Breaking News from Dr. Graeme Worboys:

I am very pleased to advise that the Australian Government has released Australia’s draft National Wildlife Corridors Report today for community consultation. The draft report to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment, The Hon Tony Burke MP, was prepared by the National Wildlife Corridors Advisory Group, a Group which was chaired by the Hon Bob Debus AM.

This is the first whole-of-continent approach to connectivity conservation for the world and recognises a range of different corridors at different scales , including, importantly, a few select and strategic (yet to be designated) National Wildlife Corridors. The draft report also advises that new Legislation is proposed to be introduced later this year to formalise the implementation of the NWC plan. This is a proactive step by the Australian Government to help achieve both Aichi (CBD) Targets as well as Australia’s own Biodiversity Strategy targets. It is a formidable step forward in assisting Australian and migratory species survive in a climate change world. Comments on this draft would be very welcome and the website provides guidance on how to achieve this. The Draft Plan will be upgraded and then formalised by the Minister following the  community consultation period which ends on April 20^th 2012.

News coverage of the report. Press Release of the report. Editorial opinion of the report.

Draft report is available at: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-corridors/index.html

Nik Lopoukhine, Chairman of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), has recently received new honors for his diligent work as an advocate of protected areas.

He has been selected by Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society to receive the prestigious J.B. Harkin Award for 2012. Harkin is considered the Father of Canadian National Parks. This award is given to those who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the conservation of Canada’s parks and wilderness.

We send Nik our hearty congratulations - "Well done, sir!".

As we prepare for the Sept. 2012 World Conservation Congress in Korea, the IUCN is featuring a series of  valuable articles that allow people with local conservation interests to raise issues for mountain experts and the Congress to address.  Dr. Graeme Worboys is featured in this month's article on ways for local people to engage in a variety of important mountain protection issues: Local to Global––a Swiss-Italian valley brought to IUCN's Congress

Dr. Graeme Worboys has alerted us that an important environmental report has recently been published.  The Australian State of the Environment Report on Connectivity Conservation, prepared by Ian Pulsford and Graeme is now publicly available on this website: http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/2011/report/land/index.html

We are pleased to announce that the fourth national assessment of the state of Australia’s environment was launched today by the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, the Hon Tony Burke MP. For the first time in national environmental reporting, Australia State of the Environment 2011 goes beyond a descriptive summary of evidence to include graded ‘report-card’ style assessments of environment condition and trends, pressures and management effectiveness. It also includes discussions of the drivers of environmental change, resilience, risks, and future projections or ‘outlooks’. Written by an independent committee of experts, the report covers nine aspects of the Australian environment – atmosphere, inland water, land, marine environment, Antarctic environment, biodiversity, heritage, built environment and coasts. The State of the Environment 2011 Committee and Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities thank you for your involvement in the report’s preparation.  Australia State of the Environment 2011 is available online, along with a range of additional material, at www.environment.gov.au/soe <http://www.environment.gov.au/soe> 

WCPA Mountains Network members Roger Good and Graeme Worboys prepared report for the Australian Government

News from Graeme Worboys:

Dear Colleagues,

The Caring for Our Australian Alps Catchments Summary Report links the management for natural catchment condition in the Australian Alps protected area to the protection and conservation of water yield, water flow regimes and water quality in the mountains and then to the national economy and to the well-being of Australians. It states that the effective management of the Alps protected areas is critical to the national economy. The approach to the presentation of the catchment condition information was inspired by the Parks Canada ecological integrity reporting approach. The report calls on Government to invest in 6 priority actions as key threat responses and adaptation responses to climate change

The Caring for our Australian Alps Catchments Summary Report was launched by the Australian Government Climate Change Minister Greg Combet two weeks ago (while I was travelling) and is now available for download @ 9mb....

http://www.climatechange.gov.au/en/publications/water/australian-alps.aspx

We hope that you find it interesting and useful,

Dr. Graeme Worboys

Note: See also the commentary by Peter Crabb "We need our Alps, so why aren’t we looking after them?"