The primary causes of biodiversity decline worldwide are the destruction, alteration, and fragmentation of habitat resulting from human economic activities such as agriculture or property development. In regions with highly cleared and fragmented landscapes, biodiversity conservation efforts typically involve the restoration of native habitat and rebuilding functioning ecosystems. When ecological restoration depends on voluntary landowner participation, spatial targeting can improve biodiversity outcomes. We use simulation to compare the performance of several spatial-targeting strategies for ecological restoration: Aggregation, Connectivity, and Representativeness. We model the probability of landowners' participation in restoration depending on the private benefits they derive from the restored landscape. The relative effectiveness of each targeting strategy depends on landscape characteristics, species characteristics, and restoration effort. At low levels of the restoration effort and in highly cleared landscapes, Aggregation and Representativeness perform better. With greater restoration effort and less fragmented landscapes, Connectivity becomes more effective.

In 2016, twelve NRM and industry organisations, known as the Reef Alliance, were successful in applying for a single reef-wide integrated project totalling $45.5 million. In Australia, there are very few examples where collaborative NRM projects have been implemented on this scale, let alone be subject to a robust evaluation. Documenting the path taken to submit and implement the single application as well as evaluating the delivery model to determine if it provides a more cost effective and strategic way of delivering NRM projects is critical. Managing a single project with twelve organisations requires ownership, commitment and flexibility from all partners. Through the development and implementation of a robust M and E framework, the Reef Alliance will have a much better understanding as to the impact of the collaboration and whether it is a more strategic and cost effective model to generate water quality outcomes.

The aim of this study was to develop a bio-economic model to estimate the feasibility and net profit (or net costs) of achieving set water quality targets (sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus and herbicide load reductions) in the Burnett-Mary region within the southern portion of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), southern Queensland, Australia. Two sets of targets were evaluated, namely (1) Reef Plan Targets (RPTs) representing currently agreed targets, and (2) the more ambitious Ecologically Relevant Targets (ERTs) designed to halt the decline and improve the condition of the GBR. This paper describes the construction of a bio-economic optimisation framework linking field and catchment scale biophysical model results and farm economic analysis to solve for RPTs or ERTs assigned either regionally or within discrete basins. Key outcomes from the study were that RPTs could be achieved whereas ERTs required significant additional investment and were infeasible if individual basins must meet the targets.

This note describes five observations during 2014 and 2015 of predation by Eastern Yellow Robins Eopsaltria australis , on a burrowing crayfish Engaeus sp. and small skinks. This species feeds predominantly on terrestrial invertebrates and insects but these recent observations suggest that it is an opportunistic feeder.

In many parts of the world, natural vegetation has been cleared to allow agricultural production. To ensure a long-term flow of ecosystem services without compromising agricultural activities, restoring the environment requires a balance between public and private benefits and costs. Information about private benefits generated by environmental assets can be utilized to identify conservation opportunities on private lands, evaluate environmental projects, and design effective policy instruments. We use a spatio-temporal hedonic model to estimate the private benefits of native vegetation on rural properties in the state of Victoria, Australia. Specifically, we estimate the marginal value of native vegetation on private land and examine how it varies with the extent of vegetation on a property and across a range of property types and sizes. Private benefits of native vegetation are greater per unit area on small and medium-sized properties and smaller on large production-oriented farms. Native vegetation exhibits diminishing marginal benefits as its proportion of a property increases. The current extent of native vegetation cover is lower than the extent that would maximize the amenity value to many landowners. There is scope for improved targeting of investment in the study region by incorporating private benefits of environmental projects into environmental planning processes. Landowners with high marginal private benefits from revegetation would be more willing to participate in a revegetation program. Targeting these landowners would likely provide higher value for money because such projects could be implemented at lower public cost.

The aim of this study was to develop a bio-economic model to estimate the feasibility and net profit (or net costs)s of achieving set water quality targets (sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus load reductions) in the Burnett Mary region of northern Queensland, Australia to with the aim of protecting the southern portion of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Two sets of targets were evaluated – Reef Plan Targets (RPTs) which are the currently formally agreed targets, and more ambitious Ecologically Relevant Targets (ERTs) which current science suggests might be needed to better protect the values of the GBR. This paper describes the construct of a bio-economic optimisation framework which has been used to underpin a Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP) for the Burnett Mary region. The bioeconomic model incorporates the available science developed from paddock and catchment scale biophysical model results and farm economic analysis. The model enabled transparent assessment and optimisation of net profits and costs associated with four categories of best management practices (cutting edge unproven technologies called ‘A’ practice, current best-management practices called ‘B’, common industry or ‘C’ practices, and below industry standards or ‘D’ practice) in the grazing and sugar cane industries. The bioeconomic model was able to solve for RPTs or ERTs assigned to either the entire region or within each of five discrete river basins. Key outcomes from the study were that RPTs could be achieved at an annual cost of $3M/year on a whole of region basis. In contrast ERTs could be achieved on a whole of region basis at as net cost of $16M/year. ERTs were not able to be feasibly met on a basin by basin basis. This is the first time such a comprehensive and integrated bio-economic model has been constructed for a region within GBR using environmental software that linked available biophysical and economic modelling.

In heavily cleared agricultural landscapes, decline of biodiversity could be prevented by restoring native habitat. In this paper, we develop a spatially explicit bioeconomic model that optimizes ecological restoration of habitat for woodland-dependent birds in the Australian state of Victoria. Spatial optimization identifies strategies that would generate substantially greater environmental benefits than are likely to be achieved in current programs. Greater biodiversity outcomes can be expected where restoration is optimized across multiple species rather than just individual species, and if the program does not require an even distribution of restoration effort among farmers. (JEL Q57, R14)

Natural resource management organisations in Australia routinely establish resource condition targets in their regional plans and catchment strategies. We reviewed biodiversity, water and community resource condition targets set by Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) over planning cycles since 1997 against criteria of being specific, measurable and time-bound (SMT). The overall quality of targets is poor, with less than 30 per cent of targets meeting the three criteria. Disturbingly, there are no SMT targets in the most recent NSW CMA catchment strategies. We identify three major reasons for poor target setting: a lack of appropriate standards and guidelines from governments to enable high quality target setting; a lack of realism about the budgetary and technical feasibility of ambitious environmental targets amongst those involved in natural resource management; and a lack of adequate focus on outcomes by both CMAs and governments. Improvements to target setting can be achieved through stronger signals and commitment by governments, including by rewarding performance of regional bodies practising outcome-focused accountability.

In the European Union, as in many parts of the world, there is increasing pressure to demonstrate that environmental projects achieve expected outcomes and are cost-effective. This paper reports on a trial application of an environmental investment framework, the Investment Framework for Environmental Resource (INFFER). The framework, based on benefit:cost analysis principles, was applied to agro-environmental assets in the Mugello and Valdisieve areas of northern Tuscany, Italy. Farmers, environmental and institutional representatives and technical experts took part in the process of identifying agro-environmental assets in the region. A total of 26 assets were identified, and of these, only 2 (the last remaining population of Cistus laurfolius within the natural protected area of local interest (Area Naturale Protetta di Interesse Locale, ANPIL) of Santa Brigida, and the Sant’ Antonio forest were selected as having reasonable prospects of progressing to cost-effective projects (benefit:cost ratio>1). Detailed projects were developed for both assets and found to be cost-effective based on available information. While the mindset of being clear about identifying and valuing natural assets was a new concept to participants, overall the process worked well. The factors considered in calculating a benefit:cost ratio, including technical feasibility, adoption and compliance factors, socio-political risks, costs and the likelihood of obtaining long-term funding to maintain project benefits, were all relevant in Tuscany and required the knowledge of local experts. Overall, INFFER appears relevant and useful in an EU context, and, in particular, is highly compatible with the EU Natura 2000 nature and biodiversity policy.

Context. A framework was developed to help investors improve the delivery of environmental benefits from environmental programs. The framework, Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER), assists environmental managers to design projects, select delivery mechanisms and rank competing projects on the basis of benefits and costs.Aims. To identify design requirements for an environmental investment framework on the basis of consideration of lessons from practical experience, and established theory from decision analysis and economics.Methods. The design and delivery of the framework are based on extensive experience from working with environmental managers and policy makers. In addition, the developers have paid close attention to the need for processes that are theoretically rigorous, resulting in a tool that allows valid comparison of projects for different asset types, of different scales and durations.Key results. From the practical experience outlined, several important lessons and implications are identified, including the need for simplicity, training and support of users, trusting relationships with users, transparency, flexibility, compatibility with the needs and contexts of users, and supportive institutional arrangements. Use of a theoretically correct metric to rank projects can deliver dramatically improved environmental values relative to a commonly used weighted additive metric.Conclusions. Practical and theoretical considerations have strong implications for the design of a practical, effective and accurate tool to support decision making about environmental project priorities.

The removal, alteration and fragmentation of habitat are key causes of biodiversity decline worldwide. In Australia, temperate woodlands have been disproportionately cleared following European settlement. Biodiversity decline in such systems may be reversed by restoration of native vegetation on agricultural land. However, rebuilding functioning habitat will require understanding the determinants of species distributions in existing habitat. We used logistic regression of bird occurrence data from 240 sites across northern Victoria, to determine the probability of occurrence of 29 woodland-dependent bird species. We modelled occurrence as a function of habitat variables that characterise both the extent (amount) and composition of native vegetation surrounding sites. Our specific goal was to determine whether the predictive performance of models is improved by accounting for both extent and composition of native vegetation compared with models that characterise native vegetation by extent alone. For nearly all species, accounting for vegetation composition in addition to extent and weighting habitat variables by distance improved the explanatory power of models, explaining on average 5.4 % (range 0–27.6 %) of the residual uncertainty in models that accounted for extent alone. Models that incorporate variation in vegetation composition can not only provide more accurate predictions of species occurrence, but also guide more appropriate restoration. They highlight the need for restoration to incorporate sites with fertile soils that support productive vegetation types. These models of woodland birds will be used to inform a spatially-explicit optimisation model for restoring native vegetation cover on agricultural land in this region, with the goal of achieving biodiversity gains while minimizing loss to production.

Lifestyle landowners value land for its amenities and ecological characteristics and could play an important role in managing and conserving native vegetation in multifunctional rural landscapes. We quantify values of ecosystem services captured by owners of rural lifestyle properties in Victoria, Australia, using a spatial hedonic property price model. The value of ecosystem services provided by native vegetation is maximized when that vegetation occupies about 40 percent of the area of a lifestyle property. Since the current median proportion of native vegetation is 15 percent, most lifestyle landowners could benefit from increasing the area of native vegetation on their properties.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers made efforts to influence the design and implementation of environmental policy in Australia. A focus of these efforts was the development of the Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER). In addition, the team undertook a range of communication activities, training, user support, and participation in committees and enquiries. Transaction costs were relevant to these efforts in a variety of ways. Environmental managers perceived INFFER to involve relatively high transaction costs. A balance was struck between the system having simplicity (and low transaction costs) and delivering environmental benefits. Transaction costs were factored into the planning and prioritisation processes developed. For example, public and private transaction costs are accounted for in the calculation of benefit:cost ratios and in the choice of policy mechanisms. There are diverse roles that transaction costs play in the processes of developing, implementing and influencing environmental policy programmes. A key observation is that appropriate strategic investment in transaction costs can improve decisions and increase net benefits from an environmental programme. A well-designed decision process can involve incurring transaction costs at one stage in order to save transaction costs at a later stage.

This chapter describes the experience of knowledge brokers in the design, delivery and evaluation of Landscape Logic as a participatory landscape research project. Across the five-year time-frame of Landscape Logic, the role of knowledge broking evolved from establishing the collaboration between six regional natural resource management (NRM) organisations and eight research institutions, to eliciting and refining the research questions, establishing and maintaining networks between researchers and natural resource managers, facilitating communication of results, to finally negotiating the meaning and implications of research findings with researchers, environmental managers and policy-makers.Knowledge broking is a people-centred process and the primary task was developing and maintaining communication networks between all involved parties to ensure the research focus was mutually beneficial and could evolve in response to new information and end user needs.Significant differences in history, culture and practice between NRM regions were revealed. These influenced how communication and negotiation were managed throughout the collaboration.New understandings about the influence of human intervention on native vegetation and water quality were generated through the research partnership and an important role of knowledge broking was to make these available in forms that were understandable, practically relevant and adoptable by natural resource managers. To achieve this, a combination of products and communication methods were used including computer-based decision support systems, technical reports, fact-sheets, training workshops, seminars, information sessions, a blog site, targeted email and small on-demand briefings.This chapter reflects on the effectiveness of the knowledge broking approaches and draws general conclusions about knowledge broking in large collaborative environmental research development and extension projects. A number of key lessons emerged:maintaining networks between stakeholders required understanding both their institutional and biophysical landscapes;involving end users and researchers in the formulation of research questions enabled local knowledge to be valued and contributed to the development of products that were tailored and relevant to NRM decision-makers;successful knowledge broking needs to be adequately resourced and flexible enough to respond to changes in the timing of research outputs and priorities within partner organisations;a combination of approaches including facilitation, relationship management, web technology, mentoring, training, product testing and evaluation is important for interdisciplinary and participatory research.

The extent of native vegetation in the landscape is the function of many contemporary and historical factors. While the contemporary influences on native vegetation are relatively well understood, the historical perspective is often ignored or poorly understood. In part this is due to the difficulty of obtaining reliable data, but it is also because the collection of such data requires the combination of disciplines and perspectives. This chapter documents the process and results of a multi-disciplinary investigation into the historical and contemporary drivers of landscape change. This process brought together researchers in rural sociology, vegetation ecology and environmental modelling, as well as natural resource management (NRM) practitioners. Together, we sought to construct a picture of historical change in native vegetation within our three case study areas by mapping the change in native vegetation using aerial photographs from 1946-2008, engaging a selective sample of landholders in a series of landscape history workshops, conducting site inspections with landholders to explore specific native vegetation management actions, and in-depth interviews with landholders that explored the drivers of changes in landholder management of native vegetation.Over the 60-year period there were substantial changes in farming practices and viability, community lifestyles and perceptions of native vegetation, all with a profound impact on native vegetation cover. The engagement of long-term resident landholders was invaluable for documenting activities, events and land use trends that often pre-dated the existing 'corporate memory' of NRM organisations. However, our approach also encountered some logistical and methodological challenges. These included effective communication within the research team that comprised different disciplines, engaging people from different organisations, and creating a shared understanding between researchers and landholders.

Investment in natural resource management (NRM) by regional organisations in Australia has been widely criticised for failing to achieve substantial environmental outcomes. The Investment Framework for Environmental Resources (INFFER) is a tool for developing and prioritising projects to address environmental issues such as water quality, biodiversity decline, environmental pest impacts and land degradation. INFFER is an asset-based, targeted, and outcome-focussed approach to environmental investment, and as such is a very different and more rigorous approach to prioritising possible environmental projects than used previously by most catchment management organisations (CMOs) in Australia. From 2008 to 2010 INFFER has been trialled with CMOs. Evaluation and benchmarking data obtained at 2-day INFFER training sessions with seven CMOs in three eastern Australia states are reported. Before commencing to use INFFER, CMO staff are generally confident about the current decision-making processes for environmental investment used within their organisation. In some cases, this initial perception challenges their acceptance of a new approach to investment decisionmaking. Key issues when implementing INFFER include concerns about changing the direction of CMO investment, concerns about compatibility with funder requirements, and various issues associated with specific aspects of the Framework. Perceived complexity of INFFER, existing institutional arrangements, and the legacy of past institutional arrangements remain serious barriers to the adoption of methods to improve environmental outcomes from NRM investment. Despite these difficulties INFFER is being used by a number of CMOs. However, it is likely that widespread adoption of INFFER, or indeed any other transparent and robust process, will only occur with greater requirement from governments for environmental decision making by regional NRM bodies that is more focused on outcomes and cost-effectiveness.