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As promised, Hon Kate Jones is taking appropriate action to ensure that a draft for public comment on a strategy to protect Queensland’s biodiversity will be released prior to the end of 2010.
Worldwide threatened species lists continue to grow. It is acknowledged that the planet is in the early stages of the sixth great extinction of life. Yet on the other hand new species continue to be described. Regardless of this, our biodiversity is facing a crisis.
While acknowledging and appreciating the crisis facing our biodiversity, Minister Jones has put in place a mechanism to give the conservation movement every opportunity to work with DERM officers to ensure the strategy reflects current ecological thinking.
Dr Aila Keto and Dr Martin Taylor have been influential in assisting the conservation movement to clarify and focus their thinking. Any current strategy must highlight the biodiversity crisis that currently exists. Existing approaches are failing to halt the decline let alone reverse this undesirable trend. The root cause of the crisis is the ever escalating population of consumers and polluters. The barriers to addressing the crisis must be defined and removed. Such actions must be underpinned by a list of concrete actions. Only then is there hope of introducing a strategy that will not only halt the decline but achieve what many say is impossible – i.e. reverse the trend.
For this to occur, several attitudinal changes have to be achieved. Ecosystems must not be viewed as simple, single, predictable equilibrium systems but as complex, dynamic systems with multiple states, thresholds and sudden collapses operating at different scales. True value of biodiversity must be recognised. No longer can the links between social and ecological systems - the negative impact on the quality of life resulting from inadequate allocation of resources to protect biodiversity- be ignored.
There are tools available to achieve this such as the social-ecological systems framework of Professor Elinor Ostrom. There is need for governance arrangements to provide statutory framework for science-based adaptive management of terrestrial and aquatic social-ecological systems to achieve long-term systems resilience. What is required is a whole of government program logic model that would encompass integrated goals, target setting, risk assessment, financial planning, monitoring and progressive improvements.
Essential components of any strategy will include, but not be limited to, enhanced management of existing national parks, expansion of both national and marine parks, and enhanced biosecurity activities. Targeted flora and fauna surveys are needed, for without such knowledge how can the success of a strategy be assessed? What will be challenging is to determine acceptable social performance measures including efficiency, equity, accountability and sustainability as well as ecological performance measures such as overharvesting, resilience, biodiversity and sustainability.
What you can do
Write to Hon Kate Jones MP, Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability and
commend the government’s initiative and desire to get it right rather than just getting it out.
Write to Premier Anna Bligh expressing similar sentiments
When the draft is released for comment, let your voice be heard. Include your local member regardless of the political persuasion.
What Wildlife Queensland has done and will continue to do
Agitated for several years for such a strategy in submissions and meetings with various Premiers and Ministers including the current Premier and Minister
Participated in workshops on the issue within the conservation movement and with government officers and other stakeholders and will continue to do so.
Comment on the draft strategy when released.
More Information
For more information on Wildlife Queensland's activities, call us on +61 7 3221 0194 or send us an email. |
