Biodiversity in Agriculture

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is simply the variety of all life, the different plants, animals, micro-organisms, their genes, and the ecosystems they form. Loss of biodiversity is one of Australia’s most serious environmental problems, with severe losses occurring in agricultural areas.

Agriculture

Agriculture depends on healthy ecosystems to provide services that include nutrient and waste recycling, pollination from insects, sediment control, and clean water. Clearing of native vegetation, some grazing practices and inappropriate fertiliser use have contributed to a decline in water quality, ecosystem function and in biodiversity.
Image: Biodiversity in agriculture montage

The former Ecologically Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (ESAI) consists consisted of eighteen projects about farming for the future and explored new ways of protecting the environment while maintaining economic viability. The projects were aimed at encouraging productive and sustainable agriculture and a number of these focused on biodiversity in agriculture. Links to some of these projects are provided from this page.

To encourage research collaboration into biodiversity in the landscape, a "Landscape Futures Alliance" has been formed between DPI, DSE and University researchers. This is supported by two sub-projects of the DPI "Our Rural Landscape" project and three Australian Research Council (ARC) (external link) linkage projects.

Related Links

Land for Wildlife Note on farm planning and wildlife - on the DPI website.

Land for Wildlife Note on natural regeneration - case studies on the farm - on the DPI website.

Victoria's Biodiversity Strategy (external link) provides high level policy direction for achieving biodiversity conservation within the context of ecologically sustainable agriculture. The strategy outlines a suite of tools which could be used to drive sustainable development for biodiversity - Environmental Management Systems (EMS) (external link) and BushTender (external link) are two new tools that the Victorian Government is developing to help achieve this.

An Environmental Management System (EMS) offers a means of linking sustainable agricultural production with responsible environmental management. A downloadable booklet on this DSE page (external link) explains how Victorian Government departments and the Victorian Farmers Federation are using EMSs to meet this challenge.

Incorporating Biodiversity into Environmental Management Systems for Victorian Agriculture: is a discussion paper on developing a methodology for linking performance standards and management systems" by Anderson S., Lowe K., Preece K. and Crouch A. 2001. It is available for download on the DSE website (external link).

Land for Wildlife Notes (external link) - information about managing bushland, natural regeneration, pest plants and animals, wildlife habitats, threats to wildlife habitats, and wildlife in farm planning.

The report Mechanisms for Biodiversity Conservation on Private Land (external link) is available for download on the DSE website. It looks at different policy tools for enhancing biodiversity values on private land and describes the state of play in terms of Victoria's current biodiversity, the importance of biodiversity to the community and analyses issues that confront policy makers in attempting to tackle the problems of biodiversity degradation. The report also covers the advantages and disadvantages of different policy mechanisms for biodiversity maintenance, including regulation, voluntary agreements, covenants, land purchase, auctions for conservation contracts, tax incentives, and government-assisted community programs.

This series of ten brochures on the DSE website describes major biodiversity management issues for rivers and streams (external link). Each brochure outlines the source of the issue, its effect on the ecosystem and what can be done to reverse the impact. Brochures cover: changes to natural flow patterns; changes to temperature patterns; changes to riparian vegetation; sedimentation of rivers and streams; instream barriers; introducing fish outside their natural range; changes to river channels, and removal of woody debris.

A downloadable copy of a Discussion paper on Biodiversity in Agriculture and Agroforestry (external link) is available on the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) website (external link).

SOE Biodiversity Theme Report (external link) - information and downloadable documents prepared for State of the Environment (SOE) 2001 reporting - on the Department of the Environment and Heritage website. Includes information on the impact of agriculture on conservation land in Australia.

Biodiversity Action Planning is a structured approach to identifying priorities and mapping significant areas for native biodiversity conservation at the landscape and Bioregional scales. Information about Biodiversity Action Planning (external link) is presented on the DSE website and includes a downloadable overview document. Draft Biodiversity Action Plans will also be available soon.

The guidebook 'How to plan wildlife landscapes - a guide for community organisations' (external link) further explains these concepts for community organisations and interested individuals, and is available for download on the DSE website.

Information on the Living Systems Project is available on the DSE website (external link). The Living Systems Project aims to help farm families and private agribusiness benefit from the contribution native biodiversity can make towards the ecological sustainability of their farm business and lifestyle. The website provides a Living Systems Resource Kit (external link) for educators and facilitators.

A Native Biodiversity Resource Kit (external link) is available on-line from the DSE website. This provides a consistent and practical method that farmers can use to assess and manage native biodiversity resources on their propeerty. Included in this kit is a series of Work Sheets, EVC Group Score Sheets as well as various Fact Sheets.

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