Adaptation strategies for biodiversity conservation: Has australian law got what it takes?

Environmental and Planning Law Journal

Volumn 31, Issue PART 2, 2014, Pages 114-136

  McCormack, Phillipa ^a   McDonald, Jan ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT; BIODIVERSITY; CLIMATE CHANGE; NATURE CONSERVATION; STRATEGIC APPROACH;

AUSTRALIA;

EID: 84897659730     PISSN: 0813300X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (290)

1. This estimate relates to ecosystem goods and services that are gained directly from biodiversity, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Year Book Australia 2009-10, www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/1301.0Feature+Article12009%E2%80%9310.
2. Steffen W et al, Australia's Biodiversity and Climate Change: A Strategic Assessment of the Vulnerability of Australia's Biodiversity to Climate Change, a report to the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (CSIRO Publishing, Canberra, 2009) pp 21-22; and ABS n 1.
3. Sandler R, "The Value of Species and the Ethical Foundations of Assisted Colonization" (2010) 24(2) Conserv Biol 424.
4. Senate Environment and Communications References Committee, Parliament of Australia, Effectiveness of Threatened Species and Ecological Communities' Protection in Australia (Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2013).
5. Steffen et al, n 2, p 215, there is an "urgent necessity for a national dialogue on the biodiversity crisis as well as a [need for a] longer-term educational effort". 6 National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Climate Change Impacts and Species Response in Terrestrial Systems: Information Sheet 1 (NCCARF, Gold Coast, undated)
6. Cahill A et al, "How Does Climate Change Cause Extinction?" (2013) 280 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 1; Root T et al< Fingerprints of Global Warming on Wild Animals and Plants (2003) 421 Nature 57
7. Walther G et al, "Ecological Responses to Recent Climate Change" (2002) 416 Nature 389.
8. Hooper D et al, "A Global Synthesis Reveals Biodiversity Loss as a Major Driver of Ecosystem Change" (2012) 486(7401) Nature 105
9. Rands M et al, " Biodiversity Conservation: Challenges Beyond 2010" (2010) 329 Science 1298; NCCARF n 6, p 2. Dunlop et al found that "[c]limate change is likely to start to transform some of Australia's natural landscapes by 2030 [and by] 2070, the ecological impacts are likely to be very significant and widespread. Many of theenvironments our plants and animals currently exist in will disappear from the continent":
10. Dunlop M et al, Implications for Policymakers: Climate Change, Biodiversity Conservation and the National Reserve System (CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship, Canberra, 2012).
11. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report (Cambridge University Press, Geneva, 2007).
12. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007).
13. Smit et al, " An Anatomy of Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability" in Schipper L and Burton I (eds), The Earthscan Reader on Adaptation to Climate Change (Earthscan Publications, London, 2009) p 77.
14. Heller N and Zavaleta E, " Biodiversity Management in the Face of Climate Change: A Review of 22 Years of Recommendations" (2009) 142(1) Biological Conservation 14 at 25
15. Schloss C, Nuñez T and Lawler J, " Dispersal Will Limit Ability of Mammals to Track Climate Change in the Western Hemisphere" (2012) 109(22) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 8606
16. Lawler J and Olden J, " Reframing the Debate Over Assisted Colonization" (2011) 9(10) Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 569 at 569.
17. For example, announcements at the 8th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) for the Convention on Biological Diversity (UNEP/CBD/COP/8/31, 15 June 2006)
18. Cliquet A. et al, " Adaptation to Climate Change Legal Challenges for Protected Areas" (2009) 5(1) Utrecht Law Review 158 at 159-60.
19. Heller and Zavaleta, N, Mawdsley J, O'Malley R and Ojima D, " A Review of Climate-Change Adaptation Strategies for Wildlife Management and Biodiversity Conservation" (2009) 23(5) Conserv Biol 1080.
20. Productivity Commission, Barriers to Effective Climate Change Adaptation (Productivity Commission, Canberra, 2012) p 7.
21. Productivity Commission, n 14, pp 168-169s
22. Jantarasami L, Lawler J and Thomas C, " Institutional Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation in US National Parks and Forests" (2010) 15(4) Ecology and Society 33, who found that prescriptive conservation laws presented potential legal barriers to effective adaptation, while process-oriented laws more often enabled adaptation;
23. Smith J, How Adaptable are our Conservation Regimes?" in Bonyhady T, Macintosh A and McDonald J (eds) Adaptation to Climate Change: Law and Policy (The Federation Press, Annandale, 2010) p 98; and for a discussion of the difference between more desirable and less desirable adaptation outcomes
24. Dunlop M et al, Climate-ready Conservation Objectives: A Scoping Study, Final Report (National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, 2013).
25. Preston BJ, Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change: The Limits and Opportunities of Law in Conserving Biodiversity" (2013) 30 EPLJ 375; Smith, n 15
26. Australian Network of Environmental Defender's Offisces Inc (ANEDO), An Assessment of the Adequacy of Threatened Species & Planning Laws in all Jurisdictions of Australia (Places You Love Alliance and ANEDO, Sydney, 2012)
27. Dunlop et al, n 15, for a discussion of the term "climate ready" in the context of conservation management objectives.
28. Christoff P (ed), Four Degrees of Warming: Australia in a Hot World (Taylor & Francis Ltd, London, 2013).
29. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11, conducted a review of 22 years of international adaptation literature to identify potential biodiversity conservation strategies
30. Mawdsley et al, n 13, reviewed a broad selection of adaptation literature and adaptation plans developed in the United States, England, Mexico, Canada and South Africa.
31. Dawson T et al, " Beyond Predictions: Biodiversity Conservation in a Changing Climate" (2011) 332(6025) Science 53.
32. The term "in situ" describes "the conditions where genetic resources exist within ecosystems and natural habitats, and, in the case of domesticated or cultivated species, in the surroundings where they have developed their distinctive properties"; and "ex situ" conservation is defined as the "conservation of components of biological diversity outside their natural habitats", Convention on Biological Diversity 1760 UNTS 79 (entered into force 29 December 1993), Art 2.
33. Smit B and Wandel J, " Adaptation, Adaptive Capacity and Vulnerability" (2006) 16(3) Global Environmental Change 282 at 287
34. Berry P, Onishi Y and Paterson J, Understanding the Implications of Climate Change for Woodland Biodiversity and Community Functioning (Forestry Commission, London, undated) p 15
35. Skelly D et al, " Evolutionary Responses to Climate Change" (2007) 21(5) Conservation Biology 1353.
36. Compared to, for example, captive breeding programs and assisted colonization Dunlop et al, n 7, p 7.
37. Dunlop et al, n 15, p 43, noting that "there is a critical difference between resilience to climate change (an ecosystem resisting change due to climate change), and resilience under climate change (where ecosystem resilience is a property that is maintained as the identity of the ecosystem changes)".
38. Dunlop et al, n 15, for a discussion of "climate ready conservation objectives".
39. Steffen et al, n 2
40. Pritchard D and Harrop S, " A Re-evaluation of the Role of Ex Situ Conservation in the Face of Climate Change" (2010) 7(1) B G Journal 1 at 1, "in view of climate change models which predict the extinction of species and drastic, rapid and chaotic shifts in the distribution of habitats and species across the globe".
41. Pritchard and Harrop, n 25 at 2-3 The authors suggest that in a future where "natural" environments may break down and many species become extinct in the wild, the distinction between in situ and ex situ conservation concepts may begin to blur irretrievably.
42. Ruhl JB, " Climate Change Adaptation and the Structural Transformation of Environmental Law" (2010) 40 Environmental Law 363
43. Kundis Craig R, " 'Stationarity is Dead' - Long Live Transformation: Five Principles for Climate Change Adaptation Law" (2010) 34(1) Harvard Environmental Law Review 9
44. Ruhl JB, " Panarchy and the Law" (2012) 17(3) Ecology and Society 31; Smith, n 15
45. Dunlop et al, n 15
46. Palutikof J, et al, " The Past, Present and Future of Adaptation: Setting the Context and Naming the Challenges" in Palutikof J et al (eds), Climate Adaptation Futures (Wiley-Blackwell, Brisbane, 2011) p 3
47. Jachowski D and Dylan CK, " Allowing Extinction: Should We Let Species Go?" (2009) 24(4) Trends in Ecology & Evolution 180.
48. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 27.
49. Mawdsle et al, n 13 at 1087.
50. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 27
51. Hulme P, " Adapting to Climate Change: Is there Scope for Ecological Management in the Face of a Global Threat?" (2005) 42(5) Journal of Applied Ecology 784.
52. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 18, the authors conducted a broad review of the biodiversity conservation climate change literature and identified 113 papers that made, in total, 524 specific management recommendations for biodiversity conservation under climate change.
53. Forty-nine recommendations in total were recorded about reserve acquisition and management under climate change, excluding recommendations for better modelling and more information, Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 18-21.
54. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 24.
55. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11, and Mawdsley et al, n 13, for summaries of conservation literature
56. Dunlop et al, n 7; Steffen et al, n 2; and Scott D and Lemieux C, "Climate Change and Protected Area Policy and Planning in Canada" (2005) 81(5) The Forestry Chronicle 696. A protected area is "a clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values", Dudley N (ed), IUCN Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories (International Union for the Conservation of Nature Publications Services, Gland, 2008) p 8; the Convention on Biological Diversity 1760 UNTS 79, Art 8, also specifically calls for the establishment and maintenance of protected areas for the purpose of biodiversity conservation, and for the development of guidelines for their selection, establishment and management.
57. This amounts to more than 118 million hectares: Department of the Environment, "Ownership of Protected Areas", www.environment.gov.au/topics/land/nrs/about-nrs/ownership.
58. Dunlop et al, n 7, p 3, noting that these timeframes are within the current planning timescale for biodiversity conservation and protected areas.
59. Department of Climate Change, Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts: A First Pass National Assessment (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009)
60. McDonald J, " Mapping the Legal Landscape of Climate Change Adaptation" in Bonyhady, et al (eds), n 15, p 15.
61. Commonwealth of Australia, Australian Guidelines for Establishing the National Reserve System (Environment Australia, Canberra, 1999).
62. Commonwealth NRS Guidelines, n 38.
63. Pressey R et al, " Conservation Planning in a Changing World" (2007) 22(11) Trends Ecol Evol 583.
64. Dunlop M et al, The Implications of Climate Change for Biodiversity Conservation and the National Reserve System: Final Synthesis (CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship, Canberra, 2012), a report prepared for the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, and the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
65. Figgis P, Conservation on Private Lands: The Australian Experience (International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Programme on Protected Areas, Gland, 2004).
66. Hannah L et al, " Protected Area Needs in a Changing Climate" (2007) 5(3) Front Ecol Environ 131
67. Scott and Lemieux, n 34
68. World Wide Fund for Nature, " Protected Areas: Buffering Nature Against Climate Change" (Paper presented at the WWF and IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas symposium, Canberra, 18-19 June 2007).
69. Steffen A et al, n 2
70. Root A et al, n 6 at 58, identify consistent shifts poleward and higher in altitude by 80% of the flora and fauna studied, as a direct result of recent climatic change
71. Dunlop A et al, n 7.
72. Heller A and Zavaleta, n 11 at 20-23.
73. Dunlop M and Brown P, Implications of Climate Change for Australia's National Reserve System: A Preliminary Assessment (Department of Climate Change, Canberra, 2008), a report to the Department of Climate Change, p 128.
74. That is, numerous examples of different types of habitat with each species and/or ecosystem represented in more than one reserve. Hannah A et al, n 40
75. Steffen A et al, n 2
76. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 20
77. Chambers L et al, " Climate Change and its Impact on Australia's Avifauna" (2005) 105(1) Emu 1 however
78. Cliquet et al, n 12 at 159, note that protected areas will only contribute to the conservation of biodiversity if they are also linked to ecosystem services or functions.
79. Reside A et al, Climate Change Refugia for Terrestrial Biodiversity: Defining Areas that Promote Species Persistence and Ecosystem Resilience in the Face of Global Climate Change (National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, 2013) p 2.
80. Hannah L, " A Global Conservation System for Climate-Change Adaptation" (2010) 24(1) Conserv Biol 70-72, international coordination will be necessary as refuges may not occur in countries to which a species is native and, in any case, climate change may cause species' ranges to shift across jurisdictional boundaries.
81. Such transformations in conservation practice may become more important under climate change as dynamic ecological changes undermine the operation of ecosystems as we currently recognise and rely on them; see Hobbs R, " Grieving for the Past and Hoping for the Future: Balancing Polarizing Perspectives in Conservation and Restoration" (2013) 21(2) Restoration Ecology 145.
82. Convention on Biological Diversity 1760 UNTS 79 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (Strategic Goal C, Target 11), www.cbd.int/sp/targets.
83. Department of the Environment, " National Reserve System Protected Area Requirements", www.environment.gov.au/parks/nrs/about/management.html; bioregional planning is the scientific basis for the NRS framework, founded on the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA). It informs decisions about land selected for inclusion in the NRS through spatial mapping and information about native vegetation and ecosystem networks, Bates G, Environmental Law in Australia (8th ed, LexisNexis Butterworths, Chatswood, 2013) p 438
84. " Australia's Bioregions (IBRA)", www.environment.gov.au/topics/land/national-reserve-system/science-maps-and-data/australias-bioregions-ibra.
85. Convention on Biological Diversity profile for Australia, www.cbd.int/countries/profile/default.shtml?country=au#measures
86. Bates, n 50.
87. International Union for the Conservation of Nature, " IUCN Protected Area Categories", www.unep-wcmc.org/iucn-protected-area-management-categories_591.html.
88. For a detailed description of the designations, identified as Categories Ia - VI, see "Definition and Categories" in Dudley, n 34.
89. Root A et al, n 6.
90. Resideet al, n 46.
91. Hannah, n 47 at 70, advocates the recognition of international, cross-jurisdictional protected areas, reserved on the basis of the viability of populations in habitats across borders
92. Cliquetet al, n 12 at 167, note the likely need to develop "transboundary conservation objectives (bilateral, multilateral or EU level)".
93. Importantly, private land can be managed under static conservation objectives as readily as public land, and revised, clear, overarching adaptation objectives are also necessary in this context, Dunlop et al, n 15, pp 40-41.
94. Department of Environment, National Reserve System homepage, www.environment.gov.au/topics/land/national-reservesystem; for the purposes of Commonwealth incentives landholders may enter into a conservation covenant with a Covenant Scheme Provider, which can include not-for-profit organisations, government agencies, or local councils, www.environment.gov.au/node/13917; covenants need not apply to a whole title, eg agricultural land might be used for farming but include discrete areas that are protected for conservation
95. Figgis, n 40.
96. Conservation terms may include activities like maintaining a particular vegetation type, including in a particular place; protecting a waterway or restricting clearing to part of a property or to a limited area per year; eg the Nature Conservation Act 2002 (Tas), s 25, states: "the Minister may enter into any agreement relating to the use and management of any private land..."; see also Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Qld), s 45
97. The Commonwealth government has committed more than $2 billion to the Caring for Our Country funding initiative over the next four years, see " Funding 2013-18", www.nrm.gov.au/funding.
98. The Biodiversity Fund was halved by the Labour government in 2013 as part of its move to introduce an early emissions trading scheme, and is unlikely to be maintained by the current Coalition government given the Liberal Party's undertaking during the 2013 election campaign to dismantle the fund if elected
99. Department of the Environment, " Conservation Covenants", www.environment.gov.au/node/13916, and "Tax Incentives for Conservation", www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/publications/fact-sheets/incentives.html; although because "ongoing operational costs of conservation management cannot be offset against other sources of income...", such tax instruments are not as prevalent in Australia as in some other countries
100. Buckley R, " World Wild Web: Funding Connectivity Conservation Under Climate Change" (2008) 9 Biodiversity 71+72.
101. Approximately 36% of the NRS is made up of Indigenous protected areas (IPAs), comprising 60 declared areas and almost 48 million hectares of reserved land, www.environment.gov.au/indigenous/ipa.
102. Pasquini L et al, " The Establishment of Large Private Nature Reserves by Conservation NGOs: Key Factors for Successful Implementation" (2011) 45(03) Oryx 373+373.
103. For example, a Plan of Management is essential to secure Commonwealth funding for a protected area, see " Plan of Management Guidelines", www.environment.gov.au/node/21200.
104. National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002 (Tas), s 19(8), states that "[a] plan relating to any land within a private sanctuary or private nature reserve may only be approved under this section with the agreement of the owner of that land"
105. Preston, n 16
106. Management plans for Commonwealth areas must be reviewed every five years, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth), s 319; see also, eg Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Qld), s 125 and National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002 (Tas), ss 7 and 14
107. For example, while the Kakadu National Park Management Plan 2007-2014 incorporates climate change terms, many management plans do not
108. Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Qld), s 125: "The Minister must review the operation of each management and conservation plan not later than 10 years after its approval"
109. The National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002 (Tas) requires "regular reviews" but does not specify the timeframes, stating only that the role of the Director includes "keeping the provisions of management plans under review", s 7; and that the National Parks and Wildlife Advisory Council must "review management plans", s 14
110. The term "stationarity" has been used to describe regulatory frameworks that are insufficiently flexible to meet the dynamic changes projected as a result of climate change, see Milly PCD et al, "Stationarity Is Dead: Whither Water Management?" (2008) 319(5863) Science 573, and Kundis Craig, n 27; though note, the NRS's geographically fixed nature is not necessarily a barrier where "protected areas provide the fixed elements in a dynamic conservation plan. Geographically fixed does not imply static - flexible management in concert with the surrounding landscape ensures that protected areas are a dynamic part of the landscape/seascape conservation strategy", Hannah L and Hansen L, " Designing Landscapes and Seascapes" in Lovejoy TE and Hannah L (eds) Climate Change and Biodiversity (Yale University Press, Michigan, 2005) p 333.
111. Kundis Craig, n 27
112. Scott and Lemieux, n 34
113. Dunlop et al, n 40
114. Dunlop et al, n 15
115. Cliquetet al, n 12.
116. Suggesting the particular values and ecosystem services to be conserved are those currently provided, Dudley, n 34, pp 8-9.
117. Compared to having the potential to possess those values in a climate changed future, Nature Conservation Act 2002 (Tas), s 16
118. Steffenet al, n 2, p 44
119. Dunlopet al, n 15
120. Hagerman S et al, "Expert Views on Biodiversity Conservation in an Era of Climate Change" (2010) 20(1) Global Environmental Change 192; but see Environmental Defender's Office (NSW), Climate Change and the Legal Framework for Biodiversity Protection in Australia: A Legal and Scientific Analysis Discussion Paper (EDO NSW, Sydney, 2009) in which the EDO argues in favour of "[maintaining] the aspirational legislative objective of seeking to protect all species from extinction", pp 23-24.
121. Steffen A et al, n 2, pp 42-46; in Tasmania, an area must exhibit certain characteristics in order to assign it to a particular designation of protection (Nature Conservation Act 2002 (Tas), Sch 1) and must be reserved and managed for those purposes (National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002 (Tas), s 30). As climate change impacts manifest themselves, strict requirements to manage protected areas for characteristics that were present at the time that the land was declared may impede more adaptive approaches that allow for changes in the characteristics and values of protected areas.
122. Joppa L and Pfaff A, " High and Far: Biases in the Location of Protected Areas" (2009) 4(12) PLoS ONE e8273; see also eg, the recent debate about the national heritage listing application for the area known as the Tarkine in Tasmania's north-west, www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2013/s3686164.htm.
123. Joppaand Pfaff, n 78 at e8273, who found that the location of protected areas in 147 countries was biased towards areas that were "unlikely to face land conversion pressures even in the absence of protection".
124. Dunlopet al, n 7
125. Resideet al, n 46.
126. Preston, n 16.
127. Laurance W et al, " Averting Biodiversity Collapse in Tropical Forest Protected Areas" (2012) 489(7415) Nature 290+290, finding that "environmental changes immediately outside reserves seemed nearly as important as those inside in determining... ecological fate, with changes inside reserves strongly mirroring those occurring around them".
128. Donald P and Evans A, " Habitat Connectivity and Matrix Restoration: The Wider Implications of Agri-environment Schemes" (2006) 43 Journal of Applied Ecology 209+213
129. Hooper et al, n 7, found that biodiversity loss is a major driver of ecosystem change.
130. Ecological Society of Australia (ESA), House of Representatives Enquiry into the Impact of Climate Change on Australian Biodiversity, Submission by the Ecological Society of Australia (ESA, Canberra, undated) p 7
131. Laurance et al, n 82
132. Dunlop et al, n 7, p 9, suggesting the need to "work with neighbours to minimise the impacts of land-use change in whole landscapes".
133. Donald and Evans, n 83 at 213
134. Donatiu P, The Impact Of Climate Change on Rare Flora: Identifying and Protecting Climate Refugia, A Churchill Fellowship Report (The Churchill Fellowship, Brisbane, 2009).
135. Chambers et al, n 45 at 3-5
136. Bradshaw C, " Long-term Ecological Threats and Changes in Tropical Protected Areas" (Paper presented at Protected Areas - Are they Safeguarding Biodiversity? Zoological Society of London (ZSL) symposium London, 8-9 November 2012), www.zsl.org/science/events/protected-areas-symposium,594,EV.html.
137. Donald and Evans, n 83 at 213; this may pose a particular issue for Australian species, given that the Australian landscape is relatively flat and sparse, with less than 5% of the continent achieving heights of more than 600 m, ESA, n 84, p 3
138. Donatiu, n 85, p 14, suggests that "many landscape corridor projects in Australia overstate the migratory benefits of such linkages, while understating their role in sustaining habitat variation", concluding that the development of ecological corridors is unlikely to support Australian species to migrate in response to climate change.
139. Donald and Evans, n 83 at 213.
140. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 18,
141. Mawdsley et al, n 13 at 1084.
142. Hodgson J et al, " Climate Change, Connectivity and Conservation Decision Making: Back to Basics" (2009) 46(5) Journal of Applied Ecology 964-964
143. Worboys G, Francis W and Lockwood M (eds), Connectivity Conservation Management: A Global Guide (Earthscan, London, 2010) p 4; definitions and descriptions of this concept have been criticised for lacking specificity, see Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 25, Scott and Lemieux, n 34 at 699, and Chester C and Hilty J, "Connectivity Science" in Worboys et al, this footnote, pp 22-33.
144. Australia's biodiversity, for the most part, has limited capacity for independent migration as a result of limited dispersal characteristics and/or the topographical constraints of the Australian continent, Donatiu, n 85 and see n 87.
145. Including the impact of fragmentation on the health and resilience of protected areas and other remanent and native habitat, Laurance, n 82
146. Lindenmayer D and Hobbs R (eds), Managing and Designing Landscapes for Conservation: Moving from Perspectives to Principles (Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Carlton, 2007); IUCN, Connectivity Conservation Project, www.iucn.org/about/union/commissions/cem/cem_work/connectivity_conservation.
147. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11, for a review of the international literature on connectivity.
148. Hannahet al, n 40 at 137.
149. Worboyset al, n 91, p 5, describe a strategic approach to connectivity conservation, emphasising "large-scale connectivity conservation areas and their management" in line with the IUCN's plan to conserve "large, natural interconnected lands... that are tens of kilometres wide (or wider) and hundreds if not thousands of kilometres long"; the Habitat 141 project in Australia is a good example.
150. Worboyset al, n 91, p 6; though Buckley, n 62 at 72 notes that different tenure types can impact on a land manager's capacity to implement connectivity, sometimes diluting the potential conservation benefits.
151. Buckley, n 62
152. Worboyset al n 91, p 5; importantly, effectiveness is not readily measured and few connectivity projects are sufficiently progressed to be able to provide clear evidence of success; Chester and Hilty, n 91, p 31, state that "[c]onnectivity conservation areas appear to be our best comparatively reasonable hope for protecting biodiversity in the long term"; and at p 33: "[l]arge-scale connectivity conservation is a precautionary strategy that provides an insurance policy for many species to move and to adapt at a time of climate change".
153. Worboyset al, n 91, p 7.
154. Buckely A, n 61 at 71, notes that "[i]t is politically improbable that connectivity under climate change can be achieved by dedicating further public protected areas, either in developing or developed nations. Therefore, mechanisms to promote conservation management of other public and private land tenures are critical".
155. Including as a result of climate change, intensified agriculture and industry and human adaptation needs, Worboyset al, n 91, p 10.
156. Worboyset al, n 91, pp 14-17
157. Hulme, n 30 at 788, notes that "even where climate plays a significant role in determining distribution, variables such as human population density, land use and geology can often be similarly, if not more, important".
158. Donald and Evans, n 83
159. Dunlopet al, n 40.
160. Hannah and Hansen, n 72
161. Donald and Evans, n 83 at 212
162. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11.
163. Laurance et al, n 82.
164. Scott and Lemieux, n 34
165. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11
166. Steffenet al, n 2.
167. Steffen et al, n 2
168. Prober S and Dunlop M, " Climate Change: A Cause for New Biodiversity Conservation Objectives but Let's Not Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater" (2011) 12(1) Ecological Management & Restoration 2+3.
169. Steffen et al, n 2
170. Prober and Dunlop, n 107 at 3.
171. Dunlopet al, n 12, p 62.
172. There is a need to focus on both linking and isolating protected areas, "depending on the biodiversity objective"; this operates as a key difficulty, however, when biodiversity objectives for conservation under climate change are not clear or consistent, Dunlopet al, n 7, p 8.
173. Department of the Environment, National Wildlife Corridors Plan (2012) www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/e73bc1c8-81f0-4800-8f1a-3fb6cb7558ac/files/national-wildlife-corridors-plan.pdf.
174. Department of the Environment, National Wildlife Corridors Plan, n 111, p 35.
175. See references to these funding arrangements above, following a change of government these arrangements may be subject to change
176. Native Vegetation Framework (released on 19 December 2012), http://www.environment.gov.au/resource/australias-nativevegetation-framework, Goal 1; targets include a "net national increase in the extent of native vegetation, including where it can contribute to landscape connectivity", p 4; Victoria initially indicated its support for the Framework, in principle, but as at December 2012 had not endorsed it.
177. Native Vegetation Framework, n 114, Target 2.
178. Environment Defenders Office Victoria, EDO Briefing Paper: Victoria's New Native Vegetation Clearing Laws (EDO, Melbourne, 9 August 2013), www.edovic.org.au/downloads/files/law_reform/edo_vic_native_vegetation_changes_briefing.pdf.
179. Nature Conservation Act 2002 (Tas), s 16
180. Kingborough Planning Scheme 2000, provision 6.4.1, issue 5, " Landscaping in the Business and Civic Zone".
181. Kingborough Planning Scheme 2000, Sch 10, "Protected Vegetation Schedule", in which biodiversity offsets are defined as: "actions that contribute to the conservation of natural values outside of the development footprint, and can include reservation, active management and other actions that demonstrate a conservation benefit for a particular natural value"
182. Nature Conservation Act 2002 (Tas), s 16
183. Including, eg the construction of irrigation infrastructure that creates landscape breaks and potential barriers to species and ecosystem movement
184. State of the Environment 2011 Committee, Australia: State of the Environment 2011: An Independent Report to the Australian Government Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC, Canberra, 2011); Bowman D, " We Need to Think About Fire in Tasmania's Forests" The Conversation (8 March 2013), http://theconversation.com/we-need-to-think-about-fire-in-tasmanias-forests-12349.
185. Hulme, n 30 at 790.
186. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 18
187. Department of the Environment, Terrestrial Biodiversity Assessment 2008 (Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2008) pp 150-151.
188. State of the Environment 2011 Committee, n 123.
189. Thomas C et al, " Extinction Risk from Climate Change" (2004) 427 Nature 145; State of the Environment Report 2011, n 123; NCCARF Information Sheet 1, n 6.
190. Dawson et al, n 19 at 53, "although human land use remains the main driver of present-day species extinction and habitat loss, climate change is projected to become equally or more important in the coming decades"
191. Thomas et al, n 127 at 147, note that "many of the most severe impacts of climate-change are likely to stem from interactions between [climate change and other] threats".
192. National Biodiversity Strategy Review Task Group, Australia's Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2010-2030 (Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council, Canberra, 2010)
193. Steffen et al, n 2; and State of the Environment 2011 Committee, n 123.
194. State of the Environment 2011 Committee, n 123; Steffen et al, n 2; although the process of actually reducing non-climate stressors may be quite complicated, leaving a "legacy of system change" even after a threatening process has been removed: Hobbs R et al, " Novel Ecosystems: Theoretical and Management Aspects of the New Ecological World Order" (2006) 15(1) Global Ecology and Biogeography 1+3.
195. National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW), s 72AA(b) requires that in preparing a plan of management, the decision-maker consider: "the conservation of biodiversity, including the maintenance of habitat, ecosystems and populations of threatened species"
196. For example, in the National Parks and Reserves Management Act 2002 (Tas), s 88A, "[t]he Minister may approve a code of practice for the purposes of providing practical guidance... in relation to preventing, managing or controlling fire in reserved land"
197. For example, National Parks and Reserved Land Regulations (Tas), reg 39 provides that "[a]n authorised person may seize, destroy or kill any... animal...that is not native to any reserved land, that is on reserved land"
198. For example, threat abatement plans may be prepared by the Commonwealth Environment Minister in respect of a listed key threatening process, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth), s 270A, and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2000 (Cth), reg 7.12
199. ANEDO, n 16, p 7; recent litigation in the Victoria Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) revealed that an action plan had not been prepared for a threatened species under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (Vic), despite the species having been listed 18 years ago, see www.edovic.org.au/in-the-media/environmentalists-suing-state-government-over-threatened-species.
200. Dunlop et al, n 15.
201. Rogalski and Skelly use the term "non-native" to describe a species that was not native to a particular area in which it was found, but which was identified as having some positive characteristics and an established ecological role in that area: Rogalski M and Skelly D, " Positive Effects of Nonnative Invasive Phragmites Australis on Larval Bullfrogs" (2012) 7(8) PLoS ONE e44420.
202. Dunlop and Brown, n 44, p 97, suggest that regulation for non- or neo-natives would need to accommodate the difficulty of predicting the impact of species' independent movement into a new environment in the short and long terms, recommending that decision-makers be given sufficient latitude to respond adaptively, on a case-by-case basis.
203. NCCARF Information Sheet 1, n 6, p 2.
204. Dunlop et al, n 7, p 8; see also, eg discussion about threatened species in the United States expanding their ranges to the north as a result of climate change and appearing in Canada for the first time where they are not listed as protected species and will classify as "invasives"
205. Scott and Lemieux, n 34 at 698-699.
206. Action statements are brief management plans and can be prepared for a group of species or communities rather than each individual species, www.dse.vic.gov.au/plants-and-animals/native-plants-and-animals/threatened-species-and-communities/action-statements, but the Victorian government still has a substantial backlog, EDO Victoria, EDO Briefing Paper: Where's the Guarantee: Implementation and Enforcement of the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and the Wildlife Act 1975 (EDO Victoria, Melbourne, 2012) p 3.
207. Schloss et al, n 11.
208. Dunlop et al, n 15
209. Steffen et al, n 2.
210. "[W]hich also depend on how and by whom 'benefit' is defined", Hobbs et al, n 130 at 4
211. Dunlop et al, n 15 for discussion of "more desirable" and "less desirable" changes.
212. Hoegh-Guldberg O et al, " Assisted Colonization and Rapid Climate Change" (2008) 321(5887) Science 345+346.
213. Hoegh-Guldberg A et al, n 145 at 346, giving the example of species in North Africa being confronted with the Mediterranean as a block to poleward migration as a result of shifting climates; Bass Strait may operate as an equivalent barrier to southward migration in Australia.
214. Hoegh-Guldberg et al, n 145 at 345
215. Joly J and Fuller N, " Advising Noah: A Legal Analysis of Assisted Migration" (2009) 39(5) Environmental Law Reporter 10413 at 10413-4
216. Schloss et al, n 11 at 8606.
217. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 25
218. Schloss et al, n 11 at 8606
219. Lawler and Olden, n 11 at 569.
220. For example, trees and plants and some invertebrates, Root et al, n 6
221. Joly and Fuller, n 147.
222. Hoegh-Guldberg et al, n 145 at 346
223. Hannah, n 47
224. NCCARF, Assisted Migration as a Management Tool for Species Threatened by Climate Change: Information Sheet 2 (NCCARF, Gold Coast, undated)
225. Heller and Zavaleta, n 11 at 25
226. Harris S et al, " Planning the Integration of Ex Situ Plant Conservation in Tasmania" (2009) 11(1) Cunninghamia 123
227. Fischer J and Lindenmayer DB, " An Assessment of the Published Results of Animal Relocations" (2000) 96 Biological Conservation 13 at 3.
228. Ricciardi A and Simberloff D, " Assisted Colonization is not a Viable Conservation Strategy" (2009) 24(5) Trends Ecol Evol 248.
229. Convention on Biological Diversity 1760 UNTS 79, Art 9; Ricciardi and Simberloff, n 152.
230. Hoegh-Guldberg et al, n 145, but compare Ricciardi and Simberloff, n 152.
231. McLachlan J S et al, " A Framework for Debate of Assisted Migration in an Era of Climate Change" (2007) 21(2) Conserv Biol 297 at 297
232. Richardson D M et al, " Multidimensional Evaluation of Managed Relocation" (2009) 106(24) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 9721 at 9722-3
233. particularly, between preserving individual species from extinction by moving them to potentially vulnerable or hostile new environments, and managing environments for their processes and functions at the ecosystem or landscape levels
234. There are many historical examples of catastrophic biodiversity outcomes as a result of relocations and introductions (for purposes other than climate change) including, to name just a few, the introduction of foxes, cane toads and the Common Myna into Australia, Steffen et al, n 2
235. Ricciardi and Fuller, n 152 at 248-252.
236. Fischer and Lindenmayer, n 151 at 8
237. Mawdsley et al, n 13 at 1087.
238. Though in Fischer and Lindenmayer's review of 180 case studies of relocations only six reported the costs involved Fischer and Lindenmayer, n 151 at 5.
239. Note, conservation activities and thinking are a long way from this very controversial point and the idea has only rarely been raised as a potential use of this strategy, Zedler J, Doherty J and Miller N, " Shifting Restoration Policy to Address Landscape Change, Novel Ecosystems, and Monitoring" (2012) 17(4) Ecology and Society 36.
240. Hoegh-Guldberg et al, n 145 at 346 argue that the risks of assisted colonisation must be "weighed against those of extinction and ecosystem loss".
241. Ricciardi and Simberloff, n 152 at 252, urge caution and reliance on the precautionary principle rather than the "ecological roulette" of assisted colonisation, recommending that funding and effort be focused instead on well-established conservation measures like habitat restoration and captive breeding populations.
242. Lawler and Olden, n 11 at 570.
243. There are also examples of ad hoc arrangements being negotiated for conservation relocations including, eg the Tasmanian Devil Relocation Program from the Tasmanian mainland to Maria Island, www.parks.tas.gov.au/file.aspx?id=26884.
244. International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Species Survival Commission, Guidelines for Reintroductions and other Conservation Translocations: Version 1.0 (IUCN/SSC, Gland, 2013)
245. South Australia and the Northern Territory have draft policies from 2006 and 2009 respectively; assisted colonisation policy titles and dates from all of Australia are detailed in n 166 and n 167
246. Threatened Species Management Policy and Procedure Statement No. 9: Policy for the Translocation of Threatened Fauna in NSW (October 2001); Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management, Policy Statement No. 29: Translocation of Threatened Flora and Fauna (Revised July 1995); Draft Translocations of Native Fauna Policy (SA) (2006); Draft Translocations of Native Fauna Procedure (SA) (2006); Translocating Threatened Animals Policy, revised draft (NT) (March 2009).
247. The Management of Captive Colonies (Threatened Species) for Wildlife Conservation (July 2007); Requirements for the Translocation, Relocation and Release of Koalas (2005).
248. Tasmanian Government, Adapting to Climate Change in Tasmania: Issues Paper (Tasmanian Climate Change Office, Hobart, 2012) p 17.
249. Fischer and Lindenmayer, n 151 at 9.
250. Joly and Fuller, n 147 at 10424.
251. Although the costs are often unreported, Fischer and Lindenmayer, n 151 at 1.
252. Fischer and Lindenmayer, n 151 at 8, with the failure rate somewhat uncertain but likely to be high, Fischer and Lindenmayer suggest that it is "difficult to draw general conclusions about the value of relocations as a conservation tool", n 151 at 8.
253. Fischer and Lindenmayer, n 151 at 8, although their statistics relate to re-introduction projects, where target species were introduced into habitat in which that species had previously been found, it is not unreasonable to expect that assisted colonisation projects may also have high rates of failure.
254. Fischer and Lindenmayer, n 151 at 8; litigation may arise where, for example, the introduction of a species results in changed ecosystem function, unexpectedly leading to reduced, changed, or lost water flow to an agricultural area, or contamination in key human consumption catchment areas.
255. For example, Queensland has a specific assisted colonisation policy relating to the conservation of koalas
256. McLachlan, n 155 at 297-299; this unsanctioned relocation may take the form of maverick activities by conservation advocates, but may also be effected by the work of illegal wildlife traffickers 177 Glicksman R, "Ecosystem Resilience to Disruptions Linked to Global Climate Change: An Adaptive Approach to Federal Land Management" (2009) 87 Nebraska Law Review 833 at 871; McLachlan, n 155 at 301.
257. McLachlan, n 155 at 299.
258. For example, the cooperative captive breeding program involving the Murray Catchment Management Authority, the Amphibian Research Centre, Zoos Victoria, Taronga Zoo and Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, www.corroboreefrog.com.au/corroboree-frog/captive-breeding.
259. Including the Millennium Seed Bank Project, www.kew.org/science-conservation/save-seed-prosper/millennium-seed-bank/index.htm, and related projects such as the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre established at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, Harris et al, n 151.
260. For example, a cloning project is currently underway in Brazil where scientists are seeking to clone eight animals that are under significant ecological pressure, including jaguars and maned wolves, New Scientist (12 November 2012), www.newscientist.com/article/dn22493-brazil-aims-to-clone-endangered-animals.html.
261. Maunder M and Byers O, " The IUCN Technical Guidelines on the Management of Ex Situ Populations for Conservation: Reflecting Major Changes in the Application of Ex Situ Conservation" (2005) 39(01) Oryx 95 at 258.
262. Convention on Biological Diversity 1760 UNTS 79; but see Maunder and Byers, n 182 at 95, who highlight the "need for integrated management of wild and captive populations"
263. NCCARF Information Sheet 2, n 150; NCCARF, Genetic Translocation as a Management Option for Species Threatened by Climate Change: Information Sheet 3 (NCCARF, Gold Coast, undated)
264. Dawson et al, n 19 at 56, describe the way in which these factors are each relevant in determining the vulnerability of a species to climate change and in determining appropriate management actions.
265. Pritchard and Harrop, n 25 at 3.
266. Harris et al, n 151 at 123.
267. Adger WN et al, " Resilience" in Dryzek J et al (eds), Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society (Oxford University Press, London, 2011) p 702, "[m]uch of the current literature focuses on making current systems more resilient and not on transforming the systems In some instances we may have to accept that it is not possible to maintain the status quo".
268. Adger, n 188, p 708.
269. Convention on Biological Diversity 1760 UNTS 79, Art 9, cls (a)-(e)
270. Convention on Biological Diversity 1760 UNTS 79, Art 9, cls (a) and (b)
271. Including for revegetation projects, threat abatement, action statements, and recovery plans, and through cooperation between botanic gardens, Harris, n 151 at 125.
272. Ainsley P, Ex Situ Conservation of South Australia's Threatened and Priority Flora, an international partnership between the SA Government, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and the UK Millenium Seed Bank Project (Government of SA, Adelaide, 2003); the Tasmanian strategy for ex situ conservation of threatened flora develops ex situ priorities and recommendations for an administrative and policy framework
273. Harris et al, n 151 at 128-129; the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, in Introducing the Threatened Species Priorities Action Statement (PAS) (NSW Government, Sydney, 2007) has detailed "recovery and threat abatement strategies" for threatened species, including "Captive husbandry or ex-situ collection and propagation" and funding for ex-situ research; Cochrane A, describes the Western Australian government's approach to integrating wildlife management and recovery plans for flora conservation in "Western Australia's Ex Situ Program for Threatened Species: A Model Integrated Strategy for Conservation" in Guerrant EO et al (eds) Ex Situ Plant Conservation: Supporting Species Survival In The Wild (Island Press, Washington, DC, 2004) pp 40-66.
274. Harris, n 151 at 128; however, legislation governing the movement of biological materials across borders, including biosecurity and imports legislation, may be relevant to the extent that it hinders the movement of biodiversity that is not licensed or approved for import/export.
275. Bonal B S et al, Working Group Report: Review and Reconsideration of the IUCN Technical Guidelines on the Management of Ex Situ Populations for Conservation: Why, When (and How) to Establish an Ex Situ Population (IUCN Guidelines Working Group, Gland, 2011).
276. IUCN, Updated Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2011-2020, www.cbd.int/gspc.
277. Novel approaches to captive breeding projects can also be pursued, as in the case of Taronga Zoo and their partially-captive breeding program for the Southern Corroborree Frog, undertaken in collaboration with the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage. The project "involved building a large enclosure in the wilderness in an attempt to establish a semi-wild breeding population of frogs, living under wild conditions, but excluded from Chytrid Fungus - the disease that's wiping them out", http://taronga.org.au/blog/2013-04-30/zoo-bred-eggs-might-save-southern-corroboree-frog.
278. The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) has, for example, "United for Conservation" as its motto; in Australia, Taronga Zoo sees its role as including to: "inform best practise for conservation action to preserve ecosystem health", http://taronga.org.au/animals-conservation/conservation-science/conservation-science.
279. For a discussion of the role of private enterprise and incentives for private investment in conservation, see Productivity Commission, Harnessing Private Sector Conservation of Biodiversity: Productivity Commission Research Paper (Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2001).
280. Clear legal drafting and well-articulated conservation objectives may also help to avoid costly administrative appeals
281. Although, even if cost was not an issue, there is strong support for in situ conservation by many environmental groups and an explicit decision to focus on ex situ measures may prove controversial, particularly for organisations that rely on philanthropy and public support
282. Cahill et al, n 6
283. Harris et al, n 151
284. Pritchard and Harrop, n 25.
285. Hooper et al, n 7 at 107.
286. Oldham P et al, " Biological Diversity in the Patent System" (2013) 8(11) PLoS ONE e78737.
287. For instance, there may be opportunities for particularly significant financial gain in the storage, selective breeding and genetic modification of food crops
288. Ruhl JB, " Climate Change and the Endangered Species Act: Building Bridges to the No-Analog Future" (2008) 88 B U L REV 1.
289. Bowman D, " Biodiversity Crisis Demands Bolder Thinking Than Bagging National Parks" The Conversation (29 November 2012), http://theconversation.com/biodiversity-crisis-demands-bolder-thinking-than-bagging-national-parks-11022.
290. Steffen W et al, Australia's Biodiversity And Climate Change: A Strategic Assessment Of The Vulnerability Of Australia's Biodiversity To Climate Change, Technical Synthesis, a report to the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Canberra, 2009) p 235.