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Project explores ‘bio-banking’ value for farmers

August 11, 2006

IanPatrick.thumb.jpgA grassroots project is paving the way for the development of new financial opportunities for graziers in western NSW.

Environmental management could provide them with alternative sources of income.

Dr Ian Patrick (pictured here), a researcher at The University of New England’s Institute for Rural Futures, has been working with a dozen graziers in the Walgett area of western NSW, assessing their ideas about the potential value of maintaining and enhancing biodiversity on their farms.

The project relates to the NSW Government’s proposed ‘bio-banking’ policy, under which development would be allowed to proceed only if the developers agreed to offset the environmental impact by paying to improve environmental quality in a nearby area.

“With a ‘bio-banking’ Bill presently before the NSW Parliament, graziers may soon have the option of adding the provision of environmental services such as wildlife corridors, areas of native flora conservation, river bank restoration and the improvement of river water quality to their enterprise mix,” Dr Patrick said. “This could provide financial benefits to producers, improve the environment, and decrease the need for government regulation.”

The project, funded by the NSW Environmental Trust, will see Dr Patrick back in the Walgett area in mid-September to conduct a thorough study of 50 graziers’ perceptions of the extent and value of biodiversity.

“This information will be a useful starting point in understanding the biodiversity credits that will be required as the NSW Government moves towards the development of biodiversity banking,” he said. “It will also provide graziers with a better understanding of this new ‘product’ that is likely to become an integral part of their farm plan in the future.”

“This project will play a vital role,” he continued, “in providing developers or entrepreneurs – indeed, any buyer of biodiversity credits – with estimates of what the suppliers (that is, the landholders) will need to be paid to ensure management specifically for conservation. The study will also determine how these landholders would like to be paid.”

“Internationally, we are already seeing considerable interest being expressed in this research project from agencies and policy makers in Canada and the USA,” Dr Patrick said.

For more information please contact Dr Ian Patrick on (02) 6773 3072, or visit:
http://www.ruralfutures.une.edu.au/projects

Posted by Jim Scanlan at August 11, 2006 04:21 PM