The Biosphere Bandicoot

The Western Port Biosphere Reserve has been awarded a six-year grant of $2.267 million under round one of the Australian Government’s Biodiversity Fund.

The grant will fund landscape-scale biodiversity planning, revegetation and pest control to connect and improve habitat corridors across the Western Port Biosphere Reserve region.

The region includes Western Port and the five local government areas that together cover most of the Western Port catchment – Bass Coast Shire, Cardinia Shire, City of Casey, City of Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Shire.

Under the grant, a multi-stakeholder steering committee will develop a regional biodiversity action plan, enhance key reserves, revegetate landscape gaps to establish habitat links, improve low-cost integrated pest control, and provide and audit carbon storage with new enabling systems.

Partners include Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority, the region’s five local governments, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Melbourne Water, Parks Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, South East Councils Climate Change Alliance, Trust for Nature, Cardinia Environment Coalition, Bass Coast Landcare Network, Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information, Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria, Chisholm Institute of TAFE and others.

The Western Port Biosphere Reserve is pleased to be able to attract funding for such an important landscape-scale project, says executive officer Cecelia Witton.

“We are looking forward to working with like-minded community groups, land-owners and volunteers to connect habitat and provide urgent protection for the region’s fragile biodiversity.”

UNESCO biosphere reserves aim to foster conservation and sustainable development. The Western Port Biosphere Reserve was designated in 2002 because it has outstanding natural values, including two Ramsar wetlands of international importance, highly diverse ecosystems, and many threatened species and habitats on the fringe of Melbourne. Habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats as Melbourne’s population grows and the climate changes.

Graham Hunter, President United Nations Association of Australia (Vic Div); Councillor Veronica Dowman, Mayor Bass Coast Shire; Professor Kate Auty, Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Victoria; and Rob Gell, Chair Western Port Biosphere Reserve, at the Western Port Biosphere Reserve AGM at Hastings on 18 November 2011.

The Western Port Biosphere Reserve hosted over 50 people at its AGM last week, including Victoria’s Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Professor Kate Auty as guest speaker.

The meeting was attended by a broad cross-section of people, including representatives from business and industry, tourism and hospitality, government agencies, councils and community organisations.

Prof Auty, who will deliver Victoria’s State of the Environment Report in 2013, described the Western Port Biosphere Reserve as an excellent opportunity for the community to create change and innovation to better cope with sustainability challenges.

Western Port Biosphere Reserve Chair Rob Gell agreed, outlining his vision of the biosphere as a showcase for innovative, sustainable ways of living and doing business.

“I want Kate to be able to point to the Western Port Biosphere and say, that’s what sustainability looks like,” said Rob.

Rob invited community members to participate in this vision.

“Let us know if you have a bright idea,” he said. “We are a small organisation without a large funding base, but we will do our best to work with you to make it happen.”

Rob discussed examples of this kind of cooperation and innovation over the past year, noting that these efforts would not have been possible without support from funders, particularly the five local governments of the Western Port Biosphere Reserve, Bass Coast Shire Council, Cardinia Shire Council, City of Casey, City of Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council.

Western Port Biosphere Reserve highlights over the past year include:

• Partnering with the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s new “Best Bites” program, under which local food businesses nominate to be assessed on environmentally sustainable business practices, safe and healthy food, and safe and accessible premises. The Western Port Biosphere Reserve will provide public recognition for businesses that attain standards of practice that meet and demonstrate biosphere objectives. It will also investigate the rollout of similar programs in other parts of the region.
• Engaging the community to clean up one of Victoria’s dirtiest waterways, Watson Creek – something never done successfully in the past. In addition to reducing nutrient flows into Yaringa Marine National Park in Western Port, this project has become a model for use in other parts of the region. It has also produced a manual to assist Horticulture Australia to work with vegetable growers near sensitive waterways interstate.
• Continuing on-ground work, community engagement and collaborative efforts to ensure the regional survival of the endangered Southern Brown Bandicoot. This includes the recent formation of a twenty-member Southern Brown Bandicoot Regional Recovery Group, which includes scientists and representatives from national and state agencies and the community.
• Helping to deliver the Ramsar Protection Program, which is being facilitated by the Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority with Caring for our Country funding. The project brings together a range of agency and community stakeholders to reduce threats to two Ramsar sites, including Western Port. Efforts include fox and rabbit control, weed control, fencing, and community engagement to increase understanding of the importance of these wetlands and how to protect them.

Rob thanked Prof Auty for her contribution to the Western Port Biosphere Reserve’s AGM.

Further information on the work of the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability is available at www.ces.vic.gov.au. See also Prof Auty’s blog post on her visit to the Western Port Biosphere Reserve.