BIODIVERSITY
Adaptation is building species and ecosystem resilience and functionality for long-term viability
The preservation of biodiversity values and enhancement of environmental resilience is of vital importance for the function of ecosystems, persistence of wildlife, public health and agriculture, as well as of urban amenity and visitor attraction. Changes to temperature, rainfall, storm and fire patterns are already putting species and ecosystems at risk across the Region. There are strong and viable strategies to respond, but they will require urgent, focused coordination and a greater willingness to invest than has been the case to date.
Adaptation plans and actions already underway | Lead agency |
DELWP | |
Biolinks | Community networks and alliances |
Deakin University | |
Municipal biodiversity strategies | Local governments across the Region |
Regional catchment strategies, NRM plans for climate change, regional waterway strategies and adaptation pathways | Catchment management authorities and DELWP Aboriginal water programs |
Revegetation and other projects | Landcare networks |
DELWP and CSIRO | |
DELWP, CMAs and Traditional Owners | |
| Climate Future Plots | Universities, CMAs and local conversation groups |
| Wetland conservation | CMAs and Nature Glenelg Trust |
| Threatened species management | Government, non-government organisations and universities |
Leading opportunities
- Protecting existing natural assets and remnants
- Climate-sensitive restoration/revegetation
- Connected habitats and protection of refugia
- Coordinated threat management at the landscape scale (pest, plant, animal, disease)
- Online natural resource management (NRM) portals and public information sources eg south west climate change NRM portal.
- Adaptation pathways approaches to NRM planning for natural assets.
- Optimal environmental water flows.
- Incentivise land use practices that value biodiversity.
- Identify the transformational actions and tipping points that might be required to improve biodiversity outcomes for the Region.
- Research to overcome key knowledge gaps at species, community and landscape scales.
- Better management of plague/pest animal species.
Main barriers
- Declining wildlife and genetic diversity due to fragmentation and maladaptation.
- Scarcity and pollution of water.
- Increases in fire activity mean that eucalypt biomes become increasingly prevalent, at the expense of alternate ecosystems.
- Land use change, human population growth and development.
- Lack of coherence in economic and funding incentives is compounded by fragmented strategy and leadership across stakeholder groups.
- Biodiversity values impacted by other climate adaptation responses and competing agendas eg. Bushfire Management Overlays, land clearing for housing development, water diversions.
Dr Peter Gell from Federation University
Jess Gardner from Greening Australia
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the First Nations Peoples of the land and waters that we live, care and work upon within the Grampians Region. We respect the continuous culture that has been embedded into history for thousands of years. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
