Date; 10 January 2006

In 2005 the Australian Government provided the Australian Rainforest Foundation with $5 million to undertake a range of conservation initiatives in the Daintree aimed at reducing the impact of development following the controversial subdivision of approximately 1100 lots of rainforest in the 1980’s.

The Wet Tropics Ministerial Council (Queensland and Commonwealth Environment and Tourism Ministers) had previously supported the ARF in a $1 million buy back of privately owner rainforest in 2002. 

This was followed by an additional $5 million from the Queensland government for land acquisition in 2004.

The intent of the land buy back was to reduce the available land for residential or commercial development to about half of the 1100 blocks originally sub divided, thereby providing for good conservation outcomes and a viable community.

The Commonwealth’s funding however is not restricted to land acquisition. In recognizing that many landowners do not want to sell their land; and further, that landowners often provide an excellent source of conservation volunteers, the funding will be used to support on ground conservation works as well as land acquisition.

Updates

This site will be updated with reports on the Daintree Conservation Initiative each quarter

Date; 9 March 2006

FOUNDATION REACHES MILESTONE IN SAVING THE DAINTREE RAINFOREST

The Australian Rainforest Foundation has just purchased its 24th block of rainforest land in the Daintree, bringing its total spent on freehold buyback to $1.8 million embracing 79 hectares

The Foundation’s CEO Roger Phillips said “This is a very exciting time for us, we now have purchased and protected 79ha of land of very high biodiversity value and we will continue to target further land which is of exceptional conservation significance.”

The Foundation received $1 million from the Queensland and Federal governments in 2002, to buy freehold land back from private landowners for conservation. Twelve blocks were purchased under this funding.

An additional $5 million was provided by the Federal government in May 2005 to continue with land acquisition and a range of other conservation works in cooperation with local landowners.

According to the Foundation, the important difference with the Commonwealth funding was that it was not just about land buyback, but very much about engaging and supporting landowners who wished to remain in the Daintree and look after the land.

This was the major point of difference between the Queensland buyback through the EPA and the Commonwealth’s intention to also support the landowners and local community.

Funding will also be available for stewardship payments for pest and weed control, fencing and other conservation works, for joint acquisitions with landowners and to facilitate land banking and land swaps.

The 79 hectares of land are pristine rainforest next to the World Heritage area, many sited next to each other and were purchased under the approval of the Wet Tropics Management Authority and the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Heritage. Working closely with Queensland’s Environment Protection Agency, who have also acquired properties in the area, the ARF concentrated its acquisitions on the high biodiversity area of the Daintree around Cooper Creek and the EPA concentrated on acquisitions other precincts.

Under the Foundation’s agreement with the government, the land is to be consolidated where possible, perpetual conservation covenants placed on the title to reduce development and the land resold to raise additional funds to buy more land.

The Foundation is in the process of protecting the land it own by using conservation covenants. These are legally binding agreements between the landowner and the Queensland government and are registered on the land title. This binds any future owner to the terms and conditions of the conservation agreement.

The agreement or covenant will define what and how the land - either all or part of it - can be protected and what can be used or developed by the owner. Conservation agreements and covenants can be registered either using the Nature Conservation Act and having the area declared a Nature Refuge or a covenant under the Land Title Act.

The type of agreement or covenant will depend on the benefits that the landowner wants. It may be stamp duty and land tax reduction, assistance with management plans and stewardship payments or a tax deduction for loss of land value. Each new owner will have different needs and as the conservation agreements are voluntarily entered into, each is negotiated with the individual landowner.

The uncertainty of future options for Daintree landowners may be resolved with the adoption of an Amended Planning Scheme, which should provide for development in some areas along with considerable areas zoned as conservation.

For the Foundation, the lack of certainty of land use has made resale of the land difficult. With approximately 50% of funds for acquisition now spent, the Foundation will in the interim, be concentrating on the stewardship incentives for Daintree landowners, as well as encouraging as many as possible to take up conservation agreements and covenants.

Foundation Chairman George Mansford, said the fact that the EPA had spent Queensland’s $5 million for Daintree buyback did not mean the end of the good working relationship between EPA, WTMA and the ARF.

“While we may have different approaches to the Daintree issue, the three entities are working for a similar outcome and we will continue to work with EPA and WTMA so that we can achieve a focused outcome.

“We are now looking forward to developing some exciting stewardship programs with local landowners, particularly in the areas of pest and weed control.”