National Forum

Living Landscapes - A participatory approach to conservation management
Robert Lambeck, Tricia Gowdie, Anne Smith, Fionnuala Frost, Ted Rowley

The widespread clearing of native vegetation for agriculture over much of Australia has resulted in significant loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function. Even in areas where clearing has ceased, the major disruption to ecological function ensures that the process of species loss is ongoing. Addressing these problems requires more than simply protecting the bits of bush that remains. Halting this process of species decline requires the rebuilding of landscape function by re-establishing native vegetation and changing the shape of modern agriculture. Such changes require a whole-of-landscape response built on changed perceptions of the values in the landscape and the type of land management required to protect and sustain those values. These changes can not occur without the willing participation of the community that manages the majority of the landscape.

Living Landscapes is a program that aims to maintain biological diversity and ecosystem function in agricultural landscapes by working with the community to develop more sustainable landscapes. The program is underpinned by the following principles:

• Conservation planning must be based on long-term relationships between partners
• Conservation planning should, as far as possible, be based on a technical under-pinning
• Conservation programs should build the capacity of individual land managers and community groups to develop and implement increasingly complex plans
• Conservation programs should build institutional and organisational capacity to support evolving land use practices
• Conservation planning should link local actions to regional outcomes
• Local conservation activities should, as far as possible, align with State and Federal initiatives
• Conservation programs should have the capacity to evolve as a program through time

The initial phase of the Living Landscapes program has provided some very encouraging results in terms of increased interest and awareness of conservation issues in agricultural communities as well as an encouraging level of commitment to on-ground works. While the amount of change achieved to date still falls a long way short of delivering ideal landscape outcomes, there has been a greater level of commitment to on-ground works in a relatively short period of time than has been achieved by many other comparable programs.