National Forum

Perceptions and Attitudes of Private Landholders' to Permanent Covenants in Victoria and Western Australia : A comparative overview
Thomas Kabii
Centre for Ecosystem Management
Edith Cowan University

Despite the reported advantages of covenants as long-term measures for nature conservation both in Australia and overseas, even landholders that are committed to conservation often have strong reservations about entering covenant agreements. Their decision on whether or not to place a conservation covenant on their land is influenced by several factors among them perceptions and attitudes.

This paper provides a comparative outlook on the perceptions and attitudes to voluntary permanent covenants of privates landholders in Victoria and Western Australia in relation to the economic implication of a covenants on the land, impact on, and compatibility with short and long term goals of the land, and their necessity for nature conservation. It also reports on the landholders' views on incentives and the requirements for motivating an up-take of a voluntary permanent covenant.

It is pointed out in the paper that despite lack of significant differences in attitudes and perceptions to permanent covenants between Western Australia and Victoria, there is clearly a lack of widespread awareness about permanent covenants and a negative perception of their role and purpose, thus leading to negative attitudes.. Perception of a possible loss in property value as a result of placing a permanent covenant on it, and the view of covenants as not having any apparent benefit to individual property were commonly expressed deterrents for voluntary covenant uptake in both States. In both States there was also a strong preference for continuation with nature conservation efforts without the use of permanent covenant at present.

Lastly the paper points out the expressed requirements by landholders for incentives that address the economic implications of a permanent covenant on the property value and the conservation requirements placed by a covenant uptake.