The Conservation Council ACT Region has today welcomed the release of the ACT Government’s draft Nature Conservation Strategy, which is open for consultation from today. The Council has been engaged in consultation over the strategy for the past year, and believes it represents an important step up for protection of nature in the Territory.
“The Strategy promises a Nature Positive future for the Territory, one delivered by assessing and approving the developments we genuinely need at a landscape scale,” said Conservation Council ACT Region Executive Director, Simon Copland. “This commitment recognises a simple truth: planning for the homes and jobs of the future cannot be done through one-off, site-by-site decisions. It must occur in an integrated way, at the right scale, with the whole of our landscape in view.”
“Landscape scale planning moves us beyond isolated assessments and towards coordinated plans for entire areas or regions. One-off assessments do not account for cumulative impacts. But when we plan at scale, subdivisions can be designed for groups of suburbs. Commercial and industrial precincts can be considered together. And the essential infrastructure – roads, energy networks, sewerage, water supply, communications – can be planned as a coherent system rather than stitched together project by project.”
“The strategy creates a new approach where, by considering proposals at this scale, approval conditions can require the protection, repair and reconnection of nature to such an extent that the overall outcome will be positive for nature. Given how Canberra is growing and the new developments that will underpin this growth, that is a significant promise.”
The Council has particularly welcomed the commitment to develop a Nature Conservation Network as part of the strategy, which will be identified and defined in the forthcoming ACT Landscape Plan. This aligns with the call for a Biodiversity Network, as championed by the Council and Friends of Grasslands, which will permanently protect areas of high ecological value outside the ACT’s formal protected area system. The Government’s Strategy commits to developing Priority Conservation Areas to underpin this Nature Conservation Network, ‘places where our key natural values will be conserved, connected, restored and safeguarded’. These Priority Conservation Areas will receive legislative protection by 2029.
“We have been advocating for years for such a network to be established,” Copland explained. “We don’t mind what it’s called. What matters is that a Nature Conservation Network will finally be established. We would like to see this network created and implemented as soon as possible. However, the Landscape Plan may still be years away, which is too long to establish such important protections.”
“Beyond this network, there also seem to be other strong elements of this strategy, including implementing nature stewardship programs for landholders; developing further funding mechanisms to restore nature; completing value and threat assessments of Canberra’s nature; planning how the effectiveness of management interventions will be evaluated – this is in treating risks like biosecurity – weeds, pest and disease management; standardising monitoring and data collection to support high quality decision making; and a focus on building understanding and capacity to respond to climate risks.”
The Council concluded by saying that implementation of this strategy is key, and that it will require proper funding.
“On the face of it, the strategy looks very, very good. Now we are looking to the government for the detail and the required funding commitment from the Treasurer and Planning Minister, to enable its implementation! We do not want this strategy to end up sitting in a drawer, never to be read again. In agreeing to this document, the Government must commit to seeing it through over the next decade.”
“We have welcomed the collaborative approach already being demonstrated in developing this strategy. The Conservation Council, alongside other community groups, are excited to contribute to this consultation process and to work with the Government over the coming years to ensure core elements are implemented.”