Uncertainties around the Implementation of a Clearing-Control Policy in a Unique Catchment in Northern Australia: Exploring Equity Issues and Balancing Competing Objectives
Land use change is the most significant driver linked to global species extinctions. In Northern Australia, the landscape is still relatively intact with very low levels of clearing. However, a re-energized political discourse around creating a northern food bowl means that currently intact ecosystems in northern Australia could be under imminent threat from increased land clearing and water extraction. These impacts are likely to be concentrated in a few regions with suitable soils and water supplies. The Daly River Catchment in the Northern Territory is an important catchment for both conservation and development. Land use in the Daly catchment has been subject to clearing guidelines that are largely untested in terms of their eventual implications for the spatial configuration of conservation and development. Given the guidelines are not legislated they might also be removed or revised by subsequent Territory Governments, including the recently-elected one. We examine the uncertainties around the spatial implications of full implementation of the Daly clearing guidelines and their potential effects on equity of opportunity across land tenures and land uses. We also examine how removal of the guidelines could affect conservation in the catchment. We conclude that the guidelines are important in supporting development in the catchment while still achieving conservation goals, and we recommend ways of implementing the guidelines to make best use of available land resources for intensified production.
References
[1]
Rockstrom J, Steffen W, Noone K, Persson A, Chapin FS, et al. (2009) A safe operating space for humanity. Nature 461: 472–475. doi: 10.1038/461472a
[2]
Pimm SL, Russell GJ, Gittleman JL, Brooks TM (1995) The future of biodiversity. Science 269: 347–350. doi: 10.1126/science.269.5222.347
[3]
Sala OE, Stuart Chapin F, Armesto JJ, Berlow E, Bloomfield J, et al. (2000) Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100. Science 287: 1770–1774. doi: 10.1126/science.287.5459.1770
[4]
Butchart SHM, Walpole M, Collen B, van Strien A, Scharlemann JPW, et al. (2010) Global biodiversity: Indicators of recent declines. Science 328: 1164–1168. doi: 10.1126/science.1187512
[5]
Pressey RL, Cabeza M, Watts ME, Cowling RM, Wilson KA (2007) Conservation planning in a changing world. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22: 583–592. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2007.10.001
[6]
Wilson K, Pressey R, Newton A, Burgman M, Possingham H, et al. (2005) Measuring and incorporating vulnerability into conservation planning. Environmental Management 35: 527–543. doi: 10.1007/s00267-004-0095-9
[7]
Pontius Jr RG, Huffaker D, Denman K (2004) Useful techniques of validation for spatially explicit land-change models. Ecological Modelling 179: 445–461. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2004.05.010
[8]
Verburg P, Schot P, Dijst M, Veldkamp A (2004) Land use change modelling: current practice and research priorities. GeoJournal 61: 309–324. doi: 10.1007/s10708-004-4946-y
[9]
Bryan BA, Crossman ND, King D, Meyer WS (2011) Landscape futures analysis: Assessing the impacts of environmental targets under alternative spatial policy options and future scenarios. Environmental Modelling & Software 26: 83–91. doi: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2010.03.034
[10]
Alo CA, Pontius Jr RG (2008) Identifying systematic land-cover transitions using remote sensing and GIS: the fate of forests inside and outside protected areas of Southwestern Ghana. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 35: 280–295. doi: 10.1068/b32091
[11]
Wilson KA, Underwood EC, Morrison SA, Klausmeyer KR, Murdoch WW, et al. (2007) Conserving biodiversity efficiently: What to do, where, and when. Plos Biology 5: 1850–1861.
[12]
Menon S, Pontius RG, Rose J, Khan ML, Bawa KS (2001) Identifying conservation-priority areas in the tropics: a land-use change modeling approach. Conservation Biology 15: 501–512. doi: 10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.015002501.x
[13]
Visconti P, Pressey RL, Bode M, Segan DB (2010) Habitat vulnerability in conservation planning—when it matters and how much. Conservation Letters 3: 404–414. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-263x.2010.00130.x
[14]
Visconti P, Pressey RL, Segan DB, Wintle BA (2010) Conservation planning with dynamic threats: The role of spatial design and priority setting for species' persistence. Biological Conservation 143: 756–767. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2009.12.018
[15]
Woinarski J, Mackey B, Nix H, Traill B (2007) The nature of Northern Asutralia: natural values, ecological processes and future prospects. Canberra: ANU E press.
[16]
Webster T, Morison J, Abel N, Clark E, Rippin L, et al. (2009) Irrigated agriculture: development opportunities and implications for northern Australia (chapter 10). Northern Australia Land and Water Science Review full report: Coordinated by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
[17]
Pascoe-Bell A, Lynch B, Hill J, Green C, Cameron A, et al. (2011) Identification of potential land for long-term sustainable food production. Palmerston, Northern Territory: Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport (NRETAS).
[18]
NRETAS (2010) Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport land clearing guidelines. Palmerston NT: Northern Territory Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport.
[19]
Stewart P (2013) Indigenous water reserve policy tap turned off. ABC Rural, Available from http://wwwabcnetau/news/2013-10-09/nt-in？digenous-water-reserve-policy-dropped/50？12152 (accessed March 2014).
[20]
NRETAS (2009) Recognising sites of conservation significance for biodiversity values in the Northern Territory. Palmerston: Biodiversity Conservation Unit, Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport.
[21]
Chatto R (2003) The distribution and status of shorebirds around the coasts and coastal wetlands of the Northern Territory. Pamerston, NT: Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory.
[22]
Kennard MJ (ed) (2010) Identifying high conservation value aquatic ecosystems in northern Australia. Interim report for the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and the National Water Commission. Darwin, Available at: http://track.gov.au/publications/registr？y/843: Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) Commonwealth Environmental Research Facility, Charles Darwin University.
[23]
Linke S, Kennard MJ, Hermoso V, Olden JD, Stein J, et al. (2012) Merging connectivity rules and large-scale condition assessment improves conservation adequacy in river systems. Journal of Applied Ecology 49: 1036–1045. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02177.x
[24]
DLRM (2013) Vegetation mapping of the Daly River Catchment, Northern Territory (Version 3. Updated January 2013). 3 ed. Darwin NT: Northern Territory Government Department of Land Resource Management.
[25]
NVIS (2010) National vegetation information system. Version 3.1; available at http://www.environment.gov.au (accessed October 2010).
[26]
Franklin DC, Whitehead PJ, Pardon G, Matthews J, McMahon P, et al. (2005) Geographic patterns and correlates of the decline of granivorous birds in northern Australia. Wildlife Research 32: 399–408. doi: 10.1071/wr05052
[27]
Woinarski J, Green J, Fisher A, Ensbey M, Mackey B (2013) The effectiveness of conservation reserves: Land tenure impacts upon biodiversity across extensive natural landscapes in the tropical savannahs of the Northern Territory, Australia. Land 2: 20–36. doi: 10.3390/land2010020
[28]
Woinarski JCZ, Legge S, Fitzsimons JA, Traill BJ, Burbidge AA, et al. (2011) The disappearing mammal fauna of northern Australia: context, cause, and response. Conservation Letters 4: 192–201. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-263x.2011.00164.x
[29]
Setterfield SA, Rossiter-Rachor NA, Douglas MM, Wainger L, Petty AM, et al. (2013) Adding fuel to the fire: The impacts of non-native grass invasion on fire management at a regional scale. PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059144
[30]
SEWPaC (2012) Interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia, Version 7. In: Department of Sustainability E, Water, Populations and Communities, editor. Canberra.
[31]
Arnost M (2013) Tipperary plan raises environmental concerns. ABC Rural available at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-20/ti？pperary-clearing/4701026, accessed June 2013.
[32]
Tapp V, Roocke N (2013) Water licences open new northern cropping region. ABC Rural: available at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-28/nr？n-northern-irrigation/4717350, accessed June 2013.
[33]
Nel JL, Reyers B, Roux DJ, Cowling RM (2009) Expanding protected areas beyond their terrestrial comfort zone: Identifying spatial options for river conservation. Biological Conservation 142: 1605–1616. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2009.02.031
