Posted 13/6/07
ENVIRONMENT VICTORIA NATIVE VEGETATION UP-DATE, JUNE 2007
Incorporating the Latest E-Bulletin from VICTORIA NATURALLY
Welcome to Environment Victoria’s Native Vegetation Up-date for 2007 – and apologies there hasn’t been an Up-date since March last year.
Following on from previous Up-dates, we would like to let you know
(if you don’t already) about a new alliance of conservation groups called Victoria
Naturally, and to inform you about the state government's Land and Biodiversity
White Paper process, which was launched in April.
Previous Up-dates have focussed on the implementation of the Native Vegetation Framework
and clearing controls, as an important means of reducing native vegetation loss.
While some progress has been made in reducing the level of permitted clearing, major
problems remain, including widespread illegal clearing, overly broad exemptions
and a weak policy for avoiding clearing. Victoria Naturally aims to tackle
this and other causes of Victoria’s biodiversity crisis through a visionary campaign,
focussing initially on the White Paper process.
The latest e-bulletin from Victoria Naturally, included below, shows you how you
can make a submission to the White Paper.
Victoria Naturally
Victoria Naturally is an alliance of eight environment groups hosted by the Victorian National Parks Association and including EV.
It has been established to campaign for far-reaching, whole-of-government action, to restore biodiversity and healthy ecosystems across the landscape. Its vision encompasses both public and private land, and effective biolinks to cope with the growing threat of climate change .
EV strongly encourages you to subscribe to Victoria Naturally e-bulletins to keep up-to-date with the White Paper process and biodiversity issues across the state. Simply email your name to info@vnpa.org.au or follow the links in the e-bulletin below.
Land and Biodiversity White Paper
The "Land and Biodiversity White Paper" is an important opportunity to re-think the way we manage the natural environment in Victoria, and to achieve the much greater resourcing needed and real on-the-ground capacity.
State government says the White Paper will set the direction for investment and policies for biodiversity conservation, land and aquatic health and natural resource management in Victoria for decades to come. Given the pressures for on-going clearing, effective native vegetation controls ought to be one of its priorities.
We urge you to make a submission to the first stage of the White Paper process: a discussion paper called "Land and Biodiversity at a Time of Climate Change". Copies can be downloaded from the website of the Department of Sustainability and Environment: www.dse.vic.gov.au.
By contributing your views and knowledge, you can help ensure that on-the-ground management priorities that have been under-resourced or heavily compromised, such as clearing controls, weed control, roadside conservation, landholder incentives and support, are high on the agenda.
Submissions are due by June 22, 2007. Refer to the Victoria Naturally e-bulletin below for more details.
Environment Victoria’s information bulletins
In future, information from EV about native vegetation issues will be included with our affiliate group bulletins, or on our website. If you would like to subscribe and are not already a member, please contact EV’s Supporter Liaison Officer, Candice Feuerring, email: Candice@envict.org.au, tel: 9341 8124. EV will soon be surveying our member groups to ask how our bulletins, and our information sharing and networking activities, can best meet their needs.
Regards, and all the best working on native vegetation issues in your area
Andrew Booth
Environment Victoria
tel: 9381 0182
VICTORIA NATURALLY E-BULLETIN, MAY 2007:
Land and Biodiversity White Paper
first call for submissions
We’re writing to you because we believe your opinion on Victoria’s natural environment is extremely important and should be fed into the State Government’s new Land and Biodiversity White Paper process.
We know that you are already helping to improve the health of the environment in your local area – and probably beyond as well – and we want to ensure YOUR VOICE is heard as part of this new process.
Victoria Naturally, an alliance of eight environment groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation, Victorian National Parks Association and Greening Australia (Vic), was created to tackle Victoria’s biodiversity crisis and strongly believes the White Paper process could come up with the answers.
The Wilderness Society, Environment Victoria, Trust for Nature, Bush Heritage Australia and the Invasive Species Council are also part of the alliance.
Why make a submission?
Victoria is the most cleared state in Australia. We’ve lost about 70% of our native vegetation through land clearing, 44% of our native plants and 30% of our native animals are under threat.
Climate change is only going to make this situation worse.
Some of the solutions, such as reducing land clearing, are simple. But most of the answers are complex – we need changes in the law and institutions, we need more money spent on the environment, but how?
How do I make a submission?
The first stage of the White Paper process is a consultation paper called Land and Biodiversity at a Time of Climate Change. You can download this consultation paper from www.dse.vic.gov.au/landwhitepaper/ and use it to write your submission.
OR use our simple submission form – (537kb word document) and make sure YOUR issues – frustrations and solutions – are put on the agenda. You can also use The Australian Conservation Foundation’s online submission.
Send submissions to: Project Director, Land & Biodiversity White Paper Project Team, Department of Sustainability and Environment, PO Box 500, East Melbourne 3002 OR email it to: land.whitepaper@dse.vic.gov.au/.
PLEASE send us a copy so that we can collate your concerns - our email is info@vnpa.org.au, fax (03) 9347 5199 or post it to: Victoria Naturally, Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Carlton 3053. And please contact us with ANY queries. Submissions must include a name and address and will be published on the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s website. If you would like your submission to remain confidential, please provide a separate written request.
What issues should I raise?
The State Government is promising the White Paper will prioritise policy and investment in natural resource management, land health and biodiversity for the next 20 to 50 years, so it’s important all issues are open for discussion.
The White Paper will come in four stages. This first is a call for ideas and a great opportunity for you to make sure your issues are on the table from the start.
Some of the questions Victoria Naturally believes the paper should address include:
Stay in touch
Get regular updates on the White Paper process by joining our biodiversity ebulletin. Just email your name to info@vnpa.org.au. For more information visit our web pages. Just go to www.vnpa.org.au and click on the Victoria Naturally link.
Good luck with your submission,
The Victoria Naturally team.
Phone: 03 9341 6508/0421 633 299
Level 3, 60 Leicester St, Carlton - 3053
eMAIL: johns@vnpa.org.au