Australia21 will
host a roundtable in February 2013 on the benefits and feasibility of a large
national program to ‘regreen Australia’ through massive reforestation and
revegetation.
The project will re-examine the issues raised in a 1989 CSIRO report - Regreening Australia: The environmental, economic and social benefits of reforestation by Australia21 director Richard Eckersley - in the light of advances in knowledge about both the problems and the solutions. Key among these is the growing understanding of the impacts of climate change on Australian environments and the importance of land use and land cover in addressing climate change.
The project will re-examine the issues raised in a 1989 CSIRO report - Regreening Australia: The environmental, economic and social benefits of reforestation by Australia21 director Richard Eckersley - in the light of advances in knowledge about both the problems and the solutions. Key among these is the growing understanding of the impacts of climate change on Australian environments and the importance of land use and land cover in addressing climate change.
Initial feedback on
the proposal from a range of scientific and policy experts has been positive.
There was general agreement that, while there has been a substantial increase
in funding for relevant environmental activities since 1989, these efforts still
lack the necessary scale, integration and prioritisation to address the
environmental challenges Australia faces. Participants in the roundtable
will examine the following central question: ‘What are the benefits of
large-scale reforestation and revegetation, and how can they best be
achieved?’
Subsidiary
questions include:
- What
is already being done, and is it enough?
- What have we learned from past
reforestation/revegetation programs?
- What
remains to be learned?
- What
are the best processes and mechanisms for assessing risks and achieving
benefits?
- Who
are the key partners/stakeholders and what are their roles?
- Are
priorities at local, regional and national scales agreed and compatible?
- What
are the next steps?
Enough funding to kick start the project has been provided by Richard Eckersley, through a bequest from the estate of the late Jan Lee Martin, and the Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria. Australia21 is seeking more funding to ensure the best possible outcome. If you would like to comment on this project or you would like to know more please contact us at office@australia21.org.au. Donations to support Regreening Australia can be made on line http://www.givenow.com.au/australia21.
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