To:
Director
Conservation Incentives and Design Section
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
GPO Box 787, Canberra ACT 2601
Fax: 02 6274 1332
wildlife.corridors@environment.gov.au
Date: 3 April 2012
Re: Draft National Wildlife Corridors Plan
The Wet Tropics Management Authority commends the National Wildlife Corridors
Plan Advisory Group for recognising the national importance of ecological and
evolutionary connectivity across the Australian landscape.
The Wet Tropics has a long and vital history of community conservation and
scientific research to enhance habitat and ecosystem connectivity across the region.
These efforts have been complementary to the listing of the Wet Tropics of
Queensland World Heritage Area and the establishment of many national parks and
nature refuges in the bioregion. The Australian and Queensland governments have
consistently supported the management of these protected areas. They have also
supported planning and community conservation works to prevent or offset further
ecological fragmentation from infrastructure and other development.
The Authority has several concerns with the draft National Wildlife Corridors Plan.
These concerns are summarised briefly below and addressed in more detail later in the
submission.
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The most serious concern is that the Wet Tropics region, including the World
Heritage Area, has been excluded from the nominated priority corridors. The
Wet Tropics World Heritage Area has been internationally recognised for its
rich biodiversity and evolutionary significance. Its biodiversity has been
identified as particularly at risk from the impacts of climate change. The Wet
Tropics bioregion fits all the criteria for evolutionary connectivity across
multiple ecological communities, as specified in the draft plan and supporting
documents. The concept for landscape connectivity in the Wet Tropics is well
developed and backed by a strong body of scientific research, including
benefits for climate change adaptation. The Wet Tropics community has welldeveloped capacity, expertise and experience in landscape conservation and
rehabilitation.
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Whilst the Authority supports the concept of national corridors in principle, it
questions the cost-effectiveness and achievability of the nominated corridors.
The draft National Wildlife Corridor Plan lacks detail about the proposed
corridors – how the concepts would be implemented, how much they would
cost and what are the measures for successful completion. The Authority
believes that more efficient, practical and feasible outcomes can be achieved
through smaller, but often equally significant, corridor concepts such as that
proposed for the Wet Tropics. Such regional connectivity may later link to
form broader national corridors.
The Authority questions the process and criteria by which the priority
corridors were identified and the lack of consultation before publication of the
draft. The draft plan claims that these corridors are the only existing concepts
which have been developed, but there seems to have been little chance for
others to present existing proposals or concepts to the Australian Government.
The Authority is concerned that these priority corridors, as listed, will be used
to direct funding to certain areas and away from other important areas like the
Wet Tropics. The draft plan mentions a desire to fund the National Wildlife
Corridors through the Biodiversity Fund, but there is little information about
how the Biodiversity Fund criteria might allow for this in future and how it
would affect other bids to the Fund.
Having much experience in fostering community conservation, the Authority
questions the practicality and benefit of any further legislation for connectivity
and would argue that the use of further incentives would be more productive
in promoting landholder participation and community involvement in creating
connectivity.
A copy of the Authority’s Biodiversity Fund bid is attached. The bid was
made in collaboration with the Queensland Office of Climate Change, Terrain
Natural Resource Management, Far North Queensland Regional Organisation
of Councils, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, and numerous
community and conservation groups involved in forest restoration. The bid
does not cover all the connectivity requirements and priorities in the Wet
Tropics, but reflects the criteria of the Biodiversity Fund and the capacity of
the community to achieve outcomes over the next five years. For instance, the
bid focuses largely on on-ground conservation works and does not include
other options such as land acquisition and potentially large works on
individual private lands where no agreements have been reached.
A detailed submission is attached which emphasises the importance of connectivity in
the Wet Tropics and the case for its inclusion in a national wildlife corridor plan. I
trust that these comments are useful and would welcome the opportunity to discuss
them during the consultation process.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Maclean
Executive Director
Why the Wet Tropics meets the criteria for a national corridor
The values of the Wet Tropics
The Wet Tropics is renowned for scenic panoramas of its rainforest canopy from
mountain lookouts, rivers that carve through rugged gorges and cascade into
freshwater swimming holes, giant trees and ferns from ancient eras and curiosities
from the animal kingdom. It has Australia’s greatest diversity of animals and plants
within an area of just 0.26% of the continent. Many plant and animal species in the
Wet Tropics are found nowhere else in the world. The diverse range of vegetation
communities are habitat to numerous rare and threatened species. The Wet Topics has
the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforests on earth. They are a living
museum of how land plants have evolved since the break up of Gondwana 40 million
years ago, from ancient ferns, conifers and cycads to the more highly evolved
flowering plants. The Wet Tropics is also a living record of the evolutionary history
of animals – being home to some species that have changed little since ancient times
such as the musky rat-kangaroo and the chowchilla. The richness of Wet Tropics
biodiversity is well illustrated in the table below.
Wildlife
Butterflies
Reptiles
Birds
Freshwater fish
Mammals
Frogs
Ferns
Orchids
Cycads
Percent of Australia’s species
60
20
40
42
35
29
40
30
21
The criteria for national corridors
The draft National Wildlife Corridor Plan lists the aims of the plan (section 1.3), a
range of guiding principles for wildlife corridor design and implementation (section
1.4) and foundation stones (section 1.8), before going on to list a range of existing and
prospective national corridors. There do not seem to be any specific criteria in the
draft plan for selecting the corridors mentioned.
However, in one of the supporting documents provided, Whitten et al (2011) lists a
set of operational criteria to define these National Wildlife Corridor initiatives. The
Authority believes that the Wet Tropics corridor proposals fit these criteria admirably.
The operational definition (Whitten et al 2011) is quoted below.
Operational definition
‘Corridor’ and ‘connectivity conservation’ are used in multiple ways across multiple scales.
In this report the term ‘corridor’ or ‘large-scale corridor’ is being used as defined for
evolutionary connectivity (Worboys et al 2010). Evolutionary connectivity requires habitat
and connectivity on a scale sufficient to permit gene exchange and range expansion, and
inclusive of scales necessary to support trophic relationships, disturbance processes and
hydro-ecological flows. Our resultant working definition of Australian wildlife corridor
initiatives is:
1. Scale: sufficient to deliver evolutionary connectivity across multiple ecological
communities, and in most cases, consideration of opportunities to manage climate
connectivity
2. Scope – jurisdictional and tenure: typically achieving evolutionary connectivity will
involve multiple jurisdictions at the local, natural resource management region, state and
occasionally national or continental level
3. Scope – partnerships: effective connectivity management will require collaborations
across multiple forms of tenure including public, private, Indigenous and other tenure
arrangements. Effective collaborations are likely to involve organisations that can best
engage and leverage values across these tenures including governments, regional NRM
groups, non-government organisations (NGOs), businesses and others (such as statutory
authorities)
4. Institutional development: our emphasis will be on those corridor initiatives that have
been formally identified and which are moving towards a formalised structure (though not
necessarily with formalised governance or widespread implementation).
Whitten et al (2011) also quotes Worboys et al (2010) to show the relationship
between type of connectivity and the scale of the corridor.
The Authority notes that Worboys & Pulsford (2011), which contains a similar set of
national corridors, did include a Queensland eastern ranges corridor with the Wet
Tropics at the northern end. The Queensland section of the eastern ranges corridor
also appears in another supporting document commissioned by SEWPaC (Parris et al
2011) which contains an overview of key socio-economic factors, principles and guidelines
in wildlife corridor planning and implementation. However, the eastern ranges corridor
was not in included in the draft National Wildlife Corridors Plan.
Why the Wet Tropics fits the criteria for a national corridor
The Authority argues that the Wet Tropics community already has a thriving culture
of rehabilitation and conservation for connectivity across the region and that the
current programs and future proposals for connectivity across the bioregion fit all the
operational criteria. The Wet Tropics has a strong scientific basis for establishing
evolutionary connectivity and the community has a shared vision for future
conservation and connectivity throughout the region.
Criterion 1. Scale: sufficient to deliver evolutionary connectivity across multiple
ecological communities and, in most cases, consideration of opportunities to
manage climate connectivity.
Evolutionary connectivity across multiple ecological communities
The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area demonstrates the evolution of
rainforest plants and animals and contains numerous endemic and rare species which
have survived over the ages (as described in the criteria for World Heritage listing).
For instance, the Area contains 676 terrestrial vertebrate species, 83 of which are
found no where else in the world, and 396 plant species are listed as rare or threatened
under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992 (WTMA 2009). Connectivity
across the Wet Tropics bioregion is vital to ensure evolutionary connectivity of many
species which have survived over millennia because there has always been a range of
suitable habitats, including the cool wet refugia of the montane rainforests.
There is ample scientific evidence to show that connectivity across the Wet Tropics is
not only important across numerous ecological communities, but will be vital for
managing the impacts of climate change on evolutionary connectivity, both within the
bioregion and beyond. When complete, the Wet Tropics corridors will connect coastal
ecological communities such as mangroves, littoral forests, open woodlands and
lowland rainforest to the montane rainforests of the nearby ranges and the upland
rainforests, wet sclerophyll and savannah ecosystems to the west and north to Cape
York. The corridors will allow wildlife movements and gene flows across significant
altitudinal and climatic gradients and increase the potential for adaptation to the
impacts of climate change.
Impacts of climate change
The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area is particularly vulnerable to the
impacts of climate change. Climate change (temperature increases between 1.4ºC by
2030 and 4.2ºC by 2070 under high emission scenarios) will have severe and
interacting effects on the values of the Area. We can anticipate changes in the
abundance and distribution of flora and fauna. Interactions between organisms, such
as predator-prey relationships and insect pollination, are likely to be disrupted,
creating consequent changes in ecosystem composition, structure and function
(WTMA 2008).
While some animals and plants in the cool, wet mountain tops may have little room
for adaptation, the dramatic vertical gradients and numerous refugial areas and
climatic variation within the Wet Tropics make connectivity across the landscape a
most important factor in allowing animals and plants to more easily adapt to climate
change and associated threats such as changes in fire regimes and water flows. The
Wet Tropics bioregion contains a wide range of differentiated ecological communities
and niches where species can adapt to climate change.
Some of the major impacts of climate change in the Wet Tropics are described below
(from WTMA 2008):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
There will be severe adverse impacts on wildlife and their habitats as well as on
ecosystems and the goods and services they provide society. There will be
changes in species’ ranges, both latitudinal and altitudinal (Hilbert et al 2001
and Williams et al 2003), and changes in species’ abundance (including local
extinctions (Krokenberger 2002).
In general, all native species will be more vulnerable, even those able to tolerate
climatic changes per se, as they will all have to deal with a variety of new
competitors, predators, diseases and introduced species for which they may have
no natural defence.
It is predicted that existing ecosystems will undergo major changes. Some are
likely to disappear entirely; some totally new or novel ecosystems may appear;
and others will experience dramatic changes in species composition and
geographic extent.
While rainfall totals may not vary by much under climate change, there could be
significant changes to the variability and seasonality of rainfall.
Climate change will adversely affect a range of environmental goods and
services provided by the Area. For instance, a rise in cloud levels would cause a
significant decline in catchment water yield sourced from cloud stripping, an
important source during the dry season.
The figures below show the dramatic impacts of temperature increases on climate and
vertebrate distribution in the Wet Tropics.
Areas in the Wet Tropics with mean annual temperatures less than
22.0ºC (black) in today’s climate (left) and after 2.0ºC warming
(right), Rainforest CRC 2003.
The decline in distribution of species richness of regionally endemic terrestrial vertebrates with
increasing temperature (the darker the shade of grey the greater the species richness), Williams et al
2003.
The benefits of ecological corridors for resilience to climate change
The Wet Tropics forests have been fragmented by agricultural and urban
development, leaving many coastal and upland sections of the World Heritage Area
separated from the main body. There are also some very narrow sections in the main
body of the Area where connectivity is limited and there is a large gap to the Paluma
Range section in the south.
Most of these ecological disconnections are relatively recent and can be repaired
relatively cheaply and easily by establishing corridors on private and public lands.
The attached Biodiversity Fund bid provides examples of the high priority corridors to
reconnect the World Heritage Area and create resilience to the impacts of climate
change.
There has already been at least 20 years of community tree planting and conservation
on private lands to help achieve these connections. There is ample evidence that
corridors such as Donaghy’s Corridor can achieve ecological connectivity and gene
flows between rainforest sections (Paetkau et al 2009, Tucker & Simmons 2009). In
the Wet Tropics, a range of short corridors can achieve connectivity across a
significant altitudinal gradient and a wide range of ecological communities and
climates.
Improved connectivity in the Wet Tropics will allow wildlife greater access to
refugia. In evolutionary terms, refugia are parts of the landscape in which certain
types or suites of organisms are able to persist during periods in which most of their
original geographic range becomes uninhabitable because of climatic change. The
resulting refugia contain high frequencies of endemic species because the species in
them tend to respond to the contraction of range by evolving differences from their
original, widespread stock. Refugia, therefore, are important as they represent those
areas where favourable habitat will persist or develop as the climate changes (WTMA
2008).
Criterion 2. Scope: jurisdictional and tenure: typically achieving evolutionary
connectivity will involve multiple jurisdictions at the local, natural resource
management region, state and occasionally national or continental level
For many years now the Wet Tropics community has shared a vision and a
coordinated approach to connectivity across the region. The Wet Tropics
Management Authority has worked closely with state government agencies
(particularly the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service), Terrain Natural Resource
Management, the Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils
(FNQROC), community conservation groups, nurseries, private landholders and
Traditional Owners to promote ecological connectivity across the broader landscape.
The Wet Tropics Conservation Strategy (WTMA 2004) lists a broad range of corridor
priorities across the bioregion and emphasises the many different benefits of each
corridor, including ecological connectivity, climate change adaptation, and wildlife
movement for threatened species such the cassowary and mahogany glider.
These priorities are largely reflected in the Terrain NRM Regional Plan (FNQ NRM
Ltd & Rainforest CRC 2004) and the Far North Queensland Regional Plan 2009–2031.
They are now being expressed at a more detailed scale in council planning schemes
under the Queensland Sustainable Planning Act 2009. The FNQROC has developed
an Integrated Biodiversity Assessment and Planning Framework (Sydes, in prep)
which includes detailed mapping of biodiversity assets and identifies key areas
required for connectivity using methods similar to those detailed in Beier et al (2011).
The Authority is currently working with FNQROC, QPWS, Terrain NRM and the
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to update connectivity mapping in the Wet
Tropics for a range of criteria including biodiversity significance, climate change,
water quality and wetlands, reef health, fire management, and individual threatened
species such as cassowaries, tree-kangaroos and mahogany gliders. The mapping is
based on a plethora of scientific data on biodiversity hotspots, species distributions,
significant threats, community capacity, Aboriginal cultural importance and costeffectiveness.
The various jurisdictions in the Wet Tropics region have long worked together to
promote connectivity at a local and regional scale. They have been supported by
numerous community groups and private landholders who have actively promoted
connectivity and developed extensive experience and expertise in tree planting and
conservation techniques (see community capacity below).
The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area forms the core of conservation efforts to
promote broader landscape connectivity across the region. The Queensland
Government has recently transferred the tenure of over 300,000ha of state lands in
and around the Area to National Park and other conservation tenures under the Nature
Conservation Act 1992. The government has also worked with the community to
create 8,250ha of Nature Refuges in the bioregion, the majority of which are adjacent
to protected areas or help to form wildlife corridors. These Nature Refuges include
some private lands bought by non-government organisations as conservation reserves
with assistance from National Reserve System funding. For instance, Bush Heritage
now manages Yourka Reserve (43,000ha) and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy
manages Brooklyn Reserve (59,058ha) and the Taravale and Mount Zero Reserves
(60,308ha). The Queensland Government has bought Wairuna Station (75,454ha) to
manage for conservation purposes. These properties all provide ecological linkages
along the western edges of the Wet Tropics rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests, as
well as linkages to the drier savannahs to the west.
There are also numerous private landholders working with the community to promote
conservation and connectivity on their lands (see below).
Criterion 3. Scope: partnerships: effective connectivity management will require
collaborations across multiple forms of tenure including public, private,
Indigenous and other tenure arrangements. Effective collaborations are likely to
involve organisations that can best engage and leverage values across these
tenures including governments, regional NRM groups, non-government
organisations (NGOs), businesses and others (such as statutory authorities)
The Wet Tropics is a region that can demonstrate effective partnerships across
multiple tenures. In many ways, the community has provided the inspiration and
motivation for over thirty years of conservation and connectivity work, including the
initial campaign to have the World Heritage Area listed.
This community culture of conservation is demonstrated by the numerous community
groups who for many years have fostered tree planting, wildlife corridors, nurseries
and conservation. These include Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands
(TREAT), Community for Coastal and Cassowary Conservation (C4), Daintree
Cassowary Conservation Group, Rainforest Rescue, Kuranda EnviroCare, Kuranda
Conservation, Tree Kangaroo and Mammal Group, Mahogany Glider Recovery team,
Cassowary Recovery Team, Cairns and Far Northern Environment Centre, Mulgrave
River, Russell River and Johnstone River Landcare Groups, Barron River Catchment
Management Association, Mitchell River Watershed Management Group, Terrain
NRM workgroups, Conservation Volunteers Australia, council nurseries and tree
planting teams, and QPWS rehabilitation teams. These groups work together with
large numbers of private landholders who are promoting conservation, connectivity
and sustainable agriculture on their lands.
Regional bodies such as the Wet Tropics Management Authority, Terrain Natural
Resource Management, the Far North Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils
and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service work together with the community to
offer a strategic regional overview and priorities for connectivity in the region.
Criterion 4. Institutional development: our emphasis will be on those corridor
initiatives that have been formally identified and which are moving towards a
formalised structure (though not necessarily with formalised governance or
widespread implementation).
The Wet Tropics Management Authority, together with numerous other regional
organisations and the Queensland Office for Climate Change, applied for funding
from the Biodiversity Fund 2011-2012 to promote connectivity across the Wet
Tropics bioregion, in particular to connect separate sections of the World Heritage
Area and to promote adaptation to the impacts of climate change (see attached map
and submission). The submission was possible in such a short time because of the
large amount of existing knowledge and planning and the well-established
relationships between government and community groups across the region.
The Biodiversity Fund submission catered for existing capacity to do the hard onground work of tree planting, weed control and other rehabilitation. The bid is
practical and achievable and many corridors are already underway. The submission
also reflects a sense of urgency to achieve connectivity in some areas in the near
future before urban and rural development made it more difficult and more expensive.
The on-ground connectivity works are being undertaken in conjunction with a range
of other strategies for to conserve and acquire lands for connectivity. Other more
costly connectivity proposals were not included in the bid and some private lands,
where the only current means available to create connectivity was acquisition, were
also excluded.
The FNQ Regional Plan 2009–2031 regulates sustainable growth in the region and
specifies areas of biodiversity significance and corridors of regional importance.
Councils are currently developing their planning schemes to give effect to the regional
plan and many are including designated corridors as habitat investment areas.
As already mentioned, the Wet Tropics Conservation Strategy (WTMA 2004) and the
Terrain NRM Regional Plan (FNQ NRM Ltd & Rainforest CRC 2004) list regional
connectivity priorities which have strong scientific rationales and community
capacity. These priorities have formed the basis for numerous conservation and tree
planting projects over the past ten years, often with funding assistance from a
succession of Australian Government funding programs.
Socioeconomic benefits and other goals in the draft National Wildlife
Corridor Plan
The goals of the draft National Wildlife Corridor Plan also include other important
reasons for promoting corridors that are not directly covered by the above criteria.
Many of these are also mentioned in a supporting document to the plan – ‘An
overview of key socio-economic factors, principles and guidelines in wildlife
‘corridor’ planning and implementation (Parris et al, 2011). Parris et al (2011) details
numerous potential benefits for social capital by creating connectivity. The document
states that, while targeted investment may have some direct economic benefits, ‘more
significant benefits are likely to come through the engagement processes used in the
planning, implementation and management of corridor projects which generate
substantial social capital’, and ‘enhanced social capital generates flow-on economic
benefits as networks and strong patterns of communication and information sharing
have been shown to facilitate relatively low cost transfer of economic innovation.’ As
well as direct benefits, creating connectivity can have ‘a range of non-use benefits
(sense of place, cultural heritage, and spiritual values) which contribute to a wider
cultural richness and human well-being’ (Parris et al, 2011).
Some of the socioeconomic and organisational factors in creating connectivity have
already been discussed above. A few more indirect benefits for the Wet Tropics are
discussed below.
Protecting natural stores of carbon in native ecosystems to minimise greenhouse
gas emissions.
In addition to improving the resilience of Wet Tropics ecosystems and providing
significant biodiversity habitat, the Authority’s Biodiversity Fund bid calculated the
annual CO2 sequestration of 363ha of proposed corridors to sequester 3519.28 tonnes
of carbon per year. Upland areas more suitable for climate change refugia generally
had higher value than lowland forests. At a rate of $23 per tonne, this equates to
3519.28 x $23 = $80.943.44 per year. The bid also stated that:
‘While many landholders within the proposed corridors are already willing
participants, the carbon revenue generated by the project would be a significant
incentive for further landholders to participate and a fitting contribution to reward the
time and effort landholders put in over the years to maintain conservation works on
their properties. The use of carbon credits will also offer ongoing legal protection for
the biodiversity conservation and restoration on private lands. There is a high
opportunity cost for land in the Wet Tropics. The average unimproved value of rural
land within the Cairns Regional Council area is $11,138 per hectare – amongst the
highest in Queensland based on data from the Queensland Valuation Administration
System (QVAS).’
Helping to manage and protect Australia’s iconic landscapes and Indigenous and
non-Indigenous culture and heritage
The Australian Government is currently considering an application for National
Heritage listing of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area for its cultural values. The
Area is home to 18 different Aboriginal tribal groups and much of the Area has
formally recognised Native Title rights or areas under claim. Traditional Owners have
been supportive of the proposals to rehabilitate habitat and connectivity across the
Wet Tropics and have often been employed to do on-ground works through QPWS,
Terrain NRM and Conservation Volunteers Australia work crews.
Native Title agreements in the Wet Tropics have been finalised with Djabugay
people, Mandingalbay Yidinji people, Eastern Kuku Yalanji people people, NgadjonJii people, Girramay people, Combined Dulabed and Malanburra Yidinji people,
Muluridji people, Djiru people, Wanyurr Majay people, Jirrbal people, Bar-Barrum
people and Combined Gunggandji people. These agreements include various
arrangements for tenure and land management and often include arrangements for
Aboriginal people to work with government to manage lands for conservation. There
are also several large properties adjacent to and within the Area such as Badjuballa
and Mungalla Stations that are managed by Indigenous Corporations.
Increasing community knowledge and understanding of wildlife corridors and
connectivity conservation
In partnership with community and conservation groups, the Authority, Terrain NRM,
FNQROC and QPWS have all invested in public education about the benefits of
connectivity for landholders, the community, wildlife and ecosystems. Numerous
community groups (see criterion 3 above) work tirelessly to educate landholders and
the community about the benefits of tree planting and ecological connectivity. They
lead by example and are the primary force that motivates people to get involved in on
the ground activities and to participate on their own lands. These groups have also
developed local expertise and participated in much of the research on the
effectiveness of corridors and tree planting and conservation techniques. Researchers
have actively worked with communities to develop adaptive community-based
biodiversity conservation such as the Mission Beach Habitat Network Action Plan
(Hill et al, 2010). This process focused on a particular species – the cassowary – as a
basis for community planning (Hill & Robinson et al 2011).
There are numerous cases in the Wet Tropics where cassowaries, tree-kangaroos,
bettongs and mahogany gliders have been the focal point for connectivity
conservation for small groups of the community. In many cases, where corridors rely
on participation of neighbouring landholders, individual landholders are influenced by
the enthusiasm of their neighbours and by watching the results achieved by those in
their social circles and local region. Such cooperation can take years to grow and
nurture, but is very effective.
A Wet Tropics Management Authority poster
A strong scientific rationale for connectivity
There has been significant research in the Wet Tropics bioregion into the impacts of
fragmentation and how best to rehabilitate rainforest communities. There has also
been significant monitoring of the effectiveness of corridors and tree planting
methods. A few examples are provided below to demonstrate the strong scientific
rationale behind efforts to improve Wet Tropics connectivity and resilience.
In the Wet Tropics there is a range of scientific evidence to show the benefits of
connectivity to improve biodiversity and reduce the impacts of climate change and
associated threats such as invasive species and changed fire regimes. The Authority
believes there is a strong argument for connectivity in areas such as the Wet Tropics,
while the evidence for national corridors remains less convincing. Whitten et al
(2011) states that:
‘Australian science is an early leader in the study of landscape-scale
fragmentation and the need for various forms of connectivity conservation but
ecological understanding of patterns and processes at the scale of the Great
Eastern Ranges or Gondwana Link is poorly understood. We are unaware of
any ecological modelling or comprehensive spatial analysis at this ‘mega’
corridor scale (p vi)’.
Impacts of fragmentation
There have been numerous Wet Tropics studies on the fragmentary impacts of roads,
powerlines and other linear infrastructure on rainforest ecosystems (for instance,
Goosem 2001 and 2007, Pohlman et al 2007). There have been numerous overpasses
and underpasses designed, built and monitored (for instance, Goosem 2001). The
impacts of roads as barriers to stream connectivity have also been investigated and
various solutions designed (see Lawson et al 2010).
Impacts of climate change
Wet Tropics biodiversity has been shown to be extremely vulnerable to climate
change. Numerous rare and endemic vertebrate species, particularly those in the
cooler upland regions ,will be under threat from changes to climate and habitat (see
Hilbert et al 2001, Krockenberger 2002, Rainforest CRC 2003, Shoo et al 2006,
Williams et al 2003, Williams 2006, Williams et al 2008, and WTMA 2008).
Improved ecological connectivity has been proposed as an important way of assisting
wildlife to deal with climate change impacts (Shoo et al 2011, WTMA 2008)
Restoration techniques
The long history of restoration activities in the Wet Tropics (Catterall and Harrison
2006) has provided the community with great expertise in tree planting methods and
the benefits of planting certain combinations of tree species for the maximum
restoration and natural recruitment (Florentine & Westbrooke 2004). These species
vary according to specific habitats and are listed in detail in Repairing the Rainforest
(Goosem and Tucker 1995). As part of a current Caring for Our Country project, Dr
Luke Shoo is currently researching the most suitable areas for climate refuges for
temperature-sensitive species including Herbert River and Daintree River ringtail
possums, golden bowerbirds, rainforest skinks, and Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroos. Dr
Susan Lawrence (James Cook University) has begun work to study accelerating
species richness gains and carbon sequestration in secondary regrowth at sites on the
tablelands.
Monitoring and evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation of restoration projects has looked at the long term success
(or otherwise) of community plantings, the biodiversity benefits and the need for long
term funding and planning (Catterall et al 2004b, Catterall and Harrison 2006,
Harrison et al 2004, Kanowski 2010, Pert et al 2010). Researchers have also developed
toolkits to help the community monitor restoration projects (Freebody 2007, Kanowski et al
2010).
Researchers have also focused on the use of corridors by various animals (Jansen
1997 and 2005, Kanowski et al 2006, Caterall 2004a) and the benefits for genetic
transfer between previously separated sites (Paetkau et al 2009, Tucker and Simmons
2009).
Planning and mapping
The Wet Tropics Conservation Strategy (WTMA 2004) and Sustaining the Wet
Tropics (FNQ NRM Ltd & Rainforest CRC 2004) give a broad overview of
connectivity priorities in the region and are currently being updated. There have been
more specific studies that focus on particular regions and issues such as the Cairns to
Cardwell cassowary corridors (Biotropica Australia 2005).
A report card on regional biodiversity values and trends recommends prioritising
investment to enhance vegetation and biodiversity management outside the Wet
Tropics World Heritage Area and adjacent to the World Heritage Area (Pert et al
2010). The Far North Queensland Regional Plan 2009–2031 has also included broad
biodiversity corridors which are being used to designate more detailed corridors in
council planning schemes using multi-criteria mapping of biodiversity connectivity
and habitat investment linkages (Sydes, in prep).
Achievability and cost-effectiveness
Whilst the Authority supports the general concept of national corridors, it questions
the cost-effectiveness and achievability of such large corridors. The draft plan needs
to provide more detail about the designated national corridors, how they would be
implemented and how much they would cost. The Authority considers that smaller
connectivity projects such as the Wet Tropics are more achievable and provide better
value for money. The best way to create national corridors is to focus first on their
significant components. Even regional connectivity proposals like the Wet Tropics
would require large commitments of funds and community effort to be realistically
achieved over the next ten or twenty years.
Any large scale corridor project will involve progressively linking local and regional
scale protection and rehabilitation measures. The Authority suggests that the initial
focus for connectivity should be in richly biodiverse area such as the Wet Tropics
where the need for connectivity is based on a solid scientific basis, a healthy
community capacity and readily achievable outcomes. Once important regional
connectivity is achieved, then the links to neighbouring bioregions can be considered.
For instance, the Wet Tropics would form a vital component of a national Eastern
Ranges Corridor and has strong links to the rainforests and savannah lands of Cape
York and the savannahs and river systems of the Einasleigh. However, these
ecological links are not as strong as those within the bioregion where there is ample
evidence of the need for wildlife movement for increased ecological resilience.
Public consultation
The Authority questions the process and criteria by which the priority corridors were
identified and the lack of consultation or investigation before publication of the draft.
The draft plan claims that these corridors are the only existing concepts which have
been developed, but there seems to have been little chance for others to present
existing proposals or concepts the Australian Government. The Wet Tropics
Management Authority, Terrain NRM and some other regional organisations were
invited to a meeting on very short notice just prior to release of the draft plan, but
opportunities to contribute to the draft plan seem largely limited to the networks
represented on the advisory committee. The Authority looks forward to an improved
process of engagement in advance of preparation of the final plan so that it can attract
widespread support and confidence among regional communities. Given the focus on
national connectivity across jurisdictions and tenures, there does not seem to have
been much consultation with state governments or local governments. This would also
be necessary for setting priorities and implementing corridors.
Funding for connectivity
The Authority is concerned that the current priority corridors, as listed, will be used to
direct funding to nominated corridors to the exclusion of other important areas like
the Wet Tropics. There would be numerous smaller projects in Australia which are
eminently achievable and practical (with community and biodiversity benefits) that
may not fit the broader criteria of the nominated national corridors. The Authority
suggests that there should be criteria that apply for biodiversity conservation and
ecological corridors and that applicants for funding seek to satisfy these criteria. This
would be preferable to nominating corridors and thus eliminating all other proposals.
Pursuit of connectivity as an end in itself risks diverting investment away from
practical and immediate measures aimed at protecting and rehabilitating critically
important biodiverse habitats.
The draft National Wildlife Corridor Plan mentions a desire to fund the National
Corridors through the Biodiversity Fund, but there is little information about how the
Biodiversity Fund criteria might allow for this in future and how it would affect other
bids to the Fund.
Legislation
Having much experience in fostering community conservation, the Authority
questions the practicality and benefit of any further legislation for connectivity and,
instead, would recommend the use of further incentives for landholders and greater
community involvement.
In the Wet Tropics we have the benefit of the Far North Queensland Regional Plan
2009–2031, prepared under Queensland’s Sustainable Planning Act 2009, which
includes broad scale mapping of biodiversity, strategic rehabilitation areas and
corridors. However, these areas then need to be mapped at a finer scale when included
in mapping local government planning schemes to be more effective. The mapping
also requires distinct codes to be applied to regulate development and land use within
the corridors. It should be noted that such regulation, while important, only applies
when there is a development proposal and does little to promote the community
motivation required to develop most landscape connectivity.
Such legislation, when developed within the State land use planning framework, can
be effective, but would be less effective at a national level without the means to
implement at a local scale. The Authority is unsure how the Australian Government
would legislate to nominate the parameters of national corridors and to further
regulate land use at a local level across such broad areas.
The proposal for legislation specific to biodiversity corridors would have to be
somehow linked to the Commonwealth’s constitutional powers. These areas of land
use regulation have traditionally been regulated by the states and local governments.
Rather than being separate legislation, any legislative proposal would best be included
as a matter of national environmental significance under the EPBC Act. However,
given the resources already required to administer the EPBC Act, this would create a
need for additional resources to regulate and administer. The Minister has existing
powers under the EPBC Act to establish advisory bodies in relation to wildlife
corridors. This may be a preferred option. Investment priorities are more
appropriately established in policy and strategy than legislation. The use of
instruments such conservation agreements under the EPBC Act may also be used as
an incentive to promote corridors. The Australian Government could also provide
support for state initiatives such as Nature Refuges where the Queensland
Government has not always had sufficient funding to meet demand in the Wet
Tropics.
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