to LandCare.</p>
<p>The pioneering Victorian <a href="http://www.landcarevic.net.au/">LandCare</a> program was born, and the first LandCare group was launched at Winjallok near St Arnaud on 25 November 1986. </p>
<p>Crucially, Joan Kirner understood from the outset that the new program needed to have bipartisan support, and that this was most likely if it was seen to be led and owned by the farming community, working with conservationists. Joan Kirner invited Heather Mitchell, then President of the <a href="http://www.vff.org.au/">Victorian Farmers’ Federation</a> to co-Chair the program. This formidable duo emphasised the partnership at the heart of LandCare.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83778/original/image-20150603-2340-ynlm8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83778/original/image-20150603-2340-ynlm8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83778/original/image-20150603-2340-ynlm8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83778/original/image-20150603-2340-ynlm8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83778/original/image-20150603-2340-ynlm8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83778/original/image-20150603-2340-ynlm8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83778/original/image-20150603-2340-ynlm8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Community-based catchment planning through landcare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Campbell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The number of LandCare groups grew rapidly, building on the network of Farm Tree Groups and soil conservation groups across the state, and the innovative community education work in schools pioneered through the Victorian Salinity Program. Within five years, LandCare involved more than one third of farming families — an extraordinary achievement on a relatively modest budget.</p>
<h2>Landcare goes national</h2>
<p>Joan Kirner was quick to promote the Victorian program as a model for the nation, recommending it to Peter Cook, then Minister for Resources in the Labor government under Bob Hawke.</p>
<p>Around this time another unlikely but extremely strategic alliance was forming, between <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happened-to-brave-leaders-a-look-at-the-life-of-rick-farley-5376">Rick Farley</a> of the National Farmers’ Federation and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/03/21/3460338.htm">Phillip Toyne</a> of the Australian Conservation Foundation.</p>
<p>I was asked by Toyne and Farley to work with Jane Elix of the ACF and Philip Eliason of the NFF on a proposal for a national initiative based on the Victorian model of facilitating partnerships between farmers and conservationists. </p>
<p>In late 1988, the ACF and NFF jointly proposed to Prime Minister Bob Hawke a A$340m, ten-year program for a Decade of Landcare. This represented a radical boost in Commonwealth funding - the then National Soil Conservation Program was about A$1m per year.</p>
<p>Bob Hawke agreed with alacrity, and the new national program was launched at the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers in July 1989. Crucially, both Labor and Coalition ministers stood on the podium, emphasising the bipartisan thread that began with Joan Kirner and Heather Mitchell and extended through Farley and Toyne. </p>
<p>As it had done in Victoria, the new program took off nationally, and in the 25 years since the Australian landcare model has spread to more than 20 <a href="http://www.worldagroforestry.org/downloads/Publications/PDFS/B16017.pdf">other countries</a>. Landcare is an unsung Australian export success story - a great example of soft diplomacy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83779/original/image-20150603-2316-c43yfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83779/original/image-20150603-2316-c43yfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83779/original/image-20150603-2316-c43yfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83779/original/image-20150603-2316-c43yfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83779/original/image-20150603-2316-c43yfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83779/original/image-20150603-2316-c43yfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83779/original/image-20150603-2316-c43yfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Landcare tree planting, Molonglo Catchment Group.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Campbell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Forging bipartisanship</h2>
<p>From this distance, those early days of landcare seem both inevitable and extraordinary.</p>
<p>It seems common sense now that farmers need to work together to tackle problems that cross farm boundaries, that planting trees on farms and protecting creeks and rivers is good farming practice, and that looking after the land for future generations is in the interests of the whole community, so it is fair that the whole community contribute to this effort — even better if such help can be practical as well as financial.</p>
<p>But this was not so obvious in the mid 1980s. Joan Kirner instinctively “got” landcare from the outset. She understood its community base and the dynamics of voluntarism. </p>
<p>She reached out. She understood the political potency of bipartisanship and unlikely alliances — she and Heather Mitchell were more than twice as powerful working together than either could be working from within their own political tribe. </p>
<p>She understood the importance of community ownership of problems, and empowerment to develop and implement solutions. She took the long view. Given the right information and support, she trusted grassroots community groups to do the right thing on the ground.</p>
<p>Against this backdrop, today’s politics seem depressingly partisan, glib, austere and myopic.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/another-broken-promise-budget-switches-landcare-for-green-army-26818">Government programs</a> tend to be prescriptive and paternalistic, rather than imaginative, catalytic and empowering. Government agencies (more <a href="http://www.themandarin.com.au/1591-terry-moran-knew-know-now/">closely coupled with Ministerial offices</a> than ever) seem allergic to risk, wedded to incremental tweaking of the status quo and fearful of anything transformative. </p>
<p>After years of cuts, redundancies and “efficiency dividends”, too many agencies lack sufficient technical expertise to be intelligent purchasers or to take well-considered risks in developing innovative new programs with a clear eye on the long-term public interest.</p>
<p>Perhaps landcare has simply been lucky over the last 30 years to have grown under the wise political stewardship of people such as Joan Kirner and Heather Mitchell among many others, matched at a grassroots level by countless community leaders across the continent.</p>
<p>But I’d like to think that when wise leaders design policies that deliberately make space for people at lower levels to innovate, to own their own agenda and to grow, then great things happen and lasting benefits can be delivered.</p>
<p><em>If you’re interested in reading more on landcare, see the following titles:</em></p>
<p>Campbell, Andrew (1994) <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236627393_Landcare_communities_shaping_the_land_and_the_future">Landcare: communities shaping the land and the future</a>. Allen & Unwin, Sydney. ISBN 1863735550 </p>
<p>Catacutan, Delia, Constance Neely, Mary Johnson, Horrie Poussard and Rob Youl (Eds) (2009) <a href="http://www.worldagroforestry.org/downloads/Publications/PDFS/B16017.pdf">Landcare: local action-global progress</a>. World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi. ISBN 9789290592457</p>
<p>Youl, Rob (Ed) (2006) Landcare in Victoria. Rob Youl, South Melbourne. ISBN 0977524000</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42746/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Campbell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Among the plaudits for Joan Kirner it is also worth noting her pivotal role in the development of landcare in Australia.Andrew Campbell, Director, Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/248402014-04-08T05:16:07Z2014-04-08T05:16:07ZThe Green Army needs a big strategy to win the environmental war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45813/original/phbs7pd6-1396918291.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can the Green Army be more than toy soldiers? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fras/4673780453">FraserElliot/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The government’s central environmental policy, the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cleaner-environment/clean-land/green-army">Green Army</a>, will take to the field from July 2014. Work has started to identify projects for the recruits. The army can potentially do some great work, but it needs the support of big environmental policies that at the moment face an uncertain future. </p>
<p>By the end of the four years, this A$300m program will have deployed some 15,000 17-24 year-olds in 1,500 environmental projects across Australia. An army team (perhaps “squad” would be more appropriate) of nine participants, and one supervisor, will work for 20-26 weeks on projects that will be proposed by the community. </p>
<p>The projects will involve heritage-protection (e.g. protecting old buildings), community amenity (e.g. walkways), and biodiversity (e.g. clearing weeds from streams). Recruits will also receive some formal training.</p>
<p>Most debate about the Green Army has focused on the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-green-army-will-be-paid-half-the-minimum-wage-20140301-33st7.html">pay and conditions</a> of the young workers. But will this program achieve the government’s goals of supporting “the delivery of enduring environment and heritage conservation outcomes at the local, regional and national level”?</p>
<h2>Hand-to-hand combat</h2>
<p>The Green Army is in no way a new idea. Governments have had public environmental work programs since the “sustenance” programs of the Depression years. The army is in fact a close copy of the Howard government <a href="http://employment.gov.au/green-corps">Green Corps</a>, which was in turn similar to the Labor LEAP program of the 1980s.</p>
<p>It is no surprise that these types of programs are popular with the public as well as politicians: they help young people; they make the world a more beautiful place; they appear to get the power out of the hands of the bureaucrats; and they do work at the local level. </p>
<p>The Green Army is meant to do hand-to-hand combat, mopping up environmental damage in a few months of skirmishing. By contrast, the environmental programs of past governments could be seen as lumbering, and bureaucratic, weighed down by restrictions, and fighting set-piece battles. </p>
<p>An example is the focus of the former government’s <a href="http://www.nrm.gov.au/">Caring for Country</a> program on major environmental assets of national significance, such as large parks and major threatened species programs. These, long-term, sometimes dull, endeavours tended to divert work away from local projects into larger programs. </p>
<p>As Greg Hunt put it, the policies of the previous government were about:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>more centralised bureaucracy, focused on form filling and setting grand national objectives, remote from the urgent and valuable local environmental challenges.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But there are problems with putting all of our environmental eggs into the Green Army’s basket. Many of the on-ground actions that the Green Army will do are about amenity. Building seats and lookouts connects people with the environment, and weeding local parks makes those places more attractive and useful. </p>
<p>These are good things, and they are entirely appropriate for a public works program, but they are not the same thing as a well rounded environment program that does deal with grand national objectives. </p>
<p>These big objectives relate to questions of biodiversity, sustainability, and ecosystem services, and these battles will not be fought by the Green Army. These will be fought by continuing voluntary actions by members of grass-roots organisations, such as Landcare; by enforcing state-government standards and regulation, by strong land-use planning, and by compromises between conservation and industry groups (such as we saw in the Tasmanian forest agreements). </p>
<p>The Green Army can be a useful part of the environmental campaign, but it cannot masquerade as the core of a national environmental program. To see the direction for the bigger battles, we know that the government has already started the process to <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/house_of_representatives_committees?url=environment/greentape/index.htm">reduce green-tape</a>, but there has been no word on the government’s plans to <a href="http://www.greghunt.com.au/Media/MediaReleases/tabid/86/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2640/Coalition-Announces-National-Landcare-Program.aspx">merge the Landcare and Caring-for-our-Country programs</a>.</p>
<p>It is worth remembering that the Green Army program is A$75m per year, whereas the former government’s Caring for our Country program was over A$400m per year. The coalition committed to maintaining this level of environmental funding before the last election.</p>
<h2>Part of a bigger picture</h2>
<p>This is not to say that the Green Army cannot do great work. </p>
<p>Projects will be proposed by communities, but no information has been released about how the projects will be selected. The least effective model would be to spread the projects evenly around the country, dissipating effort on random projects that will have little possibility of achieving the goals of the program. </p>
<p>Past programs like the Green Army have been criticised for spreading their projects too thinly, and of having no way to ensure that the work is maintained after the troops have left.</p>
<p>The better approach is to ensure that projects for the army should only be considered if they can demonstrate how they align with existing regional strategies. For biodiversity and water quality projects, these priorities are best defined by the strategies of Australia’s 56 regional <a href="http://www.nrm.gov.au/about/nrm/index.html">natural resource management</a> (NRM) bodies. </p>
<p>Heritage and amenity goals should align with the strategies of park agencies, or local governments. None of these strategies are perfect, but they have been honed with the community over many years of sweat, science and debate, and ratified by governments.</p>
<p>When the Green Army joins the battles that are already being fought by NRM and other agencies, the army really can fulfil a useful complementary role.</p>
<p>For example, a stream restoration project in south east Australia might involve heavy machinery removing willows, fencing contractors, construction of fishways, and provision of environmental water. Nine fresh recruits with shovels could contribute a lot to these larger projects, in particular maintaining fences and vegetation, and controlling weeds,in the large number of projects that have already been completed over recent decades. In fact, maintaining existing projects should be a priority for the Green Army.</p>
<p>The government would never put the whole weight of a war on the shoulders of squads of ill-equipped, green recruits. Is that the government’s plan in the environmental war?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Rutherfurd receives funding from the Australian Research Council, and from State and Commonwealth Government Agencies. He has been employed in the past by the Victorian State Government (in the Department of Environment and Primary Industries) and has acted on advisory committees to numerous government agencies in the water sector. </span></em></p>The government’s central environmental policy, the Green Army, will take to the field from July 2014. Work has started to identify projects for the recruits. The army can potentially do some great work…Ian Rutherfurd, Associate Professor in Geography, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179362013-09-06T04:28:17Z2013-09-06T04:28:17ZIs the Coalition’s Green Army good news for Landcare?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30852/original/sr7r9k87-1378435916.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It’s hard to argue against encouraging local community-based environmental action.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Feral Arts/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Barely noticed behind pre-election debate over the climate policies of the major parties sits a proposal by the Liberal-National Coalition to make important changes to Australia’s natural resource management (NRM) programs.</p>
<p>There are two sides to this plan. First, the Coalition proposes to rationalise natural resource management programs. They will maintain existing levels of funding but amalgamate the existing <a href="http://www.landcareonline.com.au/?page_id=2">Landcare</a> (community groups caring for natural resources) and <a href="http://www.nrm.gov.au/">Caring for Our Country</a> programs. This <a href="http://www.greghunt.com.au/Home/LatestNews/tabid/133/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2516/Coalition-Landcare-Plan.aspx">single national Landcare Program</a> will place more emphasis on local community action and decision-making, and allow for longer-term project funding.</p>
<p>Second, the Coalition aims to create a 15,000 strong <a href="http://www.liberal.org.au/creating-green-army">Green Army</a> to undertake environmental works, help community groups and provide recognised training.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.greghunt.com.au/Home/LatestNews/tabid/133/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2516/Coalition-Landcare-Plan.aspx">According to</a> Opposition environment spokesperson, Greg Hunt, Landcare needs to return to the “grassroots” focus with which it began. The current system, he claims, has become a “more centralised bureaucracy, focused on form filling and setting grand national objectives, remote from the urgent and valuable local environmental challenges”.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nln.org.au/node/113">Australian Landcare Network</a> has backed these changes, which promise to direct more funds to community Landcare groups, simplify application procedures and devolve more decision-making to regional natural resource management organisations such as catchment management authorities.</p>
<p>The Greens seem to be the only other political party <a href="http://www.greens.org.au/coalition's-landcare-plan-back-future">willing to comment directly</a> on Coalition proposals. They support Landcare, but criticise recent announcements. They say they are recycling old policies, failing to address clearly the role and future of regional natural resource management groups and the progress they have made on integrated regional planning and landscape-level environmental improvement.</p>
<p>It’s hard to argue against encouraging local community-based environmental action. Where it works, it’s cost-effective and has numerous social co-benefits for participants. <a href="http://www.landcareonline.com.au/?page_id=2513">Reviews</a> show that community Landcare groups have done an enormous amount of environmental work, as did the old Green Corp program. It’s no surprise that the Landcare Program has always enjoyed bipartisan political support.</p>
<p>The difficult questions have always been: how do we scale up local activities to ensure regional and national outcomes? And how do we monitor those outcomes, given the long lag times and vast distances involved in natural resource management?</p>
<p>Since the first National Landcare Program was launched in 1989 there have been a series of institutional developments intended in one way or another to target funds more strategically, expend more on on-ground works, and evaluate outcomes more effectively. </p>
<p>The more recent iterations through Caring for Our Country have arguably <a href="http://www.nrm.gov.au/funding/meri/index.html">tilted the balance</a> of Commonwealth funding towards activities with measurable short-term outcomes. Some regional groups have also <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09640568.2012.689617#.Uik4A-DT2gE">demonstrated a preference</a> for targeting their funds towards individual landholders rather than Landcare group activities.</p>
<p>It would be a stretch to say these are the sole reasons but there is, nevertheless, <a href="http://csusap.csu.edu.au/%7Eacurtis/reports/VicReportFinal2006.pdf">evidence</a> that community participation in Landcare has declined in some areas. And there is a more <a href="http://www.landcareonline.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Health-of-Landcare-Movement-Survey-Report-Summary-August-2012.pdf">widespread feeling</a> among members that Landcare needs to evolve to remain relevant.</p>
<p>Will simplification of natural resource management programs and the injection of Green Army volunteers give Landcare the stimulus to evolve and grow? Quite possibly. Longer-term funding, particularly to support those professionals who work directly with and for Landcare groups, will be a major boon.</p>
<p>At the same time, these proposals appear to ignore the ever-present questions of scale and effectiveness. The rhetoric of “local people knowing best” may play well in the electorate, but committed Landcarers will know that localisation itself is not a complete answer. They need ways to network and collaborate, and to integrate their activities, all of which takes time and money. </p>
<p>A greater voice for community Landcare in regional natural resource management groups may go some way to dealing with this but the devil will be in the detail – detail that is not, currently, spelled out for us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/17936/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stewart Lockie has received funding from several agencies for research relevant to Landcare and natural resource management including the Australian Research Council, National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality, Natural Heritage Trust and the Australian Landcare Council.</span></em></p>Barely noticed behind pre-election debate over the climate policies of the major parties sits a proposal by the Liberal-National Coalition to make important changes to Australia’s natural resource management…Stewart Lockie, Head, School of Sociology, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/82592012-07-19T20:08:52Z2012-07-19T20:08:52ZLittle by little: the benefits of Australian climate policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13149/original/m96t3fwc-1342670417.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Landcare get-together: reducing our toll on nature comes in part from many of us taking steps that individually are not always so big, but which accumulate. The carbon tax is one such step.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/feral arts</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A catchment threatened by salinity can’t be repaired by one or two landholders. Revegetation designed to lower watertables has its greatest ecological benefit where the plants are, but its net impact on salinity is small and spread over a much larger area. To achieve catchment-wide benefits, many good neighbours need to pay a small amount towards revegetation, with everyone contributing according to their capacity. <a href="http://www.landcareonline.com.au/">Landcare</a> - an idea invented in Australia and exported overseas - works exactly on that basis. It is supported by all major political parties, and many Landcare programs are funded by the taxpayer.</p>
<p>For climate, any action to permanently reduce greenhouse gas emissions in one region spreads the benefits across the globe. A global effort requires many good neighbours amongst countries who may not know each other well or trust each other very much.</p>
<p>Australia’s efforts to do its bit as a good neighbour are being opposed by an increasingly shrill and irrational chorus that includes politicians, industry figures, academics and a sizeable proportion of Australia’s print media. This opposition is on two main grounds: that a tax take of $10 billion is too large and that the benefits of Australia’s efforts are too small. Some recent opposing voices, <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/its-a-mad-mad-world-out-there/story-e6frfifx-1226410550555">Andrew Bolt in the News press</a> and <a href="http://images.theage.com.au/2012/07/06/3435593/Spooner-420x0.jpg">The Age’s John Spooner</a>, are using <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/the-question-is-what-earthly-difference-can-we-make-20110903-1jrom.html">a figure I calculated</a> in assessing the benefits of a 5% reduction in emissions by 2020 – a lowering of global temperature by 0.0038 degrees in 2100 – to maintain that the benefit is too small for the cost.</p>
<p>They do this by using a psychological trick. Comparing a very large number to a very small number is called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_effect">contrast effect</a>. A cost of ten billion compared to a benefit of 0.0038 is a very large contrast, even though dollars and warming are different categories. Also present is a time bias called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_discounting">hyperbolic discounting</a>, which magnifies a small loss now compared to a long-term benefit. Spooner in his cartoon psychologically magnifies the $10 billion as ten thousand million dollars – three numbers instead of one – although it is mathematically the same. Setting a $10 billion “cost” now against a 0.0038 degree benefit in 90 years makes that benefit look tiny and remote.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13151/original/czyqw24z-1342671691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13151/original/czyqw24z-1342671691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13151/original/czyqw24z-1342671691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13151/original/czyqw24z-1342671691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13151/original/czyqw24z-1342671691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13151/original/czyqw24z-1342671691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13151/original/czyqw24z-1342671691.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Contrast effect: the little boat may have felt like a wonderful way to get around until the bigger boat sailed by and made it seem silly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Patrick Theiner</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the $10 billion carbon levy is not a net cost to the economy. It is a fixed levy on the 500 highest emitters and is returned to householders as tax cuts and increased social security, to alternative energy schemes and as compensation to energy producers and intensive energy industries. So the $10 billion stays in the economy. Net costs occur in making the adjustment and in accounting costs not covered by compensation; these are comparatively small. There are distributional effects. The economy constantly experiences similar dynamics as industry, technology, and the economy all change under the influence of globalization.</p>
<p>Arguing that a $1.3 trillion economy using fossil fuels is robust, and a $1.3 trillion economy with a $10 billion carbon levy is <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/carbon-tax-a-pledge-of-suicide/story-e6frg9if-1226012230545">committing national suicide</a> makes no economic sense whatsoever. The GFC, the higher dollar, and the GST were all larger shocks than this will prove to be. Trying to unmake the omelette, as <a href="http://www.liberal.org.au/Pages/Our-Plan-to-Abolish-the-Carbon-Tax.aspx">Tony Abbott is promising</a> to do, would also be economically disruptive, as well as poor risk management.</p>
<p>Some people demand to know exactly how much a carbon price will reduce emissions. Such a price does not translate directly into an accurate reduction in greenhouse gases any more than Reserve Bank interest rate changes translate directly into inflation figures. That’s why the <a href="http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/clean-energy-future/authority.aspx">Climate Change Authority</a> has been created, to learn from experience and make relevant adjustments.</p>
<p>Last year for the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/climate-agenda">Sunday Age/Our Say 10 questions about climate</a>, I made two calculations to assess the potential benefits of Australian climate policy. One applied the policy of both the government and opposition of a 5% reduction in emissions from 2000 by 2020. The other was to estimate a 80% reduction by 2050 - the target within the Clean Energy Act. The first produced a 0.0038 degree reduction by 2100 and the second a 0.02 degree reduction by 2100.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13160/original/qkdhx9st-1342673260.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/13160/original/qkdhx9st-1342673260.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13160/original/qkdhx9st-1342673260.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13160/original/qkdhx9st-1342673260.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13160/original/qkdhx9st-1342673260.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13160/original/qkdhx9st-1342673260.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/13160/original/qkdhx9st-1342673260.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mercury rising.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Joe Shlabotnik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At around 2 degrees total global warming (the target that international negotations are aiming to avoid), the two reductions in warming would avoid critical bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef over 9 and 50 square km respectively. Above 4 degrees global warming, likely to occur if efforts are half-hearted or non-existent there would be no benefit. Why? Because there would be no live coral communities. For species extinction risk with around 2 degrees global warming the above reductions would save roughly 4 vertebrate species for attaining the 2020 emissions policy target and 22 species for attaining the 2050 emissions policy target. The big difference is that at 2 degrees about 12% of Australian vertebrate species are at risk and at 4 degrees almost two-thirds are at risk. The risk is similar elsewhere. This is asking for serious ecosystem collapse at the global scale.</p>
<p>At 5.3 degrees warming by 2100, the business as usual scenario in the <a href="http://www.garnautreview.org.au/">Garnaut Review</a> produced by Treasury, we would be seeing a committed melting in large ice sheets, widespread loss of regional security – not least in south-eastern Asia and widespread loss of water supply systems, ecosystems and agriculture as both natural and human capacities to adapt are exceeded by a wide margin.</p>
<p>If keeping to below a 2 degree target is a marathon from 5.3 degree business as usual, the Australian contribution of 0.0038 degrees is about 50 metres and 0.02 degrees is about 250 metres. Considered as a relay, both numbers are a reasonably fair contribution from Australia to the total distance. Australia would get the direct benefit from the 250 metres we ran and the other 41.75 kilometres that all the other nations ran, if successful.</p>
<p>Is Australia going it alone? No. Limited trading or tax schemes exist in the US, Canada, the EU, and Japan, and are soon to start up in regions of China, India, and South Korea. The rest of the world will learn from us, as we have learned from the Europeans to keep a tight limit on emissions permits. Good carbon accounting <a href="http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Climate/NCASpartnership.aspx">was largely developed in Australia</a>.</p>
<p>In the same way that we have exported Landcare for good environmental management and sports science for running marathons, we can export our know-how in managing the climate. Naked self-interest and ignorance are the two biggest barriers to achieving this.</p>
<p><em>Comments welcome below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/8259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Jones is affiliated with Climate Scientists Australia.</span></em></p>A catchment threatened by salinity can’t be repaired by one or two landholders. Revegetation designed to lower watertables has its greatest ecological benefit where the plants are, but its net impact on…Roger Jones, Professorial Research Fellow, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.