better science to underpin the National Wildlife Corridors Strategy and the National Biodiversity Strategy; biodiversity recovery and landscape restoration that gives greater protection and investment to facilitate regrowth forests such as occur in Queensland's brigalow belt; better assessment of projects through INFFER or similar to report on the of project proposals under relevant financial assistance programs; greater transparency in the trade-off between landscape-scale investments and investments for conservation; and a more informed and consideration of biodiversity trends in the Australian Government's (2013) Sustainability report. The Development of Northern Australia Researchers consider that the following areas could benefit from utilisation of NERP research outputs: freshwater flow requirements of rivers and estuaries and importance of the connections between rivers and estuaries. There is growing pressure to develop northern Australia for agriculture and most of this development requires more intensive use of the water resources. There is a severe lack of knowledge on the importance of productivity of estuaries and their role in supporting fisheries. There is also a lack of knowledge and interest by environmental and economic decision makers on sediment/nutrient interactions and the impact land use changes can have on the productivity of estuaries. effective relationships with Indigenous Australians on flow on benefits to communities from the Indigenous Ranger program and how Commonwealth programs such as Caring for our Country and Working on Country could be adjusted to create more successful or sustainable outcomes in any redesign of Federal Indigenous Policy for Northern Australia; and greater priority of the far northern section of the Great Barrier Reef, the only section that has not lost any coral cover. The long-term protection of the far northern section will require State and Federal commitments to prevent unsustainable land development in the far north. State Jurisdictions consider that the utilisation of NERP research outputs would have benefitted the Researchers following: modifications to land clearing regulations in Victoria and NSW. would benefit from research on the conservation value of large trees and the effectiveness of land clearing regulation; impact of tourism development in national parks; conservation planning in the urban fringe so that it has less impact on biodiversity; a greater focus on the relationships between vegetation management and residential housing losses as well as on the impact of climate change from prescribed burning for protecting built assets during bushfires and modifications to clearing laws after major bushfire events; more effective management of gamba grass at a regional scale across northern Australia;
better science to underpin the National Wildlife Corridors Strategy and the National Biodiversity Strategy; biodiversity recovery and landscape restoration that gives greater protection and investment to facilitate regrowth forests such as occur in Queensland's brigalow belt; better assessment of projects through INFFER or similar to report on the of project proposals under relevant financial assistance programs; greater transparency in the trade-off between landscape-scale investments and investments for conservation; and a more informed and consideration of biodiversity trends in the Australian Government's (2013) Sustainability report. The Development of Northern Australia Researchers consider that the following areas could benefit from utilisation of NERP research outputs: freshwater flow requirements of rivers and estuaries and importance of the connections between rivers and estuaries. There is growing pressure to develop northern Australia for agriculture and most of this development requires more intensive use of the water resources. There is a severe lack of knowledge on the importance of productivity of estuaries and their role in supporting fisheries. There is also a lack of knowledge and interest by environmental and economic decision makers on sediment/nutrient interactions and the impact land use changes can have on the productivity of estuaries. effective relationships with Indigenous Australians on flow on benefits to communities from the Indigenous Ranger program and how Commonwealth programs such as Caring for our Country and Working on Country could be adjusted to create more successful or sustainable outcomes in any redesign of Federal Indigenous Policy for Northern Australia; and greater priority of the far northern section of the Great Barrier Reef, the only section that has not lost any coral cover. The long-term protection of the far northern section will require State and Federal commitments to prevent unsustainable land development in the far north. State Jurisdictions Researchers consider that the utilisation of NERP research outputs would have benefitted the following: modifications to land clearing regulations in Victoria and NSW. would benefit from research on the conservation value of large trees and the effectiveness of land clearing regulation; impact of tourism development in national parks; conservation planning in the urban fringe so that it has less impact on biodiversity; a greater focus on the relationships between vegetation management and residential housing losses as well as on the impact of climate change from prescribed burning for protecting built assets during bushfires and modifications to clearing laws after major bushfire events; more effective management of gamba grass at a regional scale across northern Australia;
nerp-evaluation-final-report.docx