Commercialising wildlife on farm as an incentive to restore habitat

摘要

Degradation of Australia's ecosystems continues to be an ongoing concern, but one organisation is attempting to reverse current trends with the help of landholders. The FATE Program, Future of Australia's Threatened Ecosystems, is an initiative by the Australian Museum Director, Professor Michael Archer. It seeks to test if the commercial value of wildlife, both bush plants and animals, can encourage landholders to restore and maintain habitats. The program aims to trial mechanisms which enable thevalue of Australia's natural resources to operate as incentives to protect and restore wildlife habitat, restore landscapes and enhance biodiversity. At last year's Environment Management Systems in Agriculture conference at Ballina in NSW, a consultantto the FATE Program, Dr George Wilson, said the program aims to establish trials to test these ideas in Australia and to give effect to the recommendations of the 1998 Senate inquiry into the commercial use of native Australian wildlife. "FATE draws onexperiences in overseas countries that show when ownership is allocated to landholders, wild resources are conserved and restored," Wilson said.