Natural assets are too important to be left to be managed only by the State and industry and communities can do more – we are also heavily interdependent in terms of our use of natural assets and we need to improve our knowledge base, especially with regards to water, says VECCI.
According to VECCI Chief Executive Officer Wayne Kayler-Thomson, these are the central findings of the VECCI Community Participation in Land and Waterways Management Task Group, which will report its findings at the Victoria SummitTM at Parliament House in Melbourne on 15 November 2007.
"Too often, lakes, rivers, forests, national and state parks and bays have been placed in a box marked 'environment' with the consequence that industry has not had a voice on many of the key issues relating to natural assets", says Mr Kayler-Thomson.
"The damage to a vast swathe of Victoria's treasury of natural assets due to bushfire and floods and the ongoing drought has reminded us all of the value of our forests, lakes and rivers to our environmental, social and economic well-being.
"Every stakeholder has been a loser as a result of these natural disasters – business, the community and the environment. The downstream economic impacts on local communities and businesses have been enormous and will be felt for years to come - for example, a VECCI survey taken in December 2006 revealed that 59 percent of Victorian businesses had been affected by the drought.
"In the wake of these natural disasters, there is a very timely debate about the adequacy of the management of these assets and whether more can be done.
"This debate is taking place within a wider context. There is a growing realisation that the economy, the environment and the community are not separate, mutually exclusive, mutually antagonistic spheres. It is possible to have win-wins and even superior outcomes by paying due regard to all three.
"However, if we are to properly manage our natural assets for the benefit of all, the nature of the debate about these issues needs to change.
"For example, we need to move away from the situation where the debate about ongoing water shortages and the sharing our water resources is framed by some commentators as a zero sum game, setting up conflict between industry and households, or regional Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne.
"We are heavily interdependent in terms of our natural assets – for example, how many people realize that their T-bone steak has required 4500 litres of water to produce?
"A broader participatory model is required. We need to move to a situation which acknowledges our interdependence and recognises that we all have a stake in sustainable development and the sustainable use of our natural assets.
"Melbourne's bays are also under-utilised and complex planning rules need to be overhauled so that more private and public infrastructure investment occurs.
"The Task Group has produced a combination of immediate solutions and issues for further exploration around better protection for, and sustainable use of, our natural resources, particularly national parks and public land, water and Melbourne's bays", says Mr Kayler-Thomson.
Recommendations:
- Governments and the community need to better resource natural assets such as bays, rivers, lakes, forests and national parks and share responsibility for them among a wider group of stakeholders, as well as recognise the interdependence of asset users.
- Governments need to ensure that there are adequate funds for infrastructure needs and management of public land. This ranges from adequately planning and executing fuel reduction burns to installing and maintaining enhanced tourism assets, such as directional signage/user information, walking/cycling/4WD tracks, facilities such as toilets and change rooms, visitor impact management and relevant visitor interpretation.
- Governments should develop policies in conjunction with the private sector, communities and individuals in managing natural assets in between as well as during disasters, including:
- Streamlining planning processes to facilitate nature-based tourism infrastructure near national parks and waterways
- Providing incentives to encourage increased involvement from paid workers and volunteers in managing natural assets
- The Victorian Government and its agencies need to react quickly to combat negative media perceptions and emphasise that tourism areas are open for business after and sometimes during natural disasters
- The Victorian Government should encourage investment in Melbourne's bays by overcoming complex planning rules and multi-agency input through:
- The creation of a lead authority for the facilitation of maritime investment
- The coupling of private investment with environmental enhancement via a `Bay Package', focused on public capital works and environmental regeneration
- The revisitation of proposals for new ferry routes to address `missing links' on key tourism routes.
- As a community, we need to dramatically improve water literacy and end the `blame game' with water by emphasising the interdependence of water users in city and regional areas, as well as accept that there is not one single `magic bullet' to achieve water savings. This includes:
- Working towards creating a Water Scorecard to reflect the true cost of water consumption for business and households
- In the context of water literacy, a reasoned debate about capacity-building measures in certain circumstances, including off-set dams
- Building intrastate and interstate water trade
- Acknowledge and ameliorate the health risks of recycled water for residential purposes
- We need to recognise that while industry has a good water saving record and is willing to do more, the next level of deeper cuts in water usage will require meaningful and effective government engagement of industry in programs to harvest water savings from firm level and larger scale efficiency measures
- Government should provide greater support for technologies such as GMOs for their water saving potential and ensure that the Victorian moratorium on genetically-modified canola is not extended, unless significant evidence of harm can be produced.
|
